Wedding Tea Ceremony – Wuan’s Sister and My Cousins Part 1

The traditional Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony is usually conducted in the morning when the groom goes to the bride’s house to bring her back to the in-law’s residence for the tea ceremony. Wuan and I did not go through that as it would have been too much hassle with me in Penang and her parent’s house in Ipoh. The other way is for the bride to be picked up from a service apartment somewhere in the vicinity of the groom’s residence. Instead, we opted to conduct the wedding tea ceremony at the restaurant just before the banquet.

The usual way to conduct the tea ceremony is to serve the parents first followed by uncles, aunts, siblings and finally cousins who are older than the bride and groom, in that order. I was advised that we do not have to do it that way as it would drag on for too long if we have to go by seniority. What we did was to serve tea to the relatives as they arrive.

The photographs in this wedding tea ceremony series are not in chronological order. I have rearranged them according to their seniority in the family. On my mother’s side of the family, brothers and cousins are addressed as “Ah Hia” which is “brother” in Hokkien and Teochew. The wives are addressed as “Ah Soh”. Cousin sisters are “Ah Ji” and their husbands “Ji Hu”.

Peter & Wuan's Traditional Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony - Kah Che and Che Fu - Wuan's sister and brother-in-law.
Kah Che and Che Fu – Wuan’s sister and brother-in-law.

Peter & Wuan's Traditional Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony - Pheng Chee.
My paternal cousin.

Peter & Wuan's Traditional Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony - Peter and Mary - Maternal cousin and wife.
Maternal cousin and wife.

Peter & Wuan's Traditional Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony - Ah Choo - Maternal cousin's wife.
Maternal cousin’s wife.

Peter & Wuan's Traditional Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony - Ah Khoon and Ah Eng - Maternal cousin and wife.
Maternal cousin and wife.

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.