The Story Behind the Wedding

“The national leader is coming for a visit, our wedding venue has been requisitioned, we have to change the location temporarily!”

At 9:00 in the morning the day before the wedding, Jiaying was still washing up, and I hadn’t gotten up yet. I heard the noise outside, my parents and my friend Li Chaohui, who arrived the day before, were anxiously discussing in the living room. Normally I get angry when I encounter urgent matters, but this time I was very calm.

The wedding venue we booked a year ago, Cuipingshan Guesthouse, is the best garden-style lawn wedding venue in Shijiazhuang. Its only problem is that it belongs to the government reception venue, like Diaoyutai, although it is usually open to the public, but if there is a government activity, it needs to be vacated unconditionally. At that time, we thought that there would be no leaders coming during the May 1st holiday. The people at Cuipingshan also said that there were almost no conflicts with government activities at this time.

When I told Jiaying the news, she was also very calm. She said that every time she encounters a big event, she often misses it by a little bit at the last minute.

On such a good day as May 1st, not to mention the lawn, even hotel weddings need to be booked in advance. Although our wedding has been postponed twice, it is too late to change the time this time. It is already the day before the wedding, Jiaying’s family has already set off from Taiyuan, and we have many friends who have already set off from afar.

Fortunately, Cuipingshan Guesthouse helped us contact two lawn venues in the same Luquan District for us to try. We have been to one of the venues, and it has been booked. We haven’t heard of the other venue. When we called and asked, it hadn’t been booked yet, so we hurried over to take a look.

At this time, Jiaying’s childhood friend Ren Xiao and her husband Liang Jingrui also drove to my house from afar. My parents and the housekeeper drove one car, and Liang Jingrui took Ren Xiao, me, Jiaying, and Li Chaohui to set off quickly. Because of the traffic jam on the road, Liang Jingrui took a shortcut according to the navigation, and arrived 20 minutes earlier than my parents. This venue is a resort hotel, located in a relatively remote location in Luquan District, with a newly built lawn this year, and the grass has not fully grown yet. There is also a dining hall.

Rongyi Resort Hotel Lawn

Although the environment of this lawn can’t compare with Cuipingshan, and it’s not as good as some other lawn venues we’ve seen before, it’s ultimately a place where we can hold a lawn wedding, and the environment is not bad. The dishes here are also okay, but they are not pre-made dishes like Cuipingshan. Suddenly making so many tables of dishes, I don’t know if they can make it. We quickly told the manager to book this place. When my parents arrived, they just had to negotiate the price and dishes with them.

The originally scheduled wedding venue, Cuipingshan Guesthouse Lawn

Later I learned that there were 6 weddings at Cuipingshan on May 1st, and all of them except ours were postponed. It was not easy for us to quickly grab a venue. Of course, most of the other 5 bride and groom are locals, and there are fewer guests coming from other places, which may also be a reason for their choice to postpone.

Early Preparation

Determine the Wedding Venue

We started preparing for the wedding as early as after we got engaged on May 1, 2021. That May Day, we visited many wedding venues in the urban area of Shijiazhuang, including indoor and lawn weddings. After seeing them, we were attracted by the romance of lawn weddings.

If the lawn wedding is completely Western-style, it is usually a buffet on the lawn. But considering that most of the guests are relatives from home, they are not used to standing on the lawn for a buffet, so it is more reliable to choose the traditional round table meal (that is, eating around the round table). Therefore, we need to book two adjacent venues, first hold the wedding ceremony on the lawn, and then move to the indoor hall for dinner.

In addition, our family is still relatively traditional. According to customs, there are ceremonies such as blocking the door at the bride’s house, changing the mouth to respect tea, getting on and off the sedan chair, and changing the mouth to respect tea at the groom’s house in the morning. Since my wife is from Shanxi and the lawn wedding venue is quite far from my own home, I’m afraid there won’t be enough time to really go to my house to change the mouth and respect tea, so we chose to open a suite in the hotel separately for the two families, decorated as the bride’s home and the groom’s home.

In terms of wedding venues, we initially looked at several lawn wedding venues such as the Botanical Garden, Century Golf, and Guoshan Guesthouse in Luquan. We felt that Guoshan Guesthouse in Luquan was pretty good, and it was not booked out on May 1, 2022 a year later. Just at this time, a relative at home recommended Cuipingshan Guesthouse to us. We took a look and found that the environment here is much better than Guoshan. The lawn is built against the mountain, the entire park is full of birds and flowers, and there are waterfalls, rivers, and small lakes. There is almost nothing to pick on. Although there is a risk of being requisitioned here, we still booked here.

Find a Wedding Company

After booking the venue, the next step is to find a wedding company. We also visited several wedding companies and compared prices. Although the services of the wedding company include the host, photography and videography, and makeup artist, in fact, the host and photography and videography are not internal to the wedding company, but are independent companies, and the wedding company is also in a cooperative relationship with them. For example, the most famous host company in Shijiazhuang is Three People. Therefore, visiting a few more places will make the cost of wedding projects more transparent.

• The host has tiers from 800 to 3000. The Three People website has videos of their previous weddings, and some have personal talent shows, so you can see the different styles of different hosts. We don’t like hosts who are too greasy, and we repeatedly remind that the background music should not be too noisy. Many Chinese weddings have deafening background music during meals, which I find very uncomfortable. We feel that hosts priced above 1500 have a satisfactory level.
• The videographer is generally 3 positions, with prices of 3000 for two positions, 4800 for three positions, and 7800 for three positions. Although the 7800 has the best output effect, we have always wanted it, but after considering it for a long time, we felt it was too expensive, so we finally chose the 4800.
• The photographer has prices of 2400 for a single position, 3000 for two positions, 4200, and 5800 for four positions. We feel that the difference between 4200 and 5800 is not big, so we chose 4200.
• The makeup artist has 1880, and there are more expensive ones. We feel that the makeup artists found on Meituan are generally a few hundred to one or two thousand. 1880 is already very expensive, so we didn’t pick a more expensive one.

