Asian-Fusion Theme Weddings
But is your wedding Chinese or Japanese, or something else altogether (maybe Zen)? It's hard to confine Asian-fusion weddings to one mold, since they draw from so many inspirations. But we'll try to cover some popular interpretations here.
Pre-Wedding Pleasures
You can walk down that lovely Asian-inspired road before you even tie the knot. Start things out with Springtime engagement photos that take place under cherry blossoms. Consult an elder to determine the most auspicious dates and times to marry according to the Chinese calendar. And for stationery, treat your guests to custom invitations that make use of Japan's fine (and famous) artisan papers.Decor with Far-East Flair
Chinese nuptuals are one thing; Japanese, quite another. But Asian fusion weddings tend to borrow the best from both worlds.
So here, you might see these favorite motifs: colorful paper parasols, shoji style paper lanterns, lucky bamboo plants in small, brightly-colored vases, or orchids in gorgeous sprays or loose blooms (pink, green or creamy white).
Then, there's hanging lanterns that invite your guests to kick up their heels far into the night, and silk fans to keep a cool breeze flowing (or programs printed onto paper fans).
Plus, let's not forget loose river stones in black or white to serve as paperweights for linen napkins, or accents to scatter around centerpieces.
And when it comes to that mother-of-all eye candy, the cake, you might find an artful celebration of dragonflies, lotus blossoms, cherry blossoms, orchids or even koi fish.
Other beloved accents you're likely to find:
Origami cranes. A thousand paper cranes (traditionally folded by the bride and groom before the wedding, patiently and methodically) are said to bring a marriage good luck. You can hand these out as favors, or thread them onto cord and hang them from a focal point, like the branches of a tabletop tree.
Water features. Nothing gets across the feel of a zen wedding like the sound and sight of gently moving water. Try floating orchid blooms in a small battery-operated fountain for focal spots like your cake or guestbook table.
River stones. For a simple, striking centerpiece, fill low, square bowls with black and white stones and a single white pillar candle, tossing loose orchids, spider mums or asian lilies below. Place these on bamboo or tatami mats, or large banana or palm leaf fronds for maximum visual appeal.
Then, use flat, black riverstones to mark each guest's plate: personalize with a metallic marker (extra credit: write guests' names in Katakana underneath!)
Paper parasols. Use oversized ones to line the ceremonial aisle, and fill the space between with rose petals. Then, at the reception, hang parasols upside down from the ceiling and light from above using a low-heat source.
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Delightful Delicacies, Fetching Feasts
Need to jazz up cocktail hour? Place bowls of edamame at the bar, and serve up ice-cold Kirins, Sapporos, Wasabe Brew or signature green tea martinis. For non-drinkers, serve bottled lychee or mango sodas. Have the wait staff pass out stylish appetizers served in Asian spoons.
Want to really wow the crowd? A sushi chef will thrill a hefty portion of your guests. Or, bring out a raw bar and treat your guests to heaven on a half shell.
Then, there's always an Asian station, bound to be jammed as guests (gently) jostle for favorites like dim sum, tempura, freshly made spring rolls or noodle dishes.
Finally, when the main dish is done, treat your guests to a soothing round of mango or green tea to accompany their slice of cake.
The Beautiful Bride
It doesn't take much to bring a zen-like elegance to your big day. Choose a gown with streamlined design, and set off your hair with a sculptural bloom or two. An extremely chic touch is a wedding gown with an obi-inspired bow at the back.As for your bridesmaids, kicky tea-length gowns in bright colors with ribbon details at the hem will fit the bill nicely. Give the girls even more romance with bright paper parasols.
Fresh Ideas for Asian Favors
A popular choice: fortune cookie (pre-printed fortunes, or customize your own) nestled in a Chinese take-out box. You can personalize your boxes with customized double happiness seals, or tie on a sleek set of chopsticks ("the perfect pair").Other tantalizing favor ideas to give your guests a little thrill of delight: moon cakes (traditionally eaten in Autumn, but so beautiful they deserve a look any time of year), tea in decorative containers, small sets of incense, polished stones engraved with inspirational messages, individual porcelain tea cups or sake cups, or bamboo style placecard frames (perfect to hold a guest's favorite photo when the event's done!).
