What do you think of the "real" wedding..??
Read this article and see what you think of a married...
Source: www.cnngo.com
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| Leo Han and Yvonne Feng |
One day back in 2002, university graduates Leon Han and Yvonne Feng made the decision to walk down the aisle “naked.”
Although they did don clothes, the union -- called a "naked marriage" ("裸婚") -- lacked some of the other finery that usually accompanies a Chinese wedding: a house, a car, a banquet, a lavish honeymoon or even a ring. They chose to be bound in matrimony but not by material things.
“Looking back, our decision was a bit of a gamble,” says Feng. "Thankfully it paid off.”
Getting married is as easy as buying movie tickets
Perhaps it was because the couple had known each other since high school and got along well, or because the French majors had both planned to migrate to Quebec after graduation, or maybe even because they were both overwhelmed by impulsiveness. So when Han asked Feng “Why don't we get married?” her answer was a simple “Why not?”
Obtaining a marriage certificate was no big deal, according to Feng. She does not rank it as one of her life’s more important moments.
“If you do away with all the rituals and big gestures, marriage does not fundamentally change who you are,” explains Feng, who is now mother to a one-year-old boy.
“If I can buy a movie ticket because I feel like watching a movie, why can’t I get a marriage certificate because I feel like getting married?”
The couple had no intention of holding a wedding ceremony, not back then and not any time soon. Feng chalks this up to trepidation, and a tinge of cowardice.
She says she feels that with no large wedding ceremony, no obligation to wear a wedding band and no pressure to refer to each others’ parents as “Mom” and “Dad,” their relationship feels as fresh as when they first fell in love.
To Feng, getting married in China is like a transaction -- once you’ve accepted red packets from the other party’s parents, you are obligated to acknowledge them as your own, which she wasn’t and isn’t ready to do.
Wedding ceremonies in China also tend to make you feel like you have gatecrashed your parents’ party, says Feng.
The majority of the guests are friends of the bridal couple’s parents, rather than their own.
“If I held a wedding ceremony,” says Feng, “I’d probably wouldn't know most of the people but I’ll still have to smile and drink with them and get quizzed onstage by the MC about when we had our first kiss and other nonsense. I’d rather not be someone’s stage prop.”
And so Feng and Han continued until 2009, when both parties’ parents insisted that they inform their friends and family they were in fact already man and wife. The couple then reluctantly held a gathering to break the news of their marital status to a small circle of close kin.
But even then, they did not wear a gown or suit, nor was there any wedding ring.
“It was too cold to wear a wedding gown in the winter,” says Feng.
“Besides, we were not looking to hold an exclusive red carpet event. We just wanted to show our relatives what we were usually like as a couple. To get all dolled up in an expensive wedding gown would feel too unnatural.”
