Adding a tea ceremony without changing your wedding timeline
The video compares three places a tea ceremony can sit in the day and what you give up with each. For couples blending Chinese or Vietnamese tradition with a Western wedding.
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Three places the tea ceremony can go
There are various ways a tea ceremony can happen: sometimes in the morning, as its own event, and sometimes right between the ceremony and the reception, during cocktail hour. If you plan it for the morning, know that it takes a bit of time and that we start coverage very early.
Not everyone wants a very elaborate or separate block of time for it. One option we have seen a few times is to incorporate the tea ceremony into the Western ceremony itself: the tea is served during the portion where the officiant is speaking to you, once that part wraps up.
The officiant says something like, let's celebrate with the traditional tea ceremony. Someone brings up the tea, and all you have to do is serve your parents from the front row. It genuinely combines Western and Eastern ceremonies and does not take up much time. The drawback is less interaction; usually the parents cannot say too much.
The other option is to hold the tea ceremony around cocktail hour. If you are planning that, make sure we are absolutely able to capture the photos beforehand. And you may not have time to change into a Chinese or traditional outfit, because a tea ceremony during cocktail hour often means no time to change.
Inside the ceremony: what to arrange
This version needs a little choreography. Talk to your officiant about where it fits; in the video it comes after the officiant has spoken to you. Decide who carries the tea forward, and have it poured and ready off to the side.
Seat both sets of parents in the front row on the aisle, and let them know in advance that they will be receiving tea, not giving a speech. The trade-off: a few quiet words, a sip, a bow, and back to the ceremony.
Cocktail hour and the outfit question
Cocktail hour is tempting because your guests fill it on their own. But it is also the usual window for photos of the two of you, the wedding party and the family, which is why the video's condition is firm: those photos must be captured beforehand.
A morning tea ceremony is usually done in a qipao or ao dai; a cocktail hour one often is not, because there is no time to change out of the ceremony dress and back. If the traditional outfit matters to you, cocktail hour is probably not the option.
What our team does about this on the day
Morning: an early start
For a morning tea ceremony we begin coverage very early, photograph the getting-ready, the entrance and the games, then the tea and the family photos, before moving to the ceremony venue. The day is long, so we keep moving.
In the ceremony: in position
When the tea is built into the Western ceremony, we know from your timeline exactly when the officiant will call for it. As the tea comes forward we move to the aisle for the serving and the parents' faces, then step back.
Cocktail hour: photos first
If the tea ceremony is during cocktail hour, we photograph the two of you and the groups we had planned before it begins. Then we cover the tea in whatever you are wearing, since there is usually no time to change.
Couples usually ask
Can a tea ceremony be part of the Western ceremony?
Yes. The tea is served after the officiant finishes speaking to you and invites everyone to celebrate with the traditional tea ceremony; you serve your parents from the front row. It takes very little time; the trade-off is that parents usually cannot say much.
Is cocktail hour a good time for a tea ceremony?
It can be, with two conditions. First, we need to capture your photos beforehand, since cocktail hour is normally when those happen. Second, you may not have time to change into a Chinese or traditional outfit. If both are fine, it keeps the timeline intact.
What do we lose by not doing a morning tea ceremony?
Mostly time with your family. The morning version has room for the gift exchange, tea for every pair, and the parents' words to you. The ceremony version compresses that to a few minutes with parents only; cocktail hour keeps the tea but usually not the outfit.
Do we need extra coverage hours for a tea ceremony?
For a morning tea ceremony, coverage starts very early, so the day usually needs more hours than one without it. For the ceremony or cocktail hour versions, no; the tea fits inside time we are already covering, which is the point of them.
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