May 12th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Okay, at $12 apiece AND having to go to the physical store to pick these up (they don’t ship … yet!), these individual boxes of candy sushi are more of a splurge for the bridal party than a general favor … but oh, are they darling. Thanks to Never Teh Bride at manolo for sharing it …
April 29th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Okay, Susan, just some quick ideas, I’m trying to fit these in between tasks but hope this will help!
There are SO many great ideas out there for paper lanterns. Outside they look great just strung up on overhead wires, but inside I feel they look better bunched into focal points. They come in many shapes, patterns, colors, so the sky’s the limit. Here I have a few favorite ideas: dressed up with long crepe tails (nice outside where they can float), or hung from the ceiling combined with matching parasols. But #1 favorite idea is top right corner, we snapped this in a dept. store. All they did was spray some attractive branches with a cinnabar high-gloss paint and suspended the lanterns from that, if you have a high enough ceiling you can hang things from this is a super high-rent look.
There are more ideas in the links below: a couple tied theirs to hula hoops & hung from the ceiling.
Re chairs, not to confuse things but have you thought of going with chivari chairs? In red, gold or black they are dramatic and VERY asian — see pics — great built-in bamboo look! If you cover standard banquet chairs with chair covers you are moving toward a more general "weddingy" look. Maybe that’s what you want but the cost may actually be higher for the covers and the look slightly muddied. Chivaris with a sash are SO stylish and asian and you can tuck anything in there for the B&G — small orchid arrangements — beautiful.
Re the screens, see above for the low black table in front of the red chinese screens (this from Wildflower linens). What do you think? This seems like a very easy way to dress up your screens. I go thrifting a lot and I’m sure you could find a low, long table very cheap, add some black and high gloss spray paint and voila, the perfect foreground to your screens, just add some candles and a focal point like the floral arrangement above.
A tiny bit more unsolicited advice
See if you can get some pattern or shimmer in some of the linens, the asian look is much more bold about this, if you stick to too much flat red, black and white the look could be colder and flatter than you planned. Try to add subtle touches of complementary colors, green, gold. See the beautiful red/gold linens above, it’s not overstated. Add some "wow" fabric elsewhere, if you sew take some glorious patterned silk and whip up a runner for spots like the cake table to go on top of your white overlays. Or buy a vintage 10′ obi off ebay for $40 and use that! Also look how BBJ linens sashed & gathered the cake table here, that’s an attractive dramatic look.
Other ideas: consider hanging paper cranes (see lotushaus for pics of a crane screen behind the wedding cake, amazing), and square plates and chargers add a lot to the table. Consider a simple napkin accent like a bamboo stalk tucked into a brocade tie. You can also mist the reception room with a quality asian-themed room spray, nothing too sweet or musky, more like currant or lemongrass (you know, high end dept store room fragrance, not glade) right before people enter, nice touch.
Must-see links below:
- Lotushaus, GREAT compilation of contemporary asian wedding ideas
- BBJ Linen, see here and here
- Wildflower linens, go to EVENTS and click to page two
- See these Asian boards on StyleMePretty: here and here
Hope that gets you started, drop back here with more questions or ideas, I’d love to hear how your planning goes and see the results!
April 29th, 2008 at 10:04 am
It is a full on theme, except for the wedding dress. Everything else is asian and its only a challenge. I am loving this. My daughter is half japanese so we decided to this theme. It is indoors in a church the screens are the actual wedding background. Our table centerpieces are zen gardens with red p[illar candles and the rakes and all that. Our co9lor scheme is black, white and blood red. The table clothes are black rounds with white on top and we want white chair covers with black bands and red bows. I want to know how we could use paper lanterns as well.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Susan are you doing a full-on Asian theme? Tell us a little more about your wedding — is the venue a challenge or an asset, is it indoors or outdoors, have you decided on centerpieces? Is your color scheme black & white? And are these screens a backdrop for the actual ceremony or are they part of your reception decor?
April 29th, 2008 at 9:05 am
We are using two of these screens for the backdrop, I need to know what else to do becuse they will look so plain. I would also love table cloth ideas and anything else you can give me.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
OK, more looks for bridesmaids. Let’s say your bridesmaids are all NoCal girls who were on the varsity volleyball team, and they feel a little ‘costumy’ in a kimono. Or you want an Asian vibe, just toned down a bit. Here are some other options.