Our budget for the wedding was 30,000. We asked the wedding planner to design within the range of 30,000. In the final quotation given to us by the wedding planner, the videographer’s price was reduced from 4800 to 4500, and the photographer’s price was reduced from 4200 to 3600, which seems to have a lot of room for negotiation.

Wedding expenses list

We chose a wedding planning company that was relatively cheap and just starting out. As it turned out, although their fees were relatively low, their professionalism was lacking, which led to several problems later on. For example, three months before the wedding, they suddenly said that the host and videographer were not available and needed to be replaced. Although we had booked a year in advance, the wedding planner did not confirm the schedule with the host and photographer, which is why they only found out three months in advance that they were not available. Fortunately, the new host and videographer they found for us were very professional, especially the short film produced by the videographer, which exceeded our expectations.

Wedding Design

After choosing the wedding planning company, we entered the wedding design stage. The wedding planning company gave the groom and the bride a questionnaire each, requiring the two not to communicate, each to complete their own questionnaire, to write out their true feelings, and then to send it to the wedding planner.

After submitting the questionnaire, the wedding planning company came up with a design draft for the wedding scene: Wedding scene design draft by the wedding planning company (PDF, 74 MB)

We proposed dozens of modifications to this design draft, and after several rounds of modifications, the design was finally settled. The fountain and drone we wanted were all there on the wedding day, which was very touching. We also printed 100 photos as a photo wall. The wedding planner also specially customized a popular balloon a few days before the wedding.

Popular balloon and dessert table

Purchasing Wedding Items

The wedding planning company provided us with a list of items, and my parents went to the South Third Street market to buy a lot of things. South Third Street is the largest wholesale market in Shijiazhuang, and in fact, many of the small items we bought on Taobao are shipped from South Third Street.

Some of them are not easily spoiled, such as the word “happiness”, which was prepared several months in advance. Some are easily spoiled, such as food, which was purchased one month in advance. For example, just for candy, my parents bought six kinds, including Russian chocolate, White Rabbit, Xu Fu Ji crispy candy, milk candy, Dove chocolate, coconut candy, some of which were put into the candy box, and some were left for the banquet scene. Because our wedding was postponed twice, if the food was purchased too early, it might have gone bad.

Wedding items cost list (1)
Wedding items cost list (2)

Wedding items list provided by the wedding planning company (1)
Wedding items list provided by the wedding planning company (2)
Wedding items list provided by the wedding planning company (3)

Wedding items list provided by the wedding planning company (PDF)

Inviting Wedding Guests

In fact, we sent out two wedding invitations. The first time was in early April 2022, when we planned to have the wedding on May 1st, thinking that although Shanghai was under lockdown due to the epidemic, it should be over in a month. We didn’t expect it to last so long and affect major cities across the country. Cui Ping Mountain does not allow those who have been to Beijing within 14 days to enter, so we couldn’t hold the wedding and had to postpone it.

We didn’t particularly choose the date of our wedding, we just thought of choosing a day that would be convenient for everyone to come, so it would be best on a Sunday or during a holiday. Moreover, a lawn wedding needs grass, so it definitely won’t work in winter, and it’s not comfortable to be sweating all over in summer. So we chose July 17th. We didn’t expect that there would be an epidemic in Beijing at that time, so we had to postpone it again.

That period was indeed very magical. Our brothers in Shanghai could still get vegetables at first, but later most of them couldn’t. The company organized various departments to deliver vegetables to their homes. Probably because of the vegetable delivery, our team atmosphere evaluation (scored anonymously by team colleagues) in Shanghai was the highest.

For people like me who often travel to different places, Beijing has the strictest restrictions. If there is a case in the city where you have been in the past 14 days (later 7 days), you are not allowed to enter Beijing. So often after going to a place on a business trip, the health code would pop up a window, and then I would have to find a place to “wash the code”. Among the places I often go to, Hangzhou is the most frequently used for washing codes, because most of my team members are in Hangzhou, so I spend the most time in Hangzhou. According to the total number of days stayed since 2012, it even surpasses Shijiazhuang, second only to Beijing and Hefei.

On July 17, 2022, we were not sure whether we could hold the wedding, so we didn’t even send out wedding invitations. After missing July, it was too hot to hold the wedding in August, and September was close to the congress, so the control could only be stricter, so we thought about holding it next year. We felt that it should be opened up after the congress, and May 1, 2023, should be relatively safe. We didn’t expect the full opening to be more sudden than we thought. In January 2023, we officially decided to hold the wedding on May 1st, made a new wedding invitation, and sent out invitations to all our relatives and friends in early April.

While sending out the invitations, we recorded information such as whether accommodation and pick-up were needed, and made it into a table, which was distributed to the room supervisor and vehicle supervisor.

Arranging Wedding Personnel

Firstly, my parents contacted our relatives at home and discussed who would be needed to help the day before and on the day of the wedding. We negotiated the division of labor for the wedding personnel and the process for the day of the wedding. My father drafted the following documents and distributed them to the wedding preparation team members.

Supervisor Division of Labor Details (docx)
Main Staff Responsibilities (docx)

Vehicle Supervisor Work Arrangement

I. Vehicle Supervisor:

Drivers: (7 people)

II. Work on April 30

1. Set up a WeChat group for drivers for timely communication.
2. According to the arrangement of the host family, reasonably dispatch drivers to the train station and airport for pick-up. (Drivers for pick-up should wear corsages and small red flags for easy identification).
3. Inform the pick-up guests of their name, gender, contact number, relationship with the groom and bride, car (train) number, arrival time at the station and airport, etc. via WeChat.
4. Arrive at the station or airport 30 minutes in advance, communicate with the guests, pay close attention to the arrival information, prepare for the pick-up, and determine the pick-up location (wait for the person at a place with a clear sign that is easy to find).
5. After picking up the guests, inform the person who arranged the pick-up (whoever asked you to pick up should be informed), and safely bring the guests to the hotel guest room area. The specific building number is arranged by the groom and the groom’s parents.
6. Arrange drivers (some personnel) to transport alcohol to the Xishan Image Hotel as needed.
7. The matter of sticking red paper on the manhole cover in front of the 9th and 6th buildings of the hotel in the evening.

