There are so many rituals and ceremonies in Chinese weddings, it’s actually mind boggling!

Here’s a simple breakdown of what I know so far:

• Bride and Groom generally get their wedding photos done a few weeks beforehand so their professional photos can be displayed at the reception venue.
• The night before the wedding, both the Bride and the Groom take part in a Hair Combing ceremony.
• The morning of the wedding, the Bride will have a ‘Sibling Feast’ which symbolises an official farewell meal. After this meal, the Bride and Bridesmaids arrive to get ready.
• Groom and groomsman will head to the Brides family home where Bridesmaids and sisters will block the Groom and groomsman from taking the Bride away. The Bridesmaids will ask the Groom to complete tasks (pretty much games here) to express and prove his love for the Bride.
• Tea Ceremony is conducted to pay respect to parents, grandparents and other married Elders. Here Lucky Red Envelopes (red packets with money) are exchanged from both the Bride and Groom to the Elders.
• The entire Bridal party leaves the Bride’s family home to go conduct the Tea Ceremony at the Groom’s family home.
• Both the Bride and Groom’s family generally have a big lunch at each house.
• During this time, a ceremony can be held if they want to do it the “white people way” lol
• The Reception now begins where after dinner, speeches and games are held.

I’m pretty sure i’ve left some things out but will update this list! 

My fiance and I have been engaged for about 8 months now and have decided to get married in 2012.

We haven’t really made any decisions besides the date we want to get married… Even that is flexible!
We want to keep costs to as low as we can. After all, our top priority is to get that house deposit so we can call a house our home.

I’ve got options. Go for the traditional white european wedding with a ceremony and reception at a nice intimate venue, or embrace my culture and do it the Chinese way.
Perhaps I could even merge the both – who knows.

So the next few blog posts is all about exploring my culture while learning more about traditional Chinese wedding rituals.

Scout Cupcakes

2 eggs
Small bottle of cream (125mL will do)
1/4 tsp of Vanilla
3/4 cups of Caster Sugar
1 cup of Self-Raising flour

Method

1. Break 2 eggs into a cup measure and fill to the top with fresh cream.
2. Pour into a large mixing bowl and beat on high with electric mixers for 1 minute.
3. Add 1/4 teaspon of vanilla essence and 3/4 cup caster sugar.
4. Beat for another 3 minutes.
5. Sift in 1 cup of self raising flour (I normally use standard flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt).
6. Fold to combine taking care not to over mix.
7. Spoon into 12 cupcake cases (or more if you have extra batter) and bake for about 12-15 minutes at 180 degrees celcius until golden and springy to the touch.
8. Remove after baking and cool on wire racks before icing.

To make Chocolate cupcakes, add 2 tablespoons of Cocoa when sifting flour.

Butter-cream Icing

150g butter
3-1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp cream
Few drops red food colouring

Method

1. Beat butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla and cream to achieve light and fluffy consistency. If it is a little thick, add water drop by drop.

*For chocolate butter-cream icing, add 1 tbsp cocoa when sifting icing sugar.

Once made, divide the butter-cream icing in half. Add a few drops of red food colouring to one half, leaving the remaining half white. Decorate alternate cupcakes pink and white.

I’ve just made pink cupcakes and added fresh Strawberries on top!

Expect many rants, random links and a bunch of pictures to come

Enjoy

Cam x