I think this topic would fit here better than in the legal marriage forum… I am getting married to a Taiwanese guy and am at a loss about the ceremony. If people could share about their experience having a nice, not over the top ceremony, I would really appreciate it. I have questions like: Can I go to a wedding planner and NOT get a tacky wedding photo package? (If anyone I know got ahold of my picture in one of those, I would gladly pay a ransom). And I have no idea where to get a dress from. I don’t want to look like the Hello Kitty wedding doll but I want to find something nice, probably a bit informal. I miss those alternative dress places back home… Are there any foreign women who have bought wedding gowns from here? (Don’t you think renting is a bit weird?) Also, I have heard there are nice villas to rent in Yangmingshan for a ceremony, does anyone know about those? I hope I am not asking too many questions, I just don’t know where to start…
There are a few photographers here at F.com that do great wedding photo sets. As far as the photography places, they all seem pretty awful. I think you’re better off using one of f.com’s photographers.
Your the girl so your the boss.
I feel sorry for those guys that are draged up and down everywhere for that perfect photo.
If I had to have that hanging in my livingrom it would bring me only bad memorys. 3 days off picture taking to get the perfect photo.
I allready decided that I will put my foot down on that one.
Please do let me know, when you found the answers. I am postponing my “yes, I do” until the day I stop thinking that Taiwanese weddings are scary.
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage.
I wrote a reply to the question about weddings in the marriage forum… I had what I think was a wonderful wedding, and we did it in a way to please the Taiwan family and also ourselves. We didn’t use a wedding planner. We didn’t have professional pics at all actually, but a relative gifted us a beautiful oil painting he did of us, from a photo, in our wedding outfits. My husband bought my wedding dress on yahoo auction for TWD800, it was from a wedding shop there are hundreds for sale on yahoo auction. (I did read on forumosa or parentpages about a dressmaker that makes new dresses for around 3,000, do a search.) Then we found a dressmaker to redo the top, as the skirt was beautiful but the top needed work. We had the bridesmaids outfits, flowergirl’s dresses and my second dress made out silk, the silk and all the dressmaking was around 15,000 and we all have beautiful outfits to keep.
For the tables etc, we didn’t take the restaurant’s offer of 500/table for candles, or 8,000 for a balloon gate. We went to HOLA during sale time and got candles for 50 each, then I went to a florist and got rosepetals for free and made our own table settings. I had a friend do my makeup and one person commented, “you don’t look like a bride… you look young and pretty…” hmmm, cultural difference?
My dad had great suit made, in two days, for 7,000. We didn’t do the cookie thing as we didn’t really get engaged.
We had a friend play the guitar, my husband serenaded me into the room as my father brought me in between the tables, we canned the fake fireworks and all that stuff, my family sang a Maori lovesong, my father made a speech.
During the whole thing, I discovered you just had to be stubborn about what you wanted. For example, the printers had invitation samples, but we changed them, the restaurant had a schedule , we changed it, they had a menu, we changed it, the store only had one style of ribbon for the car, we restitched it, and so on.
There is a French restaurant in Shenken that has a beautiful garden, they do weddings, but you need to consider convenience for guests if they are drinking and you don’t want to supply a bus.
I have contact info for all the places we used for the wedding, if you want any info, let me know.
I’d like some more info on that. I know you probably had a special wedding meal, but do you happen to know anything about their regular menu? Prices?
Proper French or spoiled French “for Taiwanese tastes?”
Sandman,
It’s called La Provence. Bei Shen Road Sec 1, Lane 83, Alley 10 No.9. Tel 2664-6700, http://www.laprovence.com.tw. If you are on Bei Yi Gao (highway 1?), you can see it across the river, a big white house. We didn’t have our wedding there, we had lunch, it’s not cheap but pretty nice food, no idea how “French” the food is really but I love their gardens. I won’t hijack this thread, if you start one about restaurants in the Shiding/Shenkeng/Xizhi area let me know, I have some good ones to offer.
Thanks for all that info, asiababy. The yahoo auction is a good idea. I have been haunting ebay but was hesitant to bid for anything because I wasn’t sure about buying clothes online. But I feel better about it, knowing it worked for someone else. I like your decorating ideas too, I am glad to know I can do that on my own. It sounds like you did a lot of work- was it stressful?
And thanks for all the suggestions about photographers on forumosa. We were pretty worried about that.
I have found a restaurant that is going to set up an Indian buffet (Cafe India). He says it will be about 700 a head and he will make some snacks onsite (Gol gupae which are heaven in a little doughy cup). His food is absolutely amazing- and he does the lunch buffet thing on the weekends if anyone wants to try.
So now we are looking for the venue. Still hoping for a “gardeny” type place in the mountain. We were hoping for Yangminshan but Shijr would have lots of places too, I guess.
I can’t remember being too stressed about the wedding, I had some great friends to help and I had fun, for example making the hairpieces out of pens I had picked up for 30 nt each at the Danshui nightmarket. My sister did comment it seemed like the most disorganized wedding she had ever been bridesmaid at (that was the night before), but “what did you expect when a gemini and an aquarius plan anything?” People still tell us how our wedding was the best/most romantic/best catered-for that they had been to.
BTW I looked at hiring a dress and not doing the photos, the dress-hire alone was TWD8000+ for the day, ridiculous! The planners work on packages and once you are in their package world, that’s it.
Are you having an engagement? Do you have to do any of the traditional things there? I didn’t have any of that so I have no idea about it except it can be quite traditional.
[quote=“asiababy”]
BTW I looked at hiring a dress and not doing the photos, the dress-hire alone was TWD8000+ for the day, ridiculous! The planners work on packages and once you are in their package world, that’s it.
Are you having an engagement? Do you have to do any of the traditional things there? I didn’t have any of that so I have no idea about it except it can be quite traditional.[/quote]
I get that impression about the planners. That you are either with them and you get their pictures, cookies, and rented (??) dress or you aren’t. I don’t want to be. There are some nice, original dresses on ebay and yahoo. I am still looking though.
We aren’t having an engagement but the wedding will be a bit tradtional in the way that we have to have a banquet, even though we won’t be serving traditional things like endangered species, and we will have cookies (I want to get them from Aunt Stella’s.) We actually already signed the papers and are legally married. This ceremony is just for my husband’s family and collegues.
I thought of three possiblitlies for you:
- The Red Castle at Danshui - there is a coffee shop next to that that has a garden and seating. There was a wedding there last time I was there. They have some nice gas lighting at night.
- My husband’s coworker owns a restaurant a little north of that castle in Danshui. It has a second floor that is very big and can be used for functions (used to be a coffee shop but no longer - coworker’s brother makes excellent coffee, little designs on the top made out of cream and everything). First floor is a very large Chinese-style restaurant with kitchen etc, but you could just use 2nd floor. It has a large balcony that overlooks the Danshui river,you can see right out to sea.
- I don’t know if any of the Overseas residences on yangminshan are available for hire? The Canadian residence, for example, has a huge garden etc, you could always ask.
If you want more info about 1 or 2, PM me.
We gave out candy at our wedding, we wrapped them all ourselves… oh and for wine, we negotiated no corkage, and bought our wine from a store near Shida, 250/bottle with option to return unopened boxes. Sounds like we were cheap, but actually the wine was a nice Australian one and a surprising amount was drunk for a Tawainese wedding.