FLORENCE

Luxury wedding in Florence (with a chinese tea ceremony)

Marriage unites two people, two families and sometimes two cultures: for this reason, I love working as a wedding photographer in Italy and around the world, to be able to grasp the details and customs of different peoples, in one of their most important days.

The marriage of Paulina and Peter in Florence was an opportunity to discover an important aspect of the Chinese culture: the tea ceremony. Paulina, in fact, has Chinese origins and wanted this ceremony to be part of the marriage because it was important for her to show and share her origins on her wedding day.

In a traditional Chinese wedding, the tea ceremony is one of the most significant events. The bride and groom serve tea to their parents, having a chance to give thanks and pay respect to them for all the years of nurture and care. In return, the parents bless the newlyweds with a gift. The tea itself is also important – it’s a symbol of purity, stability and fertility. The purity of tea signifies that love is pure and noble; the stability of tea stands for faithful love; the fertility of tea means that the new couple will have many children.

For this ceremony, Paulina wore a traditional Longfenggua attire – a two pieces dress that’s common for brides in southern China and that are often adorned with gold dragon and phoenix – symbolic of the bride and groom. She also wore gold jewelry, that is traditionally given to the bride by the groom’s family, meaning that the bride is now in the fold as a family member.

It was the most emotional part of the entire wedding weekend: Paulina cried and Peter thanked her parents for giving him their daughter and promised that he will take good care of her. She thanked Peter’s mother for raising such a great man.

The Tea Ceremony was perhaps the most exciting part of a truly extraordinary Chinese-American wedding in Florence. The spouses welcomed friends and relatives on a long Florentine weekend, which lasted five days; they chose the wonder of Villa Cora for the ceremony that was settled in the garden and the reception in the majestic hall of mirrors.

Excited, Paulina and Peter read the promises they had written in their hands before enjoying the evening beautifully organized by the staff of Getting Married in Italy, with music, fireworks and DJ sets. A perfect marriage that Paulina took care of in detail... so much to decide that she even wanted to change her job: now she is the one who organizes events and marriage with her Eventsbypaulina.

Our Floricolor partners realized the album of this wonderful wedding in Florence.