Opa! A Greek & Taiwanese Wedding Experience

Back in January I discovered an old university colleague, Elias, had moved to Taiwan.  He was the one that introduced me to a few different expat groups and is one of the main reasons why I know all of the people I know here in Taiwan!  It was his wedding yesterday and he invited me and Eliza to the festivities!

One of the highlights for me at the wedding was when the keyboard music started playing the "Here comes the bride" song and then the head of ceremonies muttered into the microphone "Bride coming..." in his Chinese accent.  He was quite a funny guy, and shortly after the ceremony started, he said "First off, I should say... I'm not a priest.  I'm Chantel's boss!"

The first half of the wedding was in traditional Taiwanese style; Held in the Taipei International Hotel at 11am.

Vows!  After the vows, Chantel's boss started singing John Denver.  What a voice!

Watching their wedding reminded me of our own wedding.  Lots of great memories returned to mind :)

Elias' family had flown all the way in from Canada (and possibly Greece?)

Canada, Taiwan, and Greece flags.  The banquet immediately followed the ceremony in the adjacent room

Mochi balls with peanut powder and raisins.  There was something symbolic about serving them but we didn't quite understand the specifics.  Something about... having babies?

LOL!  A Canadian/American couple sat beside us, Sam and Daria, had ordered vegetarian for the meal.  This was served as one of Daria's 6th or 7th courses.  We had a hoot trying to figure out what the heck it was.  After 5-10 minutes of staring at it and even asking the waitress and local Taiwanese people sitting at our table, no one still knew.  Daria finally had the courage to try and break into it, and when she poked it with the chop stick, it bounced back!  It was like a hollowed out flexible silicone mould!  How bizarre...  It was decided by another guest that it was sea cucumber.  So almost vegetarian...

12 course meal consisted of steamed white fish, jelly fish, 2 duck dishes (beijing duck I believe was one), saled fish egg, mochi balls, fried shrimp with sweet mayo and pineapple, pork ribs, satay pepper beef, whole chicken (with head in tact) soup, and coconut soup for dessert!

The after-party was held in Danshui (northern Taipei).  It's about a 45 minute train ride from our house.

This was Eliza's first time in Danshui.  The weather was hot but it was the evening and starting to cool down.  A beautiful Saturday night!

There was a large street market going on in the main area

I was surprised to see this large grass park along the main riverside street.  The last time I was in Danshui this was all covered in mud and construction crane's.  I had no idea they were landscaping it into a park!  What a nice reclaimed green space.

The hustle and bustle of tourists and locals.

Along our walk to the after party we saw Elias' family walking there.

Street performer juggling in the ... street (on a unicycle!)

We reached our destination.  The G12 Mediterranean Cafe!

A delicious western-style spread of food!  Probably my favourite thing was the Cesar salad and baked salmon

Whenever you get a bunch of white folks gathering in an area doing something non-taiwanese, it's for sure going to gather a crowd of locals.  The restaurant almost had a constant crowd watching what was going on.

Time for cake cutting on the street outside the restaurant!

It wouldn't be a wedding in Taiwan without some fire crackers!

Look how many passer-by's have gathered to watch!!

Opa!  Time fore some traditional Greek dancing and plate smashing

Elias' dad had some amazing dance moves.  Suave!

A few other greek guys had been in Taiwan for a convention and one of Elias' friend had gathered them and brought them to the party!

Time for group Greek dancing lessons

Every local and his dog was watching and enjoying something an uncommon sight.

Look at all the broken plates! haha

A few drinks in...

One of the greek guys started playing/singing traditional greek music

We took a short walk out of the restaurant to enjoy the beautiful night weather.  It was hot, but a pleasant breeze kept us cool by the water.  The night sky was clearer than usual and it had turned out to be a perfect evening.

Traditional music had stopped and it was time to rock the 80's music!

Thanks Elias & Chantel for the amazing day of new cultural experiences and we hope the best for your future together!