Vietnamese?

lynnyloo

Any Vietnamese brides or brides whose fiance is Vietnamese?

I am wondering what cultural traditions you are including in your wedding?

nancyt81

i'm vietnamese and was thinking of wearing the traditional dress during our home vietnamese ceremony.  if you aren't having a vietnamese ceremony, you might want to change into a vietnamese dress at your reception.  my mom wants me to change 2 times = 3 outfits.

feminivy

I love the intimacy in having a tea ceremony (vs. vows in front of an audience) and going table to table to toast at the reception (vs two or so toasts to the whole party).  Mos' definitely keeping those two traditions. 

lynnyloo

Nancy - Do you mean a wedding Ao Dai?  If so are you getting it made in New York?  I was thinking about wearing one for the reception or maybe the send off at the end of the reception.  I am Caucasian and my fiance is Vietnamese, but I thought it would be a nice touch to incorporate tradition from his side.  Unfortunately our parents live far away from each other, so we can't go from house to house and are having a destination wedding.

Feminivy - Can you tell me more about the tea ceremony and toasting?

Thanks!

nancyt81

yes, an ao dai.  my fiance (caucasian) and i are actually going to have a "pre-moon" and are going to vietnam with my mom to have the wedding party outfits made and travel around while they are being made.  

here are some websites my aunt compiled for me for ideas:

http://www.aodaivinh.com/

http://aodaiheaven.com

http://www.aodaistyles.com/

http://www.aodai4u.com/

i found 2 that i liked in the first link.  i've read mixed reviews about the 1st link too.  

if you're in the dc area, there's a small vietnamese community/shopping area there (dc/baltimore) that you could probably go to rather than ordering online?

after awhile they all look the same to me so just have fun with it.

when's your wedding?

lynnyloo

Thanks Nancy!

We are thinking about going to Vietnam for our honeymoon or a year or two after the wedding.  I had looked at the first link you suggested there are some on there that are definitely nice.  I just didn't know what the quality would be like.  Yeah, I will probably check out the Falls Church area there is a Vietnamese shopping area there. 

We are hoping for a wedding in October preferably on the 9th, 2010.  But, we haven't booked a reception or ceremony venue yet, so the date may change.

Have fun on your pre-moon!

alexninaday09

My advice is get the Ao Dai fitted! Don't just buy one at the store in "your size". I'm half white and vietnamese and my ao dai was a last minute purchase for my cousin's wedding and it did not fit like it was supposed to! I was uncomfortable the whole night. Usually if you go to a little vietnamese shop that sells them they can do everything you need! Good Luck!(:

twinklevietstar

My fiance is ukrinian, and I plan on having a tradition tea ceremony with the trays and all that good stuff, but we are limiting to 6 trays instead of 8. When my sister got married she has 4 dresses I only plan on two, rewearing my ao dai for the table toasting at the reception.

feminivy

The tea ceremony is when each branch of your families come up one at a time.  You pour tea for them while they give you advice or well wishes and give you their gift personally.  For the reception, you "chao bang" (not sure if i spelled that right, but it means to greet the tables).  At each table, someone says a toast or gives you advice/wellwishes on behalf of the the other guests and hands you the envelopes (with the monetary gifts) from the whole table.  Usually, it's the couple, a representative from the family who speaks, the best man who holds the liquor for the groom to toast (but the groom just pretends to drink; the best man never has to refill), and an aunt or bridesmaid who collects the envelopes in a basket for safekeeping.  Have fun!

osaurus77

My fiance is Vietnamese and so far we haven't put in any Vietnamese traditions. We're going on the Catholic side. His sister got married two years ago to a Vietnamese man. They had one outfit change and also went around and greeted each table.

feminivy

This is pretty accurate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Vietnamese_wedding. Congratulations!

clearheavens

FI and I are Vietnamese.  We are incorporating as much of our culture as possible but we are both Catholic so Catholicism is the main cultural theme.  Keep us up to date on your wedding planning!

lynnyloo

Thanks everyone!

Clearheavens - We will be getting married in a Catholic ceremony as well.  Although, since I am Lutheran and we are getting married in a different area of the country than where we live it is turning into a far more complicated bit of planning than I originally anticipated.