South Korea/China: John and Weixian's wedding
A caravan of black Audi A6's and a white limo to Wexian (Christine)'s parents' house to retrieve the bride, then off to the Sheraton Kingsley for the ceremony and reception.
Complete with firecrackers, games to enter the bride's parents' house, Weixian's uncle carrying her down the stairs so John wouldn't die (he almost did die just carrying her in the hotel...), wrong turns on the freeway resulting in our convoy completely blocking traffic to make the right exit, a random stop at the mall for Emily to buy new shoes and to find lunch... then back to the Sheraton for the reception and ceremony.
John tried for a Western-style ceremony with a dramatic flair. It worked, but English in Nanjing doesn't really go over so well. The handful of Americans in the crowd cringed as the guy officiating the ceremony butchered the vows in "English", the glowing blue tree on the stage was a little odd, and the reek of cigarette smoke permeated the room. Nevermind they couldn't find exactly matching tuxes for the guys.
But it's China, and for China, this worked out well enough. The crowd was very respectful and well behaved. The food was pretty good, and it looks like John and Weixian enjoyed themselves. Mike was best man, one of Christine's friends was the Maid of Honor, and once little bumps like poor English were out of the way, things went very well.
