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Previously in the Toucan Recap Series…
1. Getting Ready
2. Getting in the Door
3. First Look and Tea Ceremony #1
4. Get Me to the Church on Time!
5. The Ceremony and Something Almost Missed
6. We’re Married! Err… Now What?!
————————————–
After our ceremony and formal pictures at the church, we were off to our reception venue where I prepared for our 2nd tea ceremony. For this tea ceremony, I changed out of my wedding dress and into a qua, the traditional Chinese wedding outfit (for more, read Miss Hot Cocoa’s post on this).
At our morning tea ceremony, we only served tea to my parents. For this tea ceremony, we served tea as a sign of gratitude and respect to all of our other elder relatives. Mr. Toucan’s family went first:
The proper way to serve and receive tea is to use both hands.
More of Mr. Toucan’s family (images can be clicked to enlarge):
And then, it was my family’s turn:
The traditional way of serving tea to your elders is to go in some what of a hierarchical order. For example when we served tea to my family, we started with my grandparents on my dad’s side. Then, my dad’s sisters and brothers from oldest to youngest. Then we repeated in similar fashion down my mom’s side of the family.
In addition to red pocket money (hong bao or lai see), many relatives also gave gifts of jewelry after we served them tea. Traditionally, gold is given as a symbol for good luck and fortune.
I got totally blinged out! I even had to move some bracelets to fit more on!
Originally, I didn’t want to go through the trouble of changing into a qua. However, I’m glad my dad convinced me to wear it! I think a lot of our guests really appreciated that I wore a traditional Chinese outfit as well… We even had a bunch of impromptu formal pictures sessions after the tea ceremony!
Mr. Toucan and I joked that these “formals” kind of made us feel like Disney characters because we had a line of guests waiting to take pictures with us!
Do you plan on wearing any ethnic traditional wedding costumes?
*Please credit all pictures to Robert Mirani Photography.
I love your qua, Mrs. Toucan! Do you mind if I ask where you got it? I’m looking for one of my own. We’re doing a Chinese banquet the night before our Western ceremony, and I want to be appropriately decked out in red and gold!
I just want to eat your grandfather all up. He’s so cute!!!!!!
Oh and you looked beautiful too! 
@KateMW: Yeah Yeye (her grandpa) is so cute! unfortunatly is not loger with us 
despite my typos please!!!!
Very nice! I’ll be wearing a qi pao instead of a qua at our banquet (night before the western ceremony).
I will be wearing a Korean hombok for our groom’s dinner, the night before our wedding day! My FMIL gave it to me and I am having it altered so that it will be long enough!
I love the qua and totally wish my lineage had cool clothes! You looked beautiful!
You totally rocked the qua! It’s way hot. Or as hot as a qua could possibly be. LOL.
what a beautiful toucan!!! send all the cultural bridal gown girls my way for photos!!!
@Ada: Unfortunately, I don’t know! My aunt bought it more than 10 yrs ago. 2 of my cousins wore the same qua on their wedding days. I was just lucky enough to borrow it. 
@Miss Hot Cocoa: surprisingly, the qua was much better looking with all my hair and makeup done. I really think it was REALLY unflattering the first time I tried it on (which is why I almost didn’t wear it!).
@everyone: thanks for the comments!
Mrs. Toucan, you look really, really pretty in your qua!
I didn’t know that the proper way to serve tea is with both hands! I just love learning about all of these little cultural things.
teehee about the Disney characters…funny stuff. Your tea ceremony was beautiful!
Your qua is absolutely exquisite! The tea ceremony looked fabulous.
Hi there,
May I ask how big your tea set was? I just attended my cousin’s wedding and she had a traditional tea ceremony so they just rinsed out the cups in a bucket of hot water. It was quite gross and wanted to see how you did your tea ceremony. Did you just have enough cups to go around? Or did you reuse them? Sorry if this is too personal. I am just really stressed out about how to do it at my upcoming wedding next year!
@Anna: We didn’t use a special tea set. I don’t like the idea of sharing cups either. We just used tea cups and saucers from the restaurant. This way we had plenty of cups, and none of the cups were reused.
[...] It’s been so long since my last post! I have about a billion reasons why I haven’t posted, but I’ll spare you from all my lame [...]
[...] Church on Time! 5. The Ceremony and Something Almost Missed 6. We’re Married! Err… Now What?! 7. Tea Ceremony #2 and the Donning of the Qua 8. Dance, Lion, Dance! 9. Intros, “the 1st Dance”, and the Real 1st Dance 10. Cutting the Cake [...]
[...] Church on Time! 5. The Ceremony and Something Almost Missed 6. We’re Married! Err… Now What?! 7. Tea Ceremony #2 and the Donning of the Qua 8. Dance, Lion, Dance! 9. Intros, “the 1st Dance”, and the Real 1st Dance 10. Cutting the Cake [...]
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Mrs. Toucan, Boston Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary Engagement Date: February 18, 2007 Wedding Date: June 7, 2008 Blogging Since: November 07, 2007 Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
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