A modern styled shoot with a bride and groom featuring a beautiful Chinese-American wedding tea ceremony that combines Asian culture, clothing, and traditions with modern Western aesthetics.
Chinese-American Wedding Tea Ceremony
Today, couples are pushing creative boundaries to create tea ceremonies that best represent their personalities and cultural identities. The vendors who designed the shoot set out to create a contemporary, East Meets West wedding that combines new and traditional elements to inspire the modern bride who wants to celebrate both sides of her heritage.
Asian Inspired Gown with Peacock Embroidery
The bride is dressed in a red, Asian-inspired strapless gown decorated with a beautiful gold peacock embroidery. In Chinese culture, the peacock symbolizes dignity and beauty, which is absolutely fitting for a bride on her wedding day. The groom matches the bride with his own red bow-tie, made of brocade silk, a traditional fabric used for Chinese weddings and royalty.
For the tea ceremony, the bride wears a more traditional two-piece dress, called a qun kwa. This dress is hand-beaded with jewels and embroidered with traditional wedding symbols such as the phoenix and peony flower. Her look is completed with crane bird hairpins and gold phoenix bangles.
The elegant and vibrant bouquet was full of bright colors from red to yellow to complement the cheongsam dresses, but it was more than just a bundle of flowers. These warm-toned seasonal flowers also symbolized key traditions in Chinese culture. The pops of yellow represent royalty, while the peony flowers represent peace, beauty, and wealth in Chinese culture.
Calligraphed modern menus gave a nod to Chinese traditions. The menu was beautifully shaped like a fan and each plate was also adorned with custom engraved chopsticks placed in red silk slips. Each silk slip was embroidered with dragons, a common emblem of Chinese weddings as it represents royalty and the groom.
Food is a huge part of Chinese culture and Chinese weddings in general. The cake is inspired by a modern, minimalist style decorated with seasonal florals. The key flavor and decor on the cake is the persimmon fruit, which is symbolic of good luck and longevity in Chinese culture. In addition, there was a spread of traditional Chinese desserts from almond cookies to pineapple cakes. As a nod to the dim sum culture, they also had macarons in adorable dim sum steamers.
They set up the tea ceremony in a garden grove, among persimmon trees. Traditionally, tea ceremonies are hosted at the groom or bride’s family home, but modern couples now often opt for an outdoor tea ceremony for that natural, serene feel. Red lanterns were hung on the trees to create a cozy atmosphere. For drinks, they had a bubble tea stand. Bubble tea has become a phenomenon in itself, and an icon of modern Asian-American culture.
Photography: Lula King Photo and FIlm | Ceremony Venue: Allied Arts Guild | Floral: Love in Bloom Co. | Rentals: One True Love Vintage Rentals | Linens: Abbey Party Rents SF | Hair: Vinnia Tjhin Hair And Makeup Artist | Makeup: Vinnia Tjhin Hair And Makeup Artist | Wedding Dress: East Meets Dress | Groom’s Attire: East Meets Dress | Headpiece: East Meets Dress | Submitted via: Matchology