III. Work on May 1

1. At 6:18, when the groom comes downstairs to the 1st floor lobby of Building 9, arrange for 6 hand-held confetti cannon personnel (groom’s friends) to twist and release 6 confetti cannons.
2. At 6:38, arrange for 6 hand-held confetti cannon personnel to wait for the groom to arrive at the lobby of Building 6 and twist and release 6 confetti cannons.
3. At 7:28, arrange for 6 hand-held confetti cannon personnel to wait for the wedding party to reach the 1st floor lobby of Building 6 and twist and release 6 confetti cannons.
4. At 7:58, arrange for 6 hand-held confetti cannon personnel to wait for the wedding party to reach the lobby of Building 9, and twist and release 6 confetti cannons towards the groom and bride. Note: After the wedding party is received, organize personnel to clean up the confetti.
5. After the wedding banquet, reasonably arrange for guests who need to be picked up and dropped off, and assign drivers to send them to the station.

Room Supervisor Work Arrangement

I. Room Supervisor:

Members: (3 people)

II. Work on April 30

1. At 10:00 in the morning, the room supervisor arrives at the front desk of Building 6 of the hotel, arranges the check-in procedures for the out-of-town guests attending the wedding, fills in the guest accommodation statistics form, reminds the guests that the breakfast location is at the buffet restaurant on the 1st floor, the time is from 7:00 to 9:30 in the morning, meals are served with the room card, and guides the guests to take the elevator to the 6th floor.
2. Arrange for the room decoration team members to implement the wedding room decoration, first go to the duty supervisor to collect the wedding room decoration related items, and then separately decorate the groom and bride’s rooms with festive decorations, stick the word “Xi”, decorate with balloons, and place fruits, dried fruits, and flowers in place. (Except for bedding, other areas are decorated on the same day).
3. Place fruit plates and snacks in the rooms used by the leaders of Buildings 9 and 6.
4. Count and store the breakfast for the early risers on May 1.

III. Work on May 1

1. Before 5:00, place breakfast in (30 servings in the guest lounge on the third floor of Building 9, 20 servings in the guest lounge on the 6th floor of Building 6) for early risers to eat. (Heat part of the milk)
2. Start making the bed for the groom’s wedding room at 5:18, place the template for “early birth of a precious child” and place the dried fruit for “early birth of a precious child”, and place the bed-pressing doll at the head of the bed. After the bed is tidied up, check the overall decoration of the wedding room and achieve the best ideal effect.
3. Before 6:28, collect the unused breakfast from Buildings 9 and 6 and hand it over to the duty supervisor, and clean up the on-site debris.
4. Before 9:00, take the ground floating balloons outside the groom and bride’s door to the banquet hall of Building 9 and place them on both sides of the door.
5. Before 2:00 in the afternoon, supervise all guests to check out and remind guests to bring all personal belongings. Contact the vehicle supervisor to arrange for vehicles to send guests who need to be sent to the station.
6. After the wedding banquet, arrange for its members to take down the “Xi” characters and other decorations in the groom and bride’s room that can be taken down, pack them up and hand them over to the duty supervisor.
7. After check-out, hand over the guest accommodation statistics form to the host family and handle the settlement.

Banquet Supervisor Work Arrangement

I. Supervisor:

Members: (2 people)

II. Work on April 30

1. After arriving at the hotel, contact the banquet hall waiter to test the stage sound and microphone, and post the word “Xi” (1 1.1 meter large round Xi on the east wall of the aisle, 12 50cm square Xi in the hall, 2 50cm square Xi at the entrance of the hall).
2. Around 6:00 in the afternoon, confirm the dinner time and number of people with the host family, and transport the dinner beer, drinks, cigarettes, etc. to the dining place (dining room reserved at Xishan Image Hotel).
3. After all the wedding site decorations are basically in place, communicate with the host family, and organize the helpers to go to the dining place for dinner.

III. Work on May 1

1. At 9:30, contact the banquet hall waiter to open the door, test the banquet hall stage sound and microphone, and ensure that the violinist’s performance and the host’s speech can be used normally.
2. At 10:00, organize its members to start arranging table seats in the banquet hall (prepare 1 table for 18 tables), and place the seating cards on the dining table according to the plan.
3. Each table is set with: 2 bottles of Shiba Jiufang 12 years, 1 bottle of Hawthorn Tree, 1 bottle of Coca-Cola, 1 plate of sunflower seeds, peanuts and candy, 10 candy boxes.
4. There are also 12 bottles of Great Wall Dry Red, German barrel beer, mineral water, Dahongyun cigarettes, etc., provided according to the needs of guests.
5. Start contacting the restaurant waiter to serve cold dishes at 11:00, and serve all cold dishes before 11:28.
6. After the lawn wedding is successfully completed, assist the reception staff to guide the relevant personnel to their seats according to the table card position.
7. After the guests are seated, supervise the service personnel to serve the brewed tea, the host family thanks and announces the start of the wedding banquet, and immediately notify the restaurant waiter to serve hot dishes.
8. After the guests start dining, arrange for the banquet helpers to take turns dining.
9. After the wedding banquet, collect the remaining alcohol, peanuts, sunflower seeds, candy, cigarettes, etc., and hand them over to the duty supervisor.
10. The wedding banquet is successfully concluded.

