One of the few things I knew I wanted for our wedding was a Chinese Lion Dance. When done right, the loud and festive performances always light up faces in a crowd.
When I first introduced da hubs to it by way of a sad little YouTube video, he couldn't have been less impressed. As much as I tried to explain, it is just one of those things you don't truly understand until you experience it in person. Fortunately, our friends got married earlier in the year and DH was able to witness the awesomeness live from our front and centered seats (thx R&E!), after that he couldn't imagine our wedding without one!
The kids' expressions when they saw the lions were absolutely priceless.
I did quite a bit of research looking for the right team, and my picky self refused to settle for the unskilled (which I found everywhere, because most people can't tell the difference!). I came real close to scrapping the idea several times since this was a splurge for us in the first place and quality was hard to find, but the newly converted hubs was having none of it. We. Must. Have. Lions.
Finally, I hired a team to come in from the Bay Area. What gave me confidence in this one over the others? One, they have videos of their performances and they were good! And two...
They.Dance.On.Poles. !!
I can't complain about the happy pics of us, though I wish I had photos of the guest faces. People still tell us how fantastic it was to see that at our wedding. Too bad I can't get the non-Asian folks to stop calling the lions, dragons :/
They mostly use the jongs (the poles) for competitions because the space and height clearance required often keep them out of private events. Fortunately our outdoor venue with the big dance floor was set up perfectly for it!
I would have put Vegas style flashing big links here recommending my Lion Dance vendor if they had fulfilled our agreement. Unfortunately, after paying for and verbally agreeing multiple times that there would be a firecracker finale at the end of the performance, we were simply left without. The contact person had insisted that for insurance purpose or whatever (even after I explained that we already purchased insurance to cover the event) they couldn't give us a written agreement including the firecrackers. After verbally confirming it 3 times, I trusted them like the naive girl that I am. I even put a firecracker illustration in our program and warned guests of the super loud excitment to (not) come!I would have still hired them in a heartbeat had they been honest with me about there being no firecrackers available, despite how much I wanted them. More than anything, I just really dislike being lied to. They took our payment and left with no explanation. I emailed the contact person about it and the response completely ignored the firecracker issue.
Now I don't wanna end on a yucky note because everyone was having a great time, even my impossible-to-impress parents (gasp) approved! I'm sure the guests will remember the great performance over the mysterious missing firecrackers, just as we will remember those happy faces at our wedding over the hiccups on that day.
Life doesn't always go according to plan, but that's what keeps life exciting. Why should our wedding day be any less exciting, right? ;)
Images by Travis Hoehne
I love that last photo!
ReplyDeleteWow that is so awesome! It reminds me of Chinese new years when I used to live in Vancouver. It was so amazing.
ReplyDelete