It is 100% true!
A reflection of a young Vietnamese-American about
Vietnamese wedding in the U.S.
======================================
- Wedding reception is always at a Chinese restaurant.
- You got a wedding invitation but felt like a funeral one.
- You know it's time to pay your due.
- It always happens on Holidays that really messes up all your plans
and vacation.
- You've gone to too many weddings it feels like you got one every
other week.
- Your saving is drained out because you've attended too many of them.
- The only people making money from this are those Chinese restaurant
owners.
- You came in two hours late but they haven't even started.
- Only Americans or other nationalities would come on time. And they
felt like a fool.
- Nobody brings gifts. Only envelopes (with cash or check) are
accepted.
- The music is so loud you have to yell to talk to the others.
- Your table is full of strangers. And nobody talks to nobody.
- The tables are so cramped you feel like sitting on an crowded
airplane.
- The real actors or actresses are the parents who're running the show.
- The bride/groom have only limited supporting roles.
- And the Oscar goes to the parents of course.
- The MC can't even remember bride/groom's name. And neither can you.
- It takes half an hour just to introduce family members on both sides.
- You wish their speechs are like the one in English: Thanks for coming
and enjoy the food.
- They served 10 dishes but you felt like you haven't eaten anything.
- The food is so predictable and boring that makes your yesterday
leftover looks so good.
- It's against the law if a woman tries to get her own food. She has to
wait for her male partner to serve her. What a nice custom!
- For guys, it's a crime if they're not serving their female partners.
- By now you should memorize the menu by heart.
- There's a half hour intermission between dishes. Those shark fin
soups taste like rubber bands.
- By the time you see the fried fish and fried rice you swear you wanna
throw up.
- Waiters / waitresses are nowhere to be found.
- Waiters / waitresses treated you like you wouldn't give them any tips
even though they already charged tips up front.
- After dumping the food on the table they quickly disappeared into the
kitchen like a ghost.
- They took away dishes even though you haven't touched the food.
- There're two waiters for every 100 people. You say hello to the
bride/groom at the front door and that's the last time you talk to them
or they talk to you like you never met each other.
- Everyone dresses like they're going to a funeral.
- Everything is black and gray.
- It's 100 degrees outside and you're wearing a suit, a long sleeve
shirt, a tie around your neck...
- You swear you could explode any minute.
- The most exciting moment of the night is when the groom was forced to
kiss the bride.
- Everyone got so excited and making all kinds of noises like they
never saw someone kissing before.
- The bride changes so many clothes as if she is on a fashion show.
- Bride/groom behave like they're on drug or something.
- They smile softly, speak politely but their minds are somewhere else.
- Even on the happiest day of their life you rarely see them laugh.
- Except for the bride/groom and mates, average age for people there is
like 60.
A reflection of a young Vietnamese-American about
Vietnamese wedding in the U.S.
======================================
- Wedding reception is always at a Chinese restaurant.
- You got a wedding invitation but felt like a funeral one.
- You know it's time to pay your due.
- It always happens on Holidays that really messes up all your plans
and vacation.
- You've gone to too many weddings it feels like you got one every
other week.
- Your saving is drained out because you've attended too many of them.
- The only people making money from this are those Chinese restaurant
owners.
- You came in two hours late but they haven't even started.
- Only Americans or other nationalities would come on time. And they
felt like a fool.
- Nobody brings gifts. Only envelopes (with cash or check) are
accepted.
- The music is so loud you have to yell to talk to the others.
- Your table is full of strangers. And nobody talks to nobody.
- The tables are so cramped you feel like sitting on an crowded
airplane.
- The real actors or actresses are the parents who're running the show.
- The bride/groom have only limited supporting roles.
- And the Oscar goes to the parents of course.
- The MC can't even remember bride/groom's name. And neither can you.
- It takes half an hour just to introduce family members on both sides.
- You wish their speechs are like the one in English: Thanks for coming
and enjoy the food.
- They served 10 dishes but you felt like you haven't eaten anything.
- The food is so predictable and boring that makes your yesterday
leftover looks so good.
- It's against the law if a woman tries to get her own food. She has to
wait for her male partner to serve her. What a nice custom!
- For guys, it's a crime if they're not serving their female partners.
- By now you should memorize the menu by heart.
- There's a half hour intermission between dishes. Those shark fin
soups taste like rubber bands.
- By the time you see the fried fish and fried rice you swear you wanna
throw up.
- Waiters / waitresses are nowhere to be found.
- Waiters / waitresses treated you like you wouldn't give them any tips
even though they already charged tips up front.
- After dumping the food on the table they quickly disappeared into the
kitchen like a ghost.
- They took away dishes even though you haven't touched the food.
- There're two waiters for every 100 people. You say hello to the
bride/groom at the front door and that's the last time you talk to them
or they talk to you like you never met each other.
- Everyone dresses like they're going to a funeral.
- Everything is black and gray.
- It's 100 degrees outside and you're wearing a suit, a long sleeve
shirt, a tie around your neck...
- You swear you could explode any minute.
- The most exciting moment of the night is when the groom was forced to
kiss the bride.
- Everyone got so excited and making all kinds of noises like they
never saw someone kissing before.
- The bride changes so many clothes as if she is on a fashion show.
- Bride/groom behave like they're on drug or something.
- They smile softly, speak politely but their minds are somewhere else.
- Even on the happiest day of their life you rarely see them laugh.
- Except for the bride/groom and mates, average age for people there is
like 60.
- The music is as old as people at the wedding.
- They sing broken love songs at the wedding. How thoughtful!
- The band playing music like they're working on an assembly line.
- The video light is so bright it almost blinds you.
- All of the sudden, the music stops. Here comes .......the 'envelope
collector'. You couldn't help but thinking Apr-15 already?
- The whole time there you keep wondering why do you have to be here
just because your parents know their parents.
- At the end everyone tries to sneak out like they're guilty of
something.
- By the time the MC says good bye, everyone is long gone.
- And that was the last time you saw the bride/groom in your life.
- They sing broken love songs at the wedding. How thoughtful!
- The band playing music like they're working on an assembly line.
- The video light is so bright it almost blinds you.
- All of the sudden, the music stops. Here comes .......the 'envelope
collector'. You couldn't help but thinking Apr-15 already?
- The whole time there you keep wondering why do you have to be here
just because your parents know their parents.
- At the end everyone tries to sneak out like they're guilty of
something.
- By the time the MC says good bye, everyone is long gone.
- And that was the last time you saw the bride/groom in your life.
