8 Things Guests Shouldn’t Do During a Wedding Dinner If Not It’ll Look Disrespectful

Last Updated on 2022-05-14 , 2:15 pm

Friends around you getting married? Here are the eight things that you should never ever do when you attend a Chinese wedding, or you might just spoil what is supposed to be the most important event of your friend’s or relative’s life.

Don’t reply late to an invitation

If you are invited to a wedding, be sure to acknowledge and RSVP as soon as you can. You are invited because you are important enough to the couple to share in this joyous occasion and it’s incredibly rude to leave them hanging for days or weeks on end.

In addition, the couple needs the RSVPs quickly to determine and estimate the cost of their wedding banquet and it can be quite costly for them if you were to RSVP but pull out at the last minute, not to mention awkward if you insist on joining at the very last minute when they’ve not gotten a seat for you.

Don’t pull out at the very last minute

Now, don’t think dirty. When we mention pull out, we meant “fly aeroplane”.

If possible, try to clear your schedule for the wedding and make sure you’d be able to attend. Not only could it be costly for the couple, it also sends a strong signal to your friend who’s getting married that their wedding is just not important enough for you to put aside your work or other urgent matters for a few hours.

Don’t attend if you’re in mourning or pregnant

It’s believe that if you have lost someone recently, you’ll bring bad luck to the newly-weds if you attend; it’s also believed that if you are pregnant, the strong ‘Qi’ at the wedding will harm your unborn baby.

It’s not stated in the heading but some also believe that if you’re recently married yourself (within 6 months), you shouldn’t attend as your ‘Qi’ will clash with the newly-weds’ and bring bad luck to them and you.

Don’t give ang pows with uneven numbers, fours or coins.

So this means you should give an ang pow that ends with even number as it’s believed to be lucky and fortunate. Don’t give ang bows with the number 4 because it stands for ‘dead’ in Chinese and giving coins is just…um…no one does that anyway!

Don’t bring uninvited guests

If the newly-weds intend to invite you and your partner, they will include it in the wedding invitation. If they did not, do not bring anyone, no matter how boring or awkward you’d believe the whole event to be.

Not only is it disrespectful, it might end up in awkwardness when your date doesn’t have a place to sit.

Don’t post wedding photos before the bride

With the advent of technology like mobile phone cameras, it’s very easy for you to take a picture and share it online, but please don’t do it. Seek the couple’s permission or wait till they have uploaded the pictures before you proceed to do so. It’s their big day after all!

Don’t be late and don’t leave before the final dish, or at least leave after toasting the couple

Be sure to arrive on time, because being late is disrespectful, not when the venue is only booked for a certain number of hours. Also, try to be present till the end of the ceremony, if not at least only leave after toasting the couple, wishing them good luck and fortune for their new phase of life.

Don’t stay on your phone all night long and don’t pull a long face

You might be bored, or you might feel like the situation is awkward sitting with people you don’t really know but please don’t show your displeasure on your face. It’s a joyous occasion and you wouldn’t want someone else to spoil your wedding banquet, would you?

And don’t just keep to your phone all the time, not only is it disrespectful, it shows that you don’t view the event as something important enough for you to pay some frigging attention.

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