The beautiful and stylish wedding hosted at King Valley Golf Club completely took our breath away, but knowing the couple from shooting their engagement photos this was no surprise for us! The link for their soft and romantic engagement pictures you can find here.
Charlene and Quinton’s GTA wedding included the couple’s heritage making it a unique blend of Chinese and Canadian wedding traditions. After shooting these two amazing people engagement photos, we built a wonderful rapport and we were so excited to capture all their beautiful moments on a day completely dedicated to the love they have for each other.
The day started out with Charlene and her wedding party getting ready at her parents’ house. Her bridesmaids, comprised of her sisters and close friends, wore romantic, light pink flowing gowns. After the bridal party was ready, everyone participated in traditional Chinese wedding games. These games force the groom to prove he is worthy to marry the bride and include fun tasks like guessing what Charlene’s favorite bubble tea is. And he knew the answer to this one! The groom must complete the tasks correctly and on time so he may proceed with getting the bride. The final task was for him to go to the room the bride is in and make a promise to her – only then can he take her to marry her and he must carry her out of the house on his back.
The bride and groom further honored their cultural by wearing traditional Chinese wedding outfits for the wedding games. Once they had completed the games, and the groom successfully carried the bride out of the house they proceeded to the King Valley Golf Club for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony.
The tea ceremony is common in Chinese weddings. It is one of the most significant events of the whole day. It includes a formal introduction between the bride and groom and shows respect for their families. This ceremony is held for both sides of the family and is honoring all of the love and care both families have provided to the bride and groom over the years. Historically, getting married meant the couples were leaving their families to start a new life with their spouse so this was a way of saying thank you to their parents before leaving. During this ceremony, the parents were served first – as a sign of respect – followed by the grandparents, great aunts and uncles, then aunts and uncles and finally older siblings. It is very important during this ceremony that the people being served do not have to move to receive their tea; this is a sign of respect.
After the tea has been drunk, the couple will be presented with gifts. Traditionally these gifts are cash given in decorative red envelopes. The amount given is dependent largely on how close the guest is to the couple and their individual situations. Sometimes the close relatives of the couple will give jewelry to the couple, and the couple will immediately put it on as a way to show appreciation of the gift.
After this ceremony finished, the couple changed into more modern wedding outfits: her a long, white wedding dress and him a perfectly fitted navy suit. The wedding ceremony, to officially marry the couple, was held in front of a beautiful mansion on the golf course. Following the wedding ceremony, the guests were welcomed into a beautifully decorated reception with pristine white table clothes and soft pink accents found in the napkins and centerpieces.
While guests were enjoying the reception space, the couple was taking photos out on the golf course: some serious and romantic photos, others very candid and silly. It was the first time for me to drive the golf cart and it was a blast! I could probably start playing golf just to do that more often. This part of the day really allowed us to see how comfortable the couple is in front of the camera and how much they really love each other.
This wedding was a unique showing of Chinese and more modern wedding celebrations. The couple had a lot of fun honoring the culture of their families, and they were able to balance the respect and appreciation of their elders while celebrating the day dedicated to starting their life together. We truly enjoyed spending the day with this couple and learning all about their heritage. Thank you for letting us be a part of your beautiful Wedding Day!