Cheongsams. Pros: Sexxx-ay. They come in different flavors, breaking down into “traditional” and “modern.” Modern tends to mean big slits up the side, high collars. Many women look great in a cheongsam, and feel comfortable. Dead-easy to put on. Cons: they do basically require that you have a waist. Big girls won’t look their best in a cheongsam. They’re slinky, body-conscious.
Kimono-style dresses. There’s huge variation here, but the kimono-style dress is HOT. Pros: no trouble finding plenty of designs to choose from. Cons: Kimono-style dresses don’t always have that instant Asian vibe. Sometime the “kimono” interpretation is just too loose.
Handkerchief dresses plus obi. Obis are your secret weapon. Obis look great with MANY different dress designs and instantly render them mysterious and eastern. But one combo that goes together like peanut butter and chocolate — especially for a carefree summer wedding — is the handkerchief gown paired with an obi. Imagine one of the haltertop-style handkerchief designs above with an obi tie at the waist. Imagine each ‘maid carrying a beautiful bouquet of creamy orchids wrapped in a banana leaf collar. Absolute knockout.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Jenny, I really look forward to others’ suggestions, but I’d start with a place like GoodOrient. They offer modified kimonos in real silk (not polyester), designed to wear with an obi, but simplified so you don’t require a LOT of time and a kitsukeginoshi — a special kimono dresser (you don’t just find one in every corner) — to put it on. I only see three designs there now but they say they’ve just started to upload them.
I’ve also heard ebay is a great place to get them, but personally I didn’t seem to strike gold with my searches there.
If you have a Chinatown within driving distance you could hit up personally, that would be tops.
Anyway, to me, having bridesmaids who can mostly dress themselves seems like a real bonus in those last four hours before the wedding.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Katie, just some thoughts.
You want to find a quality hand-engraver IMHO. Most of the big commercial outfits do machine engraving which looks, well, industrial. It’s flat, because they cut everything at the same depth. For something like the characters you describe you probably want the more organic and beautiful look of handwork.
I can’t recommend anyone offhand, but I would look for someone like this woman at Colored Creations Engraving. You don’t want all the people who try to sell you rings, but someone who does top-quality engraving on a ring you’ve already bought. They are more likely to be in it as an art and not a way to sell rings!
Or try one of your local, SMALL jewelers, the kind that creates their own designs. (Stay away from department stores) Those boutique people tend to have artistic temperaments and care a lot about quality! Ask a few of these types of jewelers to recommend someone who works by hand. I bet you will turn up a killer referral.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Neither me nor my to be are asian, but I have always wanted an asian inspired wedding. Is this theme proper since we are not asian? Oh, we are also going to Japan for the first time as out honeymoon.
March 28th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Where can you find the kimono dresses like you have in the photos above?
March 20th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I am turning 16 in 23 short weeks and my party is a a chinese resteraunt/ banquet hall! im so excited and am using all the ideas i can get! thanks!!!
March 6th, 2008 at 5:26 am
This is probably the most useful website that I’ve come accross since my fiance proposed a couple of months ago!! To be totally honest I’m pretty clueless as to the whole wedding thing. We finally set a definite date: August 30th, which gives me less than six months to get everything planned. Late August/early September up here is pretty much late summer, early autumn. It’s going to be an outside wedding and we’ve already got the spot for the ceremony and the reception booked. My quandry is how to mix summer/autumn decor with a slightly Japanese twist. My fiance is half Japanese and very proud of it. Another question is does anyone know where I can find a custom ring engraver? My fiance has a tattoo of his last name in Japanese on his arm, and we’d like to get those symbols enscribed in our wedding bands but like I said, I don’t even know where to begin.
February 29th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Maybe the fortune cookie which is persieved to be Chinese but actually American are a great way to blend two cultures together. did you know that pizza was invented in Greece not Italy, but I bet most thought it was Italian. Don’t be offended that people think fortune cookies are Chinese. I think perhaps that people are just trying to embrace the beautiful Chinese culture the best ways they know how. It’s very flattering not offensive.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Fortune Cookies were invented in the US! You do not see them in China. 3000 years of history stuffed into an after dinner wafer!
