1. The 10-course banquet (and it’s always 10 courses, fewer and you risk seeming cheap, more and you’re pompous) starts two hours after the time announced on the invitation. This is the prime manifestation of the Vietnamese "rubber clock." All Vietnamese know this. If the invitation says 6 pm, they show up at 7:45. It's the pale-faced American guests, who are always punctual, that will arrive at 5:59 to an empty restaurant, and will sit there wondering if those Vietnamese are holding out on them and having a pre-reception party somewhere.
2. In all the dozens of Vietnamese wedding receptions I have been to in the past decade, only two had used classical musicians. The rest used pop/dance bands—and bad ones. The rule of thumb is: the worse they are, the louder they play—to mask their mistakes, no doubt. Coming home with your ears ringing is a ritual. So bring your ear plugs. As a matter of fact, bring a whole box of disposable ones. You’ll make a tidy profit at your table.
3.Vietnamese only give cash gifts (in the form of checks). It’s the one good thing about the Vietnamese wedding. It saves the guests the trouble of having to shop for presents, and the bride and groom the trouble of returning 9 of the 10 electric fans they will get. Now how those presents are presented is another matter. During a break in the ear-piercing music, the bride and groom, their parents, and entourage will visit each table. The parents or their representative will introduce the bride and groom, and one elected person at the table will stand up and give a little speech, bestowing best wishes on the couple. This person is usually the oldest person at the table, so unless you’re eager to give speeches, act young. This is also the perfect time to lie about your age. After this speech, guests at the table will hand over the wedding cards (with the checks inside) to one of the attendants in the entourage. The current rule of thumb for the gift amount is at least $50 per person in the guest party, more if you’re related or really close to the couple. This is one reason the Vietnamese wedding is almost always a positive cash-flow investment for the happy couple.
Some tips when you are invited to a Vietnamese wedding
Vietnamese wedding song
Đám Cưới Chúng Mình - Nguyễn Đức Quang
Đám Cưới Đầu Xuân - Trần Thiện Thanh
Em Đẹp Nhất Đêm Nay - nhạc Pháp
Hãy Yêu Nhau Đi - Trịnh Công Sơn
Lời Tỏ Tình Dễ Thương - Ngọc Sơn
Ra Giêng Anh Cưới Em
Ngày Tân Hôn - Phạm Duy
Đám Cưới Trên Đường Quê - Hoàng Thi Thơ
Anh - (biểu diễn bởi Trần Tâm/Mỹ Lệ)
Ngày Vui Bên Nhau
Ngày Vui Hai Đứa
Ngày Xuân Vui Cưới - Quốc Anh
Tơ Hồng - Nhất Sinh
Vietnamese wedding songs, be it the traditional wedding songs or the modern latest ones, are very popular and usually live wedding bands are present at most marriages that play the music on traditional musical instruments or modern equipment. Most of the Vietnamese wedding songs mp3 are available online for free download or one can listen to the music online on radio station. The traditional songs are much more famous than the new music and the lyrics are simple and fun and have rich meanings. The videos and clips too are available for free download or can be seen online for free.
The Procession and gifts in Vietnamese Wedding
The procession of the groom’s family is led by specific order; usually the first person will be a man chosen as the representative of the groom's house (he should have a good manner of speaking along with high status in society), followed by the groom's father, the groom, then the rest of his immediate family and close friends. Huge traditional umbrellas are carried and accompany the front of the procession.
Interestingly, in the past the groom's mother did not take part in the procession as a sign that she would not be a threat to the future bride (and she would even hide for a short period upon the bride's welcome into the groom's home). However, this practice has long been abandoned. The number of people participating in a procession varies but is usually restricted to a smaller number (20 or so) to make it easier on the bride's family who will be receiving all of the guests.
In the procession, the groom and his family (among others) will be bearing elaborately decorated lacquer boxes, covered in red cloth. Inside these boxes are gifts representing the wealth the groom's family will bring to the bride's family. Gifts include: betel, wine, tea, fruit, cakes, a roast pig, and an abundance of jewelry for the bride (the amount of jewelry depending on the personal wealth of the groom's family). Usually the number of gift boxes varies from 6 or 8, but never 7 or 9 which is seen as bad luck.
Upon arriving at the bride's home, firecrackers are lit to alert the bride's family, who then light their own round of firecrackers to welcome the groom's family into their home. After each gift of food is accepted by the bride's parents, the groom then receives permission to greet the bride, who is finally brought out.
Symbols of Vietnamese Wedding
Traditional and modern symbols of marriage are often featured during Vietnamese marriage ceremonies as decorations on the wedding umbrellas, lacquer gift boxes (or the red cloth that covers them), or even the decorations in the homes of both the bride and groom. They usually include lanterns, doves, initials of the couple, so on so forth. However one symbol that is indispensable are the words "song hỷ" (also written as the character 囍). Vietnamese was written formerly in Chinese characters as well as the vernacular Chinese influenced Nom script before the 20th century, and while literacy in these scripts during feudalistic times was restricted mostly to scholars, officials and other members of the elite, characters such as these have always played an aesthetic role on important occasions such as wedding
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