Arrangement of the Bridegroom’s Supervisor

I. Supervisor:

1. Participants: Groom, 4 best men
2. Bridegroom’s party: (3 people)

II. Work on May 1

1. At 5:00 in the morning, the bridegroom’s supervisor organizes the bridegroom’s party to have breakfast (3rd floor of Building 9)
2. Decorate the sightseeing wedding car before 5:28 (We are getting married, car ear flowers) arrangement.
3. At 5:58, gather all the bridegroom’s party to the groom’s room on the 3rd floor of Building 9 (9311) and get ready to go. At 6:08, follow the wedding host’s bridegroom’s departure ceremony.
4. Bring all the props for the groom and best man to pick up the bride (groom’s bouquet, corsage, 5 fans, 5 sunglasses, red envelopes for welcoming the bride), and distribute them to the relevant personnel before departure.
5. At 6:18, the host announces the departure to pick up the bride, leading the bridegroom’s team to depart from the groom’s room on time.
6. Arrange for someone to call the elevator in advance to facilitate the bridegroom’s team to take the elevator downstairs smoothly and promptly.
7. After arriving at the lobby of Building 9, guide the groom, best man, and bridegroom’s party to take the wedding electric car in a clockwise direction to the bride’s residence on the 6th floor of Building 6 (6610).
8. At 6:28, remind the best man to notify the bridesmaid by phone that they are about to arrive at the bride’s residence.
9. Arrive at the door of the bride’s boudoir before 6:38, start the door-blocking game, and hand over the prepared red envelopes to the best man in turn. (Give as much as needed according to the plot). Note: ① 30 small red envelopes for the best man to block the door (5 yuan/20, 10 yuan/10), 4 large red envelopes for blocking the door (66 yuan/2, 88 yuan/2), 40 small red envelopes for the game gift (5 yuan/20, 10 yuan/20). ② 2 large red envelopes for the groom to find shoes information (100 yuan each).
10. After entering the bride’s living room, participate in the tea ceremony of the bride and groom under the host of the wedding host. When the best man and bridesmaid make trouble in the bridal chamber, accompany the bride’s parents and relatives to chat.
11. Arrange for someone to call the elevator in advance to facilitate the bridegroom’s team to take the elevator downstairs smoothly and promptly.
12. Lead the bridegroom’s team to take the elevator downstairs in an orderly manner, arrange for the groom, bride, and the elders of the bridegroom’s party to take the wedding electric car, and other members of the bridegroom’s party follow on foot. At 7:28, the sightseeing wedding car departs on time in a clockwise direction to the groom’s room.
13. At 7:58, the bridegroom’s team arrives at the groom’s room on the 3rd floor of Building 9 (9311). Under the host of the wedding host, participate in the tea ceremony of the bride. (Actually, because it’s by car, it arrived at 7:38)
14. At 8:28, the tea ceremony is successfully completed. (Because it arrived early, the tea ceremony was completed at 8:00)

Arrangement of the Reception Supervisor

I. Reception Supervisor:

Members:

II. Work on May 1

1. Start welcoming guests at the lobby of Building 9 at 9:58.
2. Lead all guests to the lawn of Building 9 to attend the wedding after completing the sign-in registration.
3. Guests who do not participate in the lawn wedding are directly guided to the banquet hall to be seated.
4. After the lawn wedding is completed, lead all guests to the banquet hall (1st floor banquet hall of Building 9), and guide the relevant guests to their seats for dining according to the set dining positions.
5. During the wedding banquet, lead the bride and groom and the parents of the groom to toast to the guests at each table according to the invitation of the host family, and introduce them table by table.

Arrangement of the Service Supervisor

I. Service Supervisor:

Members:

II. Work on April 30

1. Arrive at the host’s home at 9:30 in the morning to transport the items used at the wedding scene. After checking the items according to the list, move them to the car.
2. Transport all items needed at the wedding scene to the hotel, contact the hotel waiter to open the door and store them in the banquet hall of Building 9.
3. Distribute the items according to their ownership to the relevant supervisors (see the detailed list of wedding celebration decoration materials).

III. Work on May 1

1. Place the couple’s display board at the reception of Building 9 before 9:58, and collect it in time after the wedding banquet.
2. At 9:58, lead its members to set up a sign-in table at the entrance of the banquet hall of Building 9 (place table cards, prepare gift money books, calculators, signature pens, cash bags), and start receiving guests to sign in and collect gift money.
3. After the wedding banquet, count the gift money book and gift money and give them to the host family.
4. Assist the banquet supervisor and room supervisor to collect recoverable items and drinks, etc., and organize personnel to move them to the car designated by the host family.

Wedding Day Schedule

[Wedding Planning Table (docx)](/images/2023/04/0501 Wedding Planning Table - Desensitized Version.docx)
[Wedding Day Schedule (docx)](/images/2023/04/0501 Wedding Day Schedule.docx)

I. Preparation before departure: 4:00-5:58 (118 minutes)

1. 4:00 The bride, bridesmaid, and the bride’s parents get up, wash, and have breakfast.
2. 5:00 The room supervisor and members prepare breakfast for those who need to get up early (30 people’s quantity is placed on the balcony of the 3rd floor guest room of Building 9, 20 people’s quantity is placed in the elevator guest room of the 6th floor of Building 6), the number of diners is about 50 people, and the ingredients are mainly milk, eggs, pastries, and ham. The bride’s dinner is 35 dumplings, and the send-off breakfast is tangyuan (prepared and cooked by the bride’s family).
3. 4:00-6:20 The bride puts on makeup. (Room 6610, 6th floor, Building 6)
4. 5:00 The groom, best man, and the groom’s parents get up, wash, and have breakfast.
5. 5:00-5:30 The groom puts on makeup. (Room 9311, 3rd floor, Building 9)
6. 5:00-5:30 After the room supervisor and its members finish breakfast, they decorate the groom’s room, including making the bed, arranging fruits, snacks, happy word balloons and other indoor decorations. Place the four kinds of dried fruits, dates, nuts, longan, and lotus seeds on the groom’s bed according to the template of “early birth of a noble child”. (Note: The bride’s bed is made by the bride’s family)
7. 5:28 All the bridegroom’s party arrive at the guest room of Building 9 for dining. The bridegroom’s supervisor organizes the bridegroom’s team, checks the neatness of the bridegroom’s clothing, the correct wearing position of the corsage and bow tie, distributes 5 fans (including 1 fan for the groom) to the best man, brings enough red envelopes for opening the door and blocking the door, and distributes them to the best man for use when opening the door and blocking the door according to the required time. The best man brings items to the bridesmaid (bouquet, wrist flower, corsage) and waits for departure.
8. 5:58 The sightseeing car to pick up the bride arrives at the lobby of Building 9. The vehicle supervisor is responsible for decorating the wedding car to ensure that it can depart on time to pick up the bride at 6:18.
9. 5:58 The wedding host does the pre-departure ceremony.