January 31st, 2008 at 12:54 pm
A while ago I found a picture of a stalk of lucky bamboo in a tiny 3 or 4 inch burlap bag with the japanese love symbol printed on it. I loved it. Of course I didn’t save it. Now I cannot find it. I’ve looked everywhere. I am sure it was a pic for a wedding favor website (or something closely related) Help! I really need to see it again so I can duplicate it.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
i want to have an asian theme wedding…so i will be looking forward to get ideas from you guys…thanks so much
the bride to be!!!
December 6th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
trena & other asian theme brides, I found a wonderful tutorial on making asian-style paper lanterns from chopsticks (get a ton from an asian market cheaply, paint them black if you like), some glue, and some rice paper, tracing paper or synskin. This tutorial actually shows you how to wire them for electricity, but for a wedding I think I would put something more like battery-powered flickering tealights in them instead.
Cool tutorial:
www.instructables.com/id/shoji-style-table-lamp/
Flickering tealights:
www.favorideas.com/shopping/prod/WS6040.htm
July 27th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Hi
I’m chinese (HK) and my husband to be is greek, I’m trying to find ways of incorporating the two strong themes together for the wedding reception, using the traditional tea ceromony and wedding dance… am finding it really difficult and don’t want it to be stilted. would appreciate some ideas..!
June 15th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Fortune Cookies are Generally Asian-American, and would fit well with a Chinese or Japanese theme. Here is an article I came across…
Chinese or Japanese, Angelino or San Franciscan?
One history of the fortune cookie claims that David Jung, a Chinese immigrant living in Los Angeles and founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company, invented the cookie in 1918. Concerned about the poor he saw wandering near his shop, he created the cookie and passed them out free on the streets. Each cookie contained a strip of paper with an inspirational Bible scripture on it, written for Jung by a Presbyterian minister.
Another history claims that the fortune cookie was invented in San Francisco by a Japanese immigrant named Makoto Hagiwara. Hagiwara was a gardener who designed the famous Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. An anti-Japanese mayor fired him from his job around the turn of the century, but later a new mayor reinstated him. Grateful to those who had stood by him during his period of hardship, Hagiwara created a cookie in 1914 that included a thank you note inside. He passed them out at the Japanese Tea Garden, and began serving them there regularly. In 1915, they were displayed at the Panama-Pacific Exhibition, San Francisco’s world fair.
June 3rd, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco, CA by Chinese-Americans
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:15 am
Have Japanese couple coming to redo their vows in Canada. Bringing Japanese family. I am MC and planner. Please give me ideas for a casual ceremony to include both cultures. We are doing outdoor ceremony and indoor dinner. Next day poolside and casual. Want to make Japanese visitors feel welcome.
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Fortune Cookies are Chinese. Not Japanese. You never ever see forutne cookies in a japanese resturant.
March 12th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
can anyone tell me how t omake the paper laterns for table centerpieces
February 19th, 2007 at 8:49 am
I might get my wish to come true!
So far, planning on take out boxes, chinese themed dresses for bridesmaids and myself….. Though stuck on the rest of the wedding favors! HMM!
Going to hire a sushi chef to cater! And some regular chinese food for the more picky.
February 14th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Fortune Cookies are only Chinese.
I personally am intrigued by many different Asian philosophies and plan to use a mix of things in my wedding.
We plan on lucky bamboo favors, Chinese coins or pendants with the Dragon & Phoenix used during a Hawiian sand unity ceremony, and I am making 1000 small paper cranes to fill vases or bowls for centerpieces. It sounds mish-mashed, but it will all be somehow tied together with purple as the color.
And, since most of my family is Catholic, I will add explanations for everything in the wedding program or attached to the favors.
February 3rd, 2007 at 9:44 pm
this site has amazing ideas for my quinceanera asian themed party. thanks so much. i will totally recommend this site to all my friends!!!
January 21st, 2007 at 11:18 pm
fortune cookies are a chinese thing… i dont see it used here in Japan.
January 19th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I THINK THEY ARE CHINESE, I HAVE NOT SDEEN ANY IN ANY JAPANIESE STORES OR RESTURANTS
January 19th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Can anyone tell me if fortune cookies are traditionaly chinese or japanese? Have family coming from Japan, don’t want tooffend anyone. Thank you
January 17th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
I love this site. I have gotten some great ideas and am definitely going to use them and buy some of these wedding favors
January 2nd, 2007 at 10:33 pm
November 20th, 2006 at 6:08 pm