Clearly, Jenny’s nephew’s wedding was the highlight of our stay in Shanghai. An event richer than our Great Wall treek and for which few “laowai” (foreigner) has ever attended. The uniqueness of the event was that the first part of the Wedding was held in small town (50km from Shanghai).

The day started early for us. By 8am, we were all dress-up for the event. We walked over to Jenny’s older brother’s apartment. The tradition calls for the groom to collect the bride at her place and bring her to his parent’s place – where they would typically live after being married. Luckily, the nephew only had to pick up the bride at a local apartment owned by her parents. The bride and groom’s rented car was greeted in the neighborhood by a long string of firecrackers and other fireworks. This tradition is the equivalent of hooking back home. After sharing some symbolic snacks at their “new home” . The wedding party got chauffeured to the bride’s home town. The country side was very nice – a big relief from Shanghai.

We were brought to an elementary school backyard where 300+ people were waiting for the bride and groom. For a few minutes, I had the feeling I was being watched more than the bride! The bride’s parents hired a caterer to serve this large group of relatives, friends and business associates. It felt like half the town were showed up. The lunch went on and on – over 20 shared plates were served at each table. I could not believe the quantity and quality of the food served … it was great. Then came the shock …when Jenny told me that the supper will be even better! After lunch, Jenny and I took a walk to make some room for the next meal. We looked at the bride and groom’s wedding photo albums (taken a few weeks previously – the bride’s wedding dress is included as part of the photo package).

A few hours later, we were back at it. The food just keep on coming. Our 8-people table was missing the bride and groom and had two kids at it – hence we could not deal with all the plates. The meal finally finished with a 10 minutes full size firework. I kept on smiling – not really believing all of this.

A minute after the firework ended, the school’s cafeteria quickly emptied out. We were later chauffeured back to Shanghai – still under the amazement of the day. This was also Jenny’s first experience with a small town wedding.