II. Departure for Bride’s Home: 6:18-6:38 (20 minutes)

The groom is scheduled to depart for the bride’s home at 6:18 on May 1, 2023. Once everything is ready, the host will conduct the ceremony. Amid the applause and blessings of many relatives and friends, the groom is invited to the living room, where the groom’s mother adjusts his attire, gives him some advice, and embraces him. The groom’s father hands over the bouquet, which symbolizes the family’s excellent traditions, to his son, gives him some advice and blessings, and embraces him. Relatives and friends who are watching the ceremony also give their blessings to the groom before he departs.

1. At 6:18, the host announces that it’s time to depart. The groom leads the way, followed by the entourage. The grand procession heads to the bride’s home.
2. When the groom arrives at Building 9, the vehicle manager arranges for six of the groom’s friends to set off six wedding flower cannons.
3. The groom, best man, and photographers board the sightseeing car in order, and the entourage follows the car clockwise from Building 9 to Building 6 to pick up the bride.
4. During the journey, the photographers follow the wedding car to take pictures. The driver of the sightseeing car should control the speed of the wedding car to ensure orderly shooting.
5. When the entourage arrives at the bride’s residence at Building 6, the vehicle manager arranges for six of the groom’s friends to set off six wedding flower cannons to announce the groom’s arrival.
6. Arrive at the bride’s room before 6:38. The bride has her makeup ready and waits for the groom to come and pick her up.

III. Arrival at Bride’s Home: 6:38-7:28 (50 minutes)

1. Door-blocking: After the groom arrives at the bride’s home, he has to pass two doors (the first door, the bride’s family; the second door, the bridesmaids) to meet the beautiful bride. So at this moment, the groom should prepare more red envelopes, just in case. (The groom prepares two large red envelopes, which can be used to buy clues during the shoe-finding session)
   When the groom finally sees the beautiful bride after passing through numerous checkpoints, he first presents the bride with a beautiful bouquet. Then, the groom and his groomsmen start looking for the bride’s wedding shoes and play the games prepared by the bridesmaids.
2. Tea ceremony and name change: After the games in the bride’s room are over, the couple walks out of the room and comes to the living room, where the bride’s parents and relatives and friends are seated. The bride’s family is responsible for preparing the tea.
   The couple comes to the parents, and the host conducts the tea ceremony and name change ceremony. (Note: The bride’s parents each give the groom a red envelope. It is recommended to avoid large amounts of cash on the wedding day to prevent loss, and red paper can be used to fill the red envelopes)
3. Group photo: After the name change ceremony, the bride’s family introduces the bride’s family to the groom and organizes a group photo. Before leaving for the groom’s home, the bride’s father gives his daughter a big red apple, symbolizing a safe and auspicious life; the mother feeds her daughter sweet dumplings, symbolizing a sweet and harmonious life. The daughter and parents embrace.
4. The bride goes downstairs: At 7:20, the bride’s brother carries the bride to take the elevator downstairs (to save time, the entourage calls the elevator in advance). When the bride arrives at Building 6, the vehicle manager arranges for six of the groom’s friends to set off six wedding flower cannons.

IV. Return to Groom’s Home: 7:28-7:58 (30 minutes)

1. At 7:28, the entourage manager arranges for the groom and bride and the elders to ride the sightseeing wedding car to the groom’s room (Building 9), and the rest of the entourage follows the sightseeing wedding car on foot to the groom’s home.
2. The videographer follows the procession to shoot.

V. Arrival at Groom’s Home: 7:58-8:28 (30 minutes)

1. At 7:58, the procession arrives at the groom’s home (Building 9), and the vehicle manager arranges for six of the groom’s friends to set off six wedding flower cannons.
2. The entourage gradually takes the elevator to the groom’s room (Building 9, 3rd floor, 9311). The couple comes to the bedroom, the bride sits on the bed and drinks eight-treasure porridge. The couple adjusts their attire, and the makeup artist touches up the bride’s makeup. At this time, the groom’s parents are seated on the living room sofa, and relatives and friends are seated. The groom’s family is responsible for preparing the tea.
3. The couple comes to the parents, and the host conducts the tea ceremony and name change ceremony. (Note: The groom’s parents each give the bride a red envelope. It is recommended to avoid large amounts of cash on the wedding day to prevent loss, and red paper can be used to fill the red envelopes)
4. The couple opens the dowry suitcase in the living room, and the groom’s parents put the prepared marriage money into the suitcase.
5. After the name change ceremony, the entourage manager introduces the groom’s family to the bride and organizes a group photo.
6. Shooting of wedding room scenes. After all the ceremonies at home are over, the videographer and photographer design the couple’s scenes for shooting, which will be included in the post-production of the wedding DVD.

VI. Couple’s Outfit Change & Outdoor Shooting: 8:28-10:28 (120 minutes)

1. The groom wears a suit, and the bride wears a dress for outdoor shooting;
2. The bride changes into a wedding dress (about 30 minutes)
3. The groom wears a suit, and the bride wears a wedding dress for outdoor shooting; during this period, the best man, bridesmaids, and both families can shoot scenes with the couple, or they can take a break.

VII. Welcoming Guests: 9:58-10:58 (60 minutes)

1. The welcoming manager leads the welcoming staff to welcome and guide the guests to the lawn wedding venue during this period.
2. All participants in the lawn wedding should enter the venue before 10:50. The host arranges for the relatives, leaders, parents of the couple, and elders to sit down, and other guests watch from both sides. At this moment (10:30-10:50), the violinist plays warm-up music.

