August 20, 2008

  • Bring 'em Out! Bring 'em Out! Bring 'em Out!

    I've been a bad blogger, so here's another LONG post.

    Normally, for Chinese banquet weddings, Asian Time is very apparent. We all know that if you put 6pm on an invitation, most Chinese guests (at least your parents' friends) won't show until around 7:30pm - when they believe dinner begins. I decided that was not going to be the case. On the invitations, (at least on the Chinese written side), we wrote something along the lines of "Doors open at 6pm. Dinner served at 7pm". I know it sounds like an invite to a club night, but if I wanted all guests to be there before our bridal party introductions, I needed to be explicit. Little did they know, I really didn't start dinner until a little after 7:30pm after all the intro events. My DJs who normally do Chinese banquet weddings were quite impressed that almost all of my guests arrived by the time we lined up for introductions.

    This portion of the night was by far one of the most exciting parts of the night. I mean, there were many exciting times, but the time before dinner sticks out in my mind. My bridal party lined up and were introduced to Just Like Heaven by the Cure. As Roger and I were introduced Bring 'em Out by T.I. played. It was fun coming out from the front entrance of the restaurant into the main area dancing to this song. I could tell that my guests (especially BGC) were quite satisfied with my song choice. Check it out...


    (Video was taken by my friend, Kim.)

    The empty table you see in the video was actually where part of my lion dance troupe sat. They were not there because they were getting ready for one of my favorite "events" of the night. I've been a part of Gund Kwok for a little over 2 years now, and I'm just absolutely honored to be part of such an amazing group of women. I'm even more honored that they performed at my wedding. Shameless plug: By the way, we perform weddings and will travel in the New England area. You never know, I may perform at your wedding! Ok, back to the recap. Gund Kwok = awesomeness. I couldn't have asked for more.


    (All images copyright Yun Gen Yang)

    When I saw them running out, I was overwhelmed and got teary-eyed. Being on that side of the performance felt surreal. I've always been passionate about lion dancing, but I know I have definitely grown strength - not only physically, but mentally - since I've been a part of this troupe. I owe it all to them.

    Towards the end of the performance, I see one of the lions hunched over some peanuts and seeds. I had no idea what they were doing. The other lion seemed to be dancing around keeping the crowd engaged while the lion with the peanuts and seeds did her thing. Finally, the lion moves away, and there I saw the double happiness character written in peanuts and seeds. Unfortunately, I forgot the significance of the seeds and peanuts. I believe it has something to do with fertility (haha). I was very impressed.

    After the lion dance performance, my troupe leader - Cheng Imm Tan - introduced the next performance - a thunderdrum routine. There were 8 drums set up on the floor and everyone thought they were just going to see a performance by my troupe. What they did not know was that I was going to play lead drummer. Yes, after my troupe leader introduced our routine called - Wedding Song for a Woman Warrior - I kicked off my heels and stepped in back of a drum. This was a surprise to all my guests including Roger.


    (Left: Taken by Andy, Roger's cousin - Right: Taken by Andre, Cindy's fiance)

    I messed up a couple of times, but I don't think anyone noticed other than my troupe members. I thought I did pretty well though after only 2 practices that happened over a week before the wedding. My guests definitely enjoyed this and many came up to me afterwards telling me that was the best part of the wedding.

    After I played, my troupe did one more performance - a new percussion routine that involved drums, gongs, and cymbals. It involved some chanting of wedding wishes in Chinese as well. My troupe leader's husband, Ken, created this piece (actually he writes all our music pieces), and my guests especially my parents and their friends loved it.

    Finally, it was time for our first dance. We kept it light and simple. We danced to The Last Goodnight's Good Love. Roger and I actually saw this band live at the Sky Bar in Somerville about two years ago when they were called Renata. Right after we saw them, we kept checking their website to see when they'll come back to Boston (They're from Connecticut.), but no luck. Finally, they sent out an announcement saying they have signed on with Virgin Records and are now called The Last Goodnight. They're best known for their singles Pictures of You and Stay Beautiful. Anyway, since then we have seen them a few times in concert at various venues around Boston. We consider them our

    Afterwards, we headed over to our cake table to make our first cut. Our cake was actually made by Roger's father's cousin who owns a bakery in Chinatown. They offered to make our cake for a gift, and we couldn't say no. The cake was beautiful and included the two doves I purchased off Ebay as the cake topper. By the way, the cake was delicious and fluffy as well. I love Chinatown cakes. So after eating a little piece of cake, Roger popped the cork of a bottle of champagne. The cork actually hit the wall and popped back towards our guests. The champagne bubbled over all over his hands. HAH! It was funny though....


    (All images copyright Yun Gen Yang)

    During this time, I had the kitchen start bringing out food since we were already running a little late. I literally sat and ate for about 15 minutes before I had to get up again and do my first dress change....

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