Wedding Blog

The bride’s dress changes during a Chinese banquet is one of my favorite traditions. As a kid attending weddings, I’d eagerly await the bride’s next outfit. I guess this part definitely factored into my “wedding fantasy.”

The tradition stems from the merging of both cultures, East and West. White is usually considered a color for mourning in Chinese culture, but with such beautiful white wedding gowns, who can resist? Often, Chinese brides change into a red or other bright colored traditional-styled dress, either a cheongsam/qipao or hung kwa. Learn more here from the trusty Knot pages on Chinese weddings.

Usually, the bride also changes into a reception dress so that she can boogie down and dance!

I relished the chance to collect a few dresses that really show different sides of my personality. I love classic and vintage styles, but another side of me loves color and funky cuts, so this way, I really get to include all of that in my wedding!

I found one of the most unique dress designers while living in Seattle… Chrissy Wai-Ching. I love this woman! She is so much fun to just chat with and she really cares about your individual style as much as her designs. Chrissy started out as an artist and then forayed into dress design. All the pieces are hand dyed and made of silk. I think they’re really art pieces. I discovered Chrissy while surfing the net and was drawn to her dresses immediately. At that point, I had already purchased my wedding gown and was definitely NOT having buyer’s remorse, but I still needed a reception dress.

The beauty of a Wai-Ching dress is that they’re all customizable in color and style, and each piece really becomes an original because it’s very hard to replicate the colors. All the Wai-Ching dresses offer awesome and creative options for non-traditional wedding gowns (you can always opt for a colored dress to be white or ivory) and reception dresses.

My Wai-Ching Bliss. For color, I selected turquoise/aqua/blue. The top of the dress will be silk satin vs. chiffon, so it’ll make it more dressy for our evening reception. I can’t wait to get it (it’s coming in this month) and try it on.

Other beautiful Wai-Ching pieces…

The Cubana. So hot! I love this one, but the back was a bit too bare for me.

The Monaco. This would be perfect for a bridesmaid dress. I took BM Seattle with me and she just loved all of Chrissy’s dresses too, but couldn’t validate purchasing one without an invitation to some big event.The Inca. This is a dress I considered ordering for the rehearsal dinner, except shortened to knee length, but instead I got the Symphony (see below) in a similar base color as above.

The Symphony. More streamlined and simple. I love the sweetheart neckline. I think it’ll look smashing in red.

The Muse Bolero. I was also going to get a matching bolero for the rehearsal dinner dress but figured it would be too much, but this may be a great bolero option (they’re so hot right now!) for a more modern wedding gown.

I’m definitely becoming a Wai-Ching junkie! If you’re interested in ordering a dress either for the reception or wedding, don’t worry that you’re not there to meet Chrissy in person. She sends great instructions on how to take your measurements and is very responsive to email. Also, she will alter the dress if it doesn’t fit correctly. She’s really good at articulating what you want, even if you don’t quite know what it is. But call her at least 2 months in advance, especially in the summer when her orders begin to stack up. It’s a one-woman operation: Chrissy, dyes, cuts, and sews everything herself.

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