VIII. Wedding Begins: 10:58-11:28 (30 minutes)

The groom and bride enter the wedding venue and follow the host’s arrangements. The wedding starts on time at 10:58.

• Warm-up music starts
• Host’s opening speech
• Best man and bridesmaids enter
• Groom enters
• Bride walks up the lawn from the slope, father holds bride’s hand and walks steadily into the venue
• Handover ceremony
• Presenting flowers
• Groom and bride enter together
• Love vows (hand card)
• Exchange of rings (bridesmaid) and kiss
• Wedding witnesses (three people)
• Couple bows in thanks
• Thanking parents (groom and bride speak)
• Parents come on stage to thank guests
• Parents’ representative speech
• Bouquet toss
• Friends’ blessings
• Group photo
• Ceremony ends
• Conclusion

Ten, The Wedding Banquet Begins: 11:28

1. Before 11:18, the banquet director and members will arrange the wedding banquet table according to the predetermined plan, and the wine and cold dishes will be ready.
2. After the lawn wedding ceremony is over, all guests gather in the banquet hall of Building 9, where the groom’s parents thank the guests and announce the start of the wedding banquet.
3. The groom, the bride, and the groom’s parents jointly toast to all the guests.

The Two Days of the Wedding

The twists and turns the day before the wedding

Continuing from the beginning of the story, the lawn of Cui Ping Mountain could not be used, so we had to switch to Rongyi Resort Hotel temporarily. Although Rongyi Resort Hotel has a lawn and a banquet hall, it does not have enough spare guest rooms, so we had to continue to stay at Cui Ping Mountain. The overnight stay and the morning pick-up were still held at Cui Ping Mountain, and then we took a car to Rongyi Resort Hotel for the ceremony. Because the hotel suite of the groom’s side in Building 9 was also occupied, we were switched to Building 2.

After we confirmed the venue of Rongyi Resort Hotel, we quickly notified all guests of the change of location and transportation arrangements. Then, my parents went to decorate the wedding room, while Ren Xiao, Liang Jingrui, Li Chaohui, Jiaying and I, a group of five, went home to move things and moved all other wedding supplies to Cui Ping Mountain. At this critical moment, having one more car is much more convenient. Then, the five of us decided to go to Rongyi Resort Hotel to check the layout of the lawn. When we arrived at the agreed time, there was no one on the lawn. We quickly contacted the wedding planner, who said that they were cleaning up the things from the previous family and would not arrive until four in the afternoon, and the host would rehearse with us at four.

Next, we went to Cui Ping Mountain again, and had lunch with all the staff (all relatives) and the guests who arrived early at the West Mountain Image Hotel. After lunch, the two wedding rooms of the bride and groom were bustling with activity, very energetic. The host said that only the bride and groom needed to go through the scene, and the parents and bridesmaids and groomsmen were not necessary, so the five of us went to Rongyi Resort Hotel together. However, at four o’clock, only the host had arrived, and the wedding decoration had not arrived yet. My wife was angry and scolded the wedding planner on the phone. The host also helped us speak. They said that they had just finished from the far east of the city and would not arrive until six o’clock. We rehearsed the scene with the host first, and the whole process was not complicated.

In fact, according to relatives who went to watch the scene later, the wedding decoration did not arrive until seven o’clock in the evening, but the decoration was quite fast. By 11 o’clock at night, when Jiaying, Li Chaohui, Ren Xiao, and Liang Jingrui went to see the venue again, the main framework had been set up. The entire venue was decorated and completed in the early morning, and the effect of the entire venue was very good.

There was some confusion in the accommodation the day before the wedding, because the room manager did not know our friends, so when they checked in at Cui Ping Mountain, the friends could not find the room manager. Some went directly to the front desk to check in under our names, so the room manager did not have a count. For example, if one person in the room arrived first and checked in at the front desk, the second person arrived later and found the room manager, thinking they were the first to arrive, and opened another room.

In retrospect, we should have set up a welcome sign at Cui Ping Mountain, and everyone should look for the room manager at the welcome sign; or we could print out the room allocation list and give it to the front desk to arrange the rooms, since the front desk needs to register the ID anyway.

However, it was quite a coincidence that the number of rooms we booked was exactly the same as the number of guests who came. There was exactly one single man who stayed with me, and one single woman who stayed with Jiaying. We were initially worried that there would not be enough rooms. However, the rooms at Cui Ping Mountain are probably quite old, at least the building we stayed in was quite old, and some of the room facilities were aging, such as dirty toilets and air conditioners that did not cool. Friends were too embarrassed to ask the front desk to change rooms, but in fact, they could ask the front desk to change rooms in such situations.

In the evening, Jiaying and I sent the arrangements for the next morning to the bridesmaid and groomsman teams (including all friends participating in the pick-up and send-off), for example, what I sent was:

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明天早上大家的安排：
1. 5：30 到达 2 号楼 2106 新郎房间
2. 5：40 开始出发仪式，可能让大家说几句祝福的话
3. 6：08 在 2 号楼大堂，除了 4 个伴郎以外的伴郎团每个人打一次礼花炮（6 个，拧一下就打出来了），把剩下的跟着接亲队伍拿到 6 号楼大堂，到达 6 号楼大堂时把剩下的礼花炮都打完，李朝晖拿上堵门用的红包
4. 接亲的时候，伴郎可以戴上墨镜，拿上扇子，大家随便摆个 pose 就行了
5. 6：38 到 6 号楼 6610 新娘房间，堵门，有套间内外两道门，然后做接亲小游戏（随机应变），跟我一起找婚鞋
6. 在新娘房间改口敬茶
7. 7：28 从新娘房间出发，拿上新娘房间里存储的礼花炮，除了伴郎以外的 6 位在 6 号楼下大堂打礼花炮，上轿，到达 2 号楼大堂，把剩下的礼花炮打完，然后在新郎房间 2106 改口敬茶

从翠屏山到婚礼现场，记得带上泡泡枪，新人手捧花

婚礼现场：
1. 伴郎伴娘会被邀请上台，主持人可能会让大家随机发言；
2. 新人手捧花传递环节，新娘会把花往后抛，大家抢着接就行了，最后大家来个大合影～

That night, Jiaying and I didn’t go to bed until after 12 o’clock. Jiaying got up at 3:30 to put on makeup, and I got up at 4:30 to put on makeup. We basically didn’t sleep much. But because I was excited that day, I didn’t feel sleepy.

