Chinese lion dance - tacky or cool?

I think it's a great idea! I wouldn't think it would be tacky at all, OH is Chinese so of course it is a nod to his culture

I'd love it! It's nice to see something different and unexpected at a wedding ?

I think it's a lovely idea. I would love that as a guest.

I love it!

It's a brilliant idea. ?

That sounds amazing! I love seeing stuff like that! Though I have never been fortunate enough to be at a wedding where it has taken place.

Are you concerned what your guests would think? In the opinion of you and your OH is it cool or tacky? At the end of the day its what you two want on the day so sod what anyone else thinks!

But I say go for it!

Good idea but it will depend on where you are having it. I'm Chinese and once someone had it at a banquet and it was such a squeeze as guests kept getting out of their seats to take photos. And it's traditional for the lion to visit all the tables.

I guess it's only cheesy to us Chinese people when we marry another oriental and a good 95% of our guests are Chinese lol.

Do you have someone in mind to do the dance?

Lovely idea. I would love to see it, and as a nod to your other half its a great idea.

Yeah, I'd thought about the spacing issues. Ideally, I'd like to have it outside if the weather's good, to make the most of the beautiful terraced area, but if there's rain then there should be enough room inside. We have to keep plenty of space between the tables anyway, as OH's dad is disabled and I want to be able to manoeuvre his wheelchair around the room without any difficulty, and the dance floor is a good size. The only Chinese guests will be OH's immediate family, so hopefully they'll enjoy it, although they are very Western - his Mum has said not to bother with any of the other traditions like the banquet of tea ceremony, which is a bit of a shame. (I think my sister is still planning on making OH go through some door games when he arrives at the venue, though lol).

OH knows someone from his wing chun classes who does the dance, so we're going to ask him. I was a little surprised at how hard it is to find anyone online locally, considering the size of Birmingham's Chinatown and how mental it gets at Chinese New Year.

I suppose it's due to the fact there's not much call for them. They tend to be busiest during our Chinese celebrations of course but any other time it's not requested.

Oh yes, definately need the door games, how many guys do you have coming to the door? I was BM back in May and did the following games (there were 10 guys I think who came to collect the bride)

• Pass a malteaser and a round lindt chocolate using only their lips without dropping it as they will start over . One of the guys accidently took it too far in his mouth and the other guys threatened him not to drop it, the poor guy next in line who had to retrieve it, I'm sure their lips touched!
• Balloon popping. Blow balloons 3/4 full and tie with string. Tie these around their waist and position the balloon either in front or behind on their bums. Pair them up with other guys and they must pop the balloon using any body part except their hands.
• Serenade the bride by singing a cheesy song: we chose Peter Andre mysterious girl
• Get some empty tissue boxes, tie with string, fill with ping pong balls. Tie these around the waist and position on the bum, boys must twerk all the balls out

Plenty of game ideas on YouTube, but I think some people take it too far by making guys do dangerous things or eat horrible things! You want them at the wedding, not in A&E

My family is quite westernised now and thankfully my sister took the bullet to have the big chinese banquet when she got married meaning we could do a smaller wedding without much resistance from my parents.

We did the tea ceremony and I was keen to just because I am quite westernised so it was my way of paying respect to my culture. Plus I think my wife impressed everyone by being able to call everyone by their title in Cantonese. Why is your MIL not keen?

Oh and as for door games, definitely do those! I had to suffer so it's only fair others do too! Misery loves company! ha ha. If your sister wants some ideas then I can send her some that a friend did for ours. She was pure evil!

As mentioned above, I think most guests will be fascinated by the difference in traditions and appreciate it. Of course the Chinese side may not find it as interesting but personally I think it would really make your wedding different and unique.

I feel sorry for myself! I'm marrying the oldest son so it's a defo biiiig Chinese wedding banquet. And my parents are also traditional too. My bro had an intimate Chinese wedding so my parents secretly want mine to be a big deal too! we've got 430 guests!

Madam red- if Iived near you I would happily do door games for you for free lol

make sure it all gets recorded for blackmail material, I mean, wedding memories

My MIL is very shy, so she doesn't want to be the center of attention. When we got engaged, we asked her if there are any traditions she wanted us to keep and she was adamant that there aren't. ☹️

RomanticBlueFlowers251 - 430 guests?!? ? I don't think we even know 430 people! Lol.

Each banquet table can hold 10 people, so my parents have 10 tables, me and OH have 7 and 23 tables to his parents. But majority of his parents tables are family as their family is absolutely huge! So many cousins that they're close too!

Will you be wearing any traditional red dresses madam red?

Wow, that is huge! I'd love to see some photos.

Yeah, OH is going to China in a few weeks, so he's going to get a lovely red and gold cheongsam made to measure for me while he's out there. I've asked him to consider getting a jacket made to complement it as well.

I was very lucky. When my sister got married my dad managed to fill the restaurant.....twice. There was an afternoon banquet and an evening banquet. And trust me...the restaurant isn't small. It's on two floors!

My wife wanted a small intimate wedding since she's been married before. We got it to 65 day guests and 120 evening. I don't think she realised that IS intimate for a Chinese family! ??

I shot an English groom Chinese family bride last year and they had the tea ceremony and for the evening the bride changed into a red dress.

With the lion dance im sure the English side would think it was great but what about the Chinese side what does your OH think

OH thinks it would be really cool. We haven't told his family because we would like to keep it as a surprise.