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Early on Friday morning, we held the traditional Vietnamese ceremony at my parent’s home. It’s a long-ish and complicated ceremony, so I won’t bore ya’ll with the details - well, that and I’m not certain what everything symbolizes and that morning was just a blur 
We don’t have very many photos of the morning ceremony on digital - the photographer my parents hired that morning used film only and is holding the negatives hostage, so we’ll just have to wait for those. Meanwhile, here are a couple snapshots from Hubby’s uncle’s camera.
waiting around outside for the roast pig to be delivered….
My hubby being a good sport and wearing the traditional Vietnamese ao dai for men and getting pinned
the best man being weird as usual
some groomsmen standing around with the bridesmaids’ bouquets before entering the house…
lining up with the traditional trays…
the roast pig is finally here!
<insert pictures of a short speech and my mom ’coming to get me’ from the bedroom where I had to ‘hide’ until she came to give me away>
I look weird, but my mom looks pretty and you can see the whole ‘outfit’ in this picture.
bowing to our ancestors
the hubs giving me a diamond ring
the tea/cognac ceremony - we offer a drink to our elders and they give us advice/speeches/gifts
my MIL giving me diamond earrings and a diamond necklace (it is traditional to give the bride jewelry on her wedding day)
some portraits…
more to come…
o wow - your wedding traditions are very similar to chinese traditions!
Beautiful Mrs. Plum! Thanks for sharing.
So you had a Friday cultural ceremony and a Saturday traditional? Which one will be your anniversary? When you got married on Saturday, did you feel weird because you had been married the day before, too?
Hi Kandace!
We had a Friday morning cultural ceremony with a Friday evening traditional ceremony followed by an “American” style reception - on Saturday, we had a vietnamese-style reception at another location 
So it did feel a little weird, but not a lot because technically we got married twice in the same day
wow. so much tradition. and it seems to show up the most for weddings. you looked beautiful.
ooh damn. that pig looked like a burnt corpse though.
did people really eat it? or are the legs cut off and then it gets prepared. does the animals head get eaten too? sorry about all the questions. im just curious.
i remember a whole pigs body being cooked on a spit when i was really young and i cant remember anything about it.
lol Lety - it’s ok. Yes, it’s a whole pig minus the intestines and innards - it’s basically just the outside, ribs, meaty parts. Later, after the ceremony, the pig is cut up into pieces and divided up to be split among the 2 families - different parts of the pig symbolize different aspects of family/marriage, but i’m not an expert on what those things mean.
OMG, you look STUNNING in that white ao dai!! I really wanted to wear light blue for my ao dai, but my mother says the only acceptable color is RED!! :/ I wish there was a way to convince her otherwise. May I ask where you had your ao dai made? I’m still deciding whether to order it custom online or go to Orange County (I live in San Diego). Thanks for sharing!!
Kim- you should wear whatever you want! more and more people are doing it - I’ve seen yellows, tangerines, blues, purples, you name it for wedding ao dais.
I had mine custom made in Vietnam when I was there in January for winter vacation at Ao Dai Minh Thu - they have a website too http://www.aodaiminhthu.com or http://www.aodaiminhtu.com I cant remember. Good luck!
I would love to (but will not) be able to pull off a white Ao Dai. I’m a stain MAGNET so when I change into a wedding Ao Dai for my reception, It will have to be something of color. You’re beautiful in yours!
I was beyong delighted to see a wedding ao dai on the weddingbee!! And of course as equally delighted to see the Vietnamese wedding traditions as well
A lot of the Vietnamese traditions are heavily influenced by Chinese traditions since China did dominate Vietnam for almost a thousand years. Actually, the ultra-traditional Vietnamese wedding has 6-8 types of ceremonies…yikes! Nowadays, many of those traditions blend with the Chinese traditions along with more western traditions.
p.s. my wedding ao dai will be gold. So many taboos for Vietnamese weddings depend on how superstitious or conservative your families are.
Loved your blog. My nephew, who is half vietnamese will be getting married in a traditional Vietnamese ceremony later this month. I have to give a toast and want to incorporate some vietnamese words or phrases into it. Can you help with any suggestions and some words or phrases that would be appropriate, along with their English translations.
Thanks very much.
Burt
Hi Burt - that is such a wonderful and thoughtful idea! I wish I could help you out, but my Vietnamese isnt exactly as fluent as I would like. Good luck and congratulations to your nephew!
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Mrs. Plum, Dallas Age and Occupation in 06: 22, Accountant by day/Floral and Event Designer by night and weekends Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Security Admin Engagement Date: December 31, 2004 Wedding Date: June 29, 2007 Venue: Marie Gabrielle Restaurant and Gardens About Me: I have been engaged for about two years now - yes, a long engagement, because my fiance and I wanted to wait until I graduated college, which I did this past summer! He proposed after dating just two months - crazy, I know, but 2 years later, here we are, still crazy in love :-). We are having not one, but TWO weddings and TWO receptions in one weekend - American-style and Vietnamese-style - in Dallas, Texas, where I was born and raised!
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