The vow card to be read at the wedding was also written by me half an hour before I went to bed. It seems that vow cards can’t be dragged on. The closer it gets to the event, the more things there are, and the less time there is to write. For things that can be prepared in advance, it’s better to prepare them as early as possible.

The story of the wedding day

The groom’s makeup was quick in the morning, and we took many photos outside early. The scenery of Cui Ping Mountain is indeed good. But the bride’s makeup was slower, and when our pick-up team arrived, she hadn’t finished her makeup yet. We played a red envelope game outside the door for a while, actually waiting for the bride to finish her makeup.

Inside view of Cui Ping Mountain Guest House, we took some photos here during the pick-up
Inside view of Cui Ping Mountain Guest House, we took some photos here during the pick-up
Inside view of Cui Ping Mountain Guest House, we took some photos here during the pick-up

The relatives in charge of decorating the wedding room were also very professional. They had almost finished decorating the day before, and when we got up in the morning, they arrived early and started to lay the bed sheets, stick the fallen balloons, etc. By the time the photographer and videographer arrived, the whole room was already very atmospheric.

The "Early Birth of a Precious Child" ornament prepared the day before the wedding, moved to the bed on the day

The pick-up ceremony went smoothly, with only two minor incidents. First, the money we had prepared for the bottom of the box was forgotten to be put in the box, and we even forgot to take a photo of the hard-made big round plate of money, letting it lie on the sofa for a day. Second, the fresh flowers pinned on the front of the suit were not pinned with safety pins, but with straight pins, which made them easy to fall off.

As mentioned earlier, after we finished the morning pick-up, we needed to take a car from Cuiping Mountain to Rongyi Resort Hotel for the ceremony. In retrospect, taking a group ride might have been a wrong decision. The wedding was scheduled to start at 10:58, and it was a 40-minute drive from Cuiping Mountain to Rongyi Resort Hotel. At that time, we only considered that the bride needed to change her dress and make up at Rongyi Resort Hotel, and our parents and others needed to greet the guests, so we decided to leave Cuiping Mountain for Rongyi Resort Hotel at 9 o’clock in the morning. We rented two buses, but we forgot that these two buses could actually leave at different times.

The pick-up ended at 8 o’clock, and the bride and groom and the bridesmaids and groomsmen took some photos at Cuiping Mountain, and it was almost 9 o’clock. The departure of everyone at 9 o’clock brought two problems. First, many friends are used to getting up late, and they need to have breakfast and pack their luggage before departure. So 9 o’clock is very tight for many friends, especially those who arrived at midnight the day before. The bridesmaids and groomsmen, because they started dealing with the pick-up early in the morning, didn’t have time to eat breakfast, and after taking the photos, it was almost 9 o’clock, and packing was very tight. When it was almost 9 o’clock, many people hadn’t packed up and checked out yet, and I was still calling everyone one by one to hurry up.

Second, it was a bit chaotic when packing up in the bride and groom’s room. At first we said we would wait until after the wedding to go back to Cuiping Mountain to pack up the bride and groom’s room, but after the pick-up, my parents cleaned up the bride and groom’s room. In this process, a lot of things were left behind, such as the groom’s room where I lived with the best man Li Zhaohui, and some of his things were almost forgotten. My wife’s watch was thought to be lost at first, and it was found in someone’s bag a few days later. It turned out that it was stuffed into the bag with the clutter when packing.

A better method might be for the two buses to leave in two shifts, the first at 9 o’clock, carrying the bride and groom, main staff and early-rising guests; the second at 9:45, carrying all the guests staying at Cuiping Mountain, which is also completely in time for the ceremony. If not, you can also take a taxi, you can always get there.

Rongyi Resort Hotel Restaurant

The table arrangement at the wedding banquet was quite chaotic. Before, we wanted to print out who was sitting at each table, but because we were not sure about the number of people invited by our relatives, we did not print table cards in the end. Because when inviting relatives, it is usually one person, and it is not good to ask how many people are coming from the family, so the number of people coming fluctuates greatly. For example, a relative of my parents’ generation, if they come by themselves, it’s two people, but if they call our generation’s children, plus their other half, it might be seven or eight people, and if they bring their children, they might not be able to sit at one table.

In retrospect, it might be better to print out the table cards for our classmates and friends, because not all of our classmates and friends know each other, and they are not familiar with our relatives, so if there is a situation where they are left alone, it is difficult to handle. At that time, there were friends who couldn’t find a place to sit, and they were embarrassed to sit with other tables, so they left without eating. There were also some relatives who couldn’t find a table to sit at, so they played with their children in the booth area on the side and didn’t eat. But the table that was originally arranged for the bridesmaids and groomsmen to eat, because it was in the hall next door, everyone didn’t notice, and no one went to eat.

The wedding banquet is different from the dinner at an academic conference. The dinner at an academic conference is a place for everyone to socialize, and people who don’t know each other can get to know each other. But people who come to the wedding banquet are better off sitting with people they know, so marking the table cards is very important.

The time for the bride and groom and the bridesmaids and groomsmen after the lawn ceremony was not arranged in advance. We originally thought that after the lawn ceremony, the bride changed into a toast dress, and it was time for everyone to eat and toast together. But the photographer and videographer responsibly kept us to pose and took a lot of photos, which took more than half an hour. I have to say that the level of photography and videography is quite high, and the heart-shaped balloon added by the wedding at the last minute is also very good. We originally thought that there was nothing to shoot on this broken step and broken pillar, but the effect was really good after the film came out.

