Day 2 was reserved for the Vietnamese style wedding. Since that was a cross-culture wedding, day two was completely dedicated to the traditional Vietnamese wedding. We were asked to be ready by the 8’o clock in the morning. The view was beautiful from my hotel. In the backdrop were some might mountains and forests. We got ready, went to the 15th floor for the breakfast. The view was much better on the 15th floor.
Watch the entire view below:
I and others from Sam’s family side spent some time, watching the empty streets and enjoying the traditional Vietnamese breakfast. At 8.30 in the morning, we left the hotel. Sam who had stayed last night at Anh’s place came to pick us up in the morning.
We grouped ourselves in the minibus and reached the Anh’s village where the traditional wedding would take place. Sam was dressed up in the Vietnamese groom dress. We reached Anh’s village. There were already people waiting for us in our welcome. Most of the people waiting to welcome us were from the Anh’s family.
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Vietnamese Wedding: Welcome
Anh’s brothers were dressed up in a similarly traditional style and her sisters in different style. Although their style and color were matching. The groom is supposed to bring gifts to the bride’s family. The gift was unloaded from our vehicle. Anh’s cousins brought the gifts to a common meeting hall.
Vietnamese and German Family meeting
We were invited to a big meeting hall. On one side of the table, we, from the Sam side sat. On the other side of the table, Anh’s family sat. We were served green tea with some snacks. The gift was put in the center of the room. We were formally introduced and greeted each other.
Later, Anh’s brother welcomed us in the Vietnamese. One of the Sam and Anh’s common friend translated the welcome message into English for us.
Gifts exchange between bride & groom family
Followed by the formal greeting and introduction, gifts were exchanged between the family along with some photoshoot. Bride and groom family also expressed how lucky they were to have each other in front of all families.
Prayer
After the gift exchange, we went to the worship room of the Anh’s family. Some incense sticks were lit and a silent prayer was offered to God. The prayer was taken care of by Anh’s father. After that, some minute offerings were offered to God and we came down.
Grand Vietnamese wedding lunch
While all of the above things were going inside the house, on the outside of the house in the designated area, all of the villagers had gathered for the grand lunch. In the Vietnamese marriage, one has to invite the entire village as a part of the grand lunch.
The area was packed and humid. There were big standing fans throwing air all around. It was time for the bride and the groom to make their presence on the stage. Sam and Anh progressed to the stage. Brother of Anh formally introduced the groom and the bride to the whole family. With a wave of clappings, they were welcomed and congratulated.
While the entire village had started to have their lunches, we were also invited on a special table nearer to the stage for our lunch. The lunch contained a lot of dishes which were specially prepared for the wedding.
Some of the lunch items that I encountered were:
- rice
- A salad which almost looked like a cake because of its dressing
- shrimps
- raw papaya salad
- chicken
- duck eggs
- beef and other kinds of meat
- rice wine
- soup for the salad
- variety of Vietnamese sweets
Wedding party continues with rice wine
The grand lunch was over. Most of the people had gone. While some decided to stay back and enjoy more the fried foods and rice wine. People would sit in different groups and drink rice wine, smoke a lot, and enjoy the food. Sam’s parents decided to go to the hotel after lunch to take some rest. While I and Christian decided to stay back enjoy more.
We would be invited by different groups sitting over there to share the drink and do cheers. I do not remember but we encountered a lot of cheers and drinks throughout the day. I can say that I and Christian were very high throughout the day. If I had to compare how much of rice wine I drank then that was not less than three bottles of vodka throughout the day.
Were some Vietnamese Gay?
I cannot completely comment on that but based on the behavior of some people, I thought I should write about this topic as well as a part of this blog. There were different kinds of gestures that were made to us which pointed towards the fact that they were interested in having same-sex sex with us.
Overly hugging, overly touching were very common. I cannot say if that was the amount of love that was getting or that was pointed towards same-sex behavior. There were only a few people who were interested in such gestures while others looked fine to us.
Spending the rest of the day before the grand dinner
We spent the rest of the day, playing cards, drinking and smoking continuously. We encountered a lot of people from different personas as well. We met a lot of people. That was fun.
Vietnamese wedding Grand dinner
Soon, it was evening. From afternoon to evening, Christian had already passed out once for having too much alcohol. On top of that, it was very warm and humid that day.
Dinner preparation
By the evening, we felt a bit sober because of the less alcohol stretch for those couple of hours but the gigantic time of dinner was yet to come. I also saw Christian interacting with Vietnamese ladies in the kitchen and helping them fry shrimps and duck eggs.
Vietnamese wedding Grand dinner time
Lights had gone up and the village had gathered again for the grand feast. There was a lot of alcohol, smoke, and food again. We were being invited from table to another table for the cheers and sharing the happiness.
Was he offering me his wife?
Though I have a lot of memories but this one, I wanted to share. I discussed it with Sam as well and everyone found this story a little more amusing.
A drunk guy called me to his table for his cheers. We did cheers and I forgot to shake hands after the drink shot was over. It is customary to shake hands to everyone on the table as a part of the tradition after the drinks. So as I forgot, he got mad at me and spoke a lot in Vietnamese about me which I could not understand but from the tone of his language, I felt that he was angry at me.
A moment later, he asked his wife to pour the drink for me and serve me and have a special cheer with her. We did the same and moments later, he wanted me to sit beside her and drink with her. He even took my hand and put it on the waist of the lady, probably her wife or sister. anyways, this was the experience that I wanted to share.
Wedding Karaoke night, dance, and celebration:
Vietnamese love to do Karaoke at the wedding. I can say that within the second day, there was hardly anytime other than the welcome announcement or special events that there was not any karaoke going on. Especially after they drink. Most of the songs will be local Vietnamese songs.
Dance and celebration
After the dinner was over, we were all invited on the stage to dance and the whole of the village was enjoying seeing us dance when we were drunk. That was one of the most awesome parts of the marriage. We danced till we dropped. I, Christian, Sam, his parents, everyone joined on the stage and tried our best to present the best of our dance moves to the local people.
Later, many people joined us on the stage and drinks flowed like water. We were sweating and were completely wet in sweat. But that was fun.
Some Vietnam war stories
The dance fun lasted for around three hours or until we were tired of our core because of high alcohol and smoke consumption. We went outside under the coll sky to relax when everything was over. I received a lot of compliments and hugs and kisses from people for dancing.
Talks grew and I also heard a lot of Vietnam war stories from old people who fought in the 70s. Sam was translating all of them for me. Later on, we returned to the hotel and fell asleep.
Awesome post!!!