Photos taken by the bridesmaids and groomsmen and us after the lawn ceremony

But with this extra half hour, the bride changed into a toast dress and used about 20 minutes, and when the bride and groom went to toast at each table together, some guests had already finished eating and were ready to leave.

There was also some confusion when sending people to the station after the wedding. We originally registered the guests who needed to be sent to the station and the airport. The station was sent by bus, the airport was sent by minibus, and the VIPs were sent by car. But when the wedding banquet was over, some friends asked if there was a car, and then the car was arranged for them, resulting in no car when some VIPs were leaving. The minibus to the airport didn’t know where it went, and many people who needed to go to the airport had to take a taxi by themselves.

A few days after the wedding, many of our classmates who participated in the pick-up and send-off were positive, most were second positive, a small part were first positive, and several classmates had more serious symptoms (not to the point of hospitalization, but much more serious than a common cold). But the classmates and relatives who came to the wedding banquet were basically fine, but the classmates who participated in the pick-up and send-off on the day, including me and my wife, the bridesmaids and groomsmen, were basically positive.

In short, for an event with 200 people, it’s already good to be able to handle it with basically no major problems when the venue is suddenly changed the day before the event and the accommodation and event venue are tens of kilometers apart. Many of the problems mentioned above are due to the temporary change of venue, but forgetting to set up lunch banquet table cards is indeed a negligence in our preparation work.

Among these nearly 200 guests, actually several dozen people were also helping us with various tasks, including the 10-person best man team (4 best men + 6 friends who twisted firecrackers), 4 bridesmaids, relatives who helped decorate the wedding room, shuttle back and forth, arrange banquets, arrange guest rooms, friends who went to pick up and send off together, all worked very hard. I really appreciate everyone.

Wedding Expense Statistics

The total cost of the wedding was quite high. As can be seen from the table below, the total expenditure was as high as 163,000 yuan. After deducting the 27,000 yuan cash red envelope that was circulated back to our hands (including the money for the bottom of the box and the money for changing the mouth), the actual expenditure was 136,000 yuan.

We initially thought that the entire wedding could be done within 100,000 yuan. After finalizing the lawn wedding and wedding celebration, the price of the lawn wedding was higher than the indoor wedding, so we raised the budget to 110,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, we spent an additional 26,000 yuan in the end.

Why? Because we did not anticipate many additional expenses. For example, many guests and the bride’s family had already come from afar the night before the wedding, and there were family members who were busy helping out. They had to eat, right? This required having lunch and dinner at the Xishan Image Hotel, which alone cost 11,000 yuan. In addition, the decoration of the wedding room also cost nearly 10,000 yuan, which we did not expect.

Total wedding cost list

[Total wedding cost list (Excel)](/images/2023/04/0501 wedding consumption record.xlsx)

Wedding planning timeline

• April 3, 2021, during the Qingming Festival holiday, the wedding date was tentatively discussed and determined (during the May Day period in 2022);
• May 1, 2021, during the Labor Day holiday, after the engagement banquet, we visited several wedding companies, hotel wedding venues, and lawn wedding venues in Shijiazhuang, and combined with the prediction of the May Day holiday in 2022, we decided to hold the wedding on May 1, 2022, and the return door on May 3. The wedding will be in the form of a lawn wedding, and the return door will be in the form of a hotel wedding;
• June 7, 2021, during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, we booked the lawn of Cuiping Mountain Guest House, determined the wedding celebration, host, photography, videography, etc., and initially determined the wedding style;
• April 3, 2022, during the Qingming Festival holiday, the wedding invitation for May 1, 2022, was officially released;
• April 17, 2022, due to the epidemic, the wedding on May 1 was confirmed to be postponed, and the new date has not yet been determined;
• May 4, 2022, during the Labor Day holiday, according to the schedule of the Cuiping Mountain Guest House, considering the special requirements of the lawn wedding (it is best to be sunny, the weather should not be too hot, but it cannot be after mid-October, there will be no grass in winter), it is expected that the Shanghai epidemic will end in June, so it is determined to postpone the wedding to July 17, but the formal invitation has not yet been issued;
• July 6, 2022, due to the epidemic, the wedding on July 17 was confirmed to be postponed; considering that the epidemic situation is still severe before the October conference, it is expected that there may be some relaxation after the conference, combined with the seasonal requirements of the lawn wedding and the prediction of the May Day holiday in 2023, it is decided to hold the wedding on May 1, 2023, and the return door banquet on May 3, and the schedule of the Cuiping Mountain Guest House has been booked (if you wait for the epidemic to open up and then book the lawn, you will definitely not be able to book the May Day schedule);
• January 15, 2023, due to the host and videographer not having a schedule for May Day, the host and videographer were adjusted, and there was no problem with the photographer;
• January 22, 2023, on the first day of the lunar new year, the wedding date of May 1, 2023, was officially announced, and the wedding invitations will be sent out one by one in April;
• Early April 2023, invitations were sent out to friends;
• April 15, 2023, in Shijiazhuang, we aligned the wedding process with the host, wedding planner, general manager, and welcoming general manager, and visited the Cuiping Mountain Guest House on site;
• April 29, 2023, we went from Beijing to Shijiazhuang to make the final preparations for the wedding;
• April 30, 2023, we received a temporary notice that Cuiping Mountain was occupied and changed the venue to Rongyi Resort Hotel;
• May 1, 2023, the first half of the wedding (picking up the bride) was held at Cuiping Mountain, and the second half (ceremony and lunch) was held at Rongyi Resort Hotel;
• May 2, 2023, we went from Shijiazhuang to Gujiao to prepare for the return door banquet;
• May 3, 2023, the return door banquet was held in Gujiao. In the morning, there was no need to change the mouth to serve tea. The ceremony was held in the hall at noon;
• May 4, 2023, we set off for Urumqi, starting an 11-day honeymoon trip.