Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

I had fears that I would be a two-dress bride, sure that I would be a two-shoe bride (still working on the second shoe part), but I never thought I'd be a two reception bride.  I've mentioned before how I was looking forward to certain aspects of having a Chinese reception - mainly the tea ceremony.  Boston Chinatown is pretty small compared to other Chinatowns and there are only 3 main "true" dimsum restaurants.  (FYI: Windsor is a great alternative for dim sum if you don't mind not having the traditional carts).

Most of the places in Boston Chinatown are pretty old so I knew right away I wanted to hold our Chinese reception at Hei La Moon, which was recently renovated.  Also, they were the only place that had a website that posted their full wedding menu only - score for the twinkie girl with a Canto vocab of a 5 year old!  I was able to email the link to my Mom to show her the different menu options.  At this point, Brian and I had assumed we would be paying for this reception with some help with my parents.  Therefore we looked at the cheapest option, saw that it was still 10 courses, and called it good to go.

Well...not so much.  My Mom arrived a week later in Boston and immediately put down the deposit for the most expensive menu option because it had a small roast pig for each table.  o_0 ???  Individual table roast pigs?  Apparently it's not a Chinese wedding if there's no piggie.  Stuff I never knew...

I have no illusions - this is my Mom's wedding that she never really had.  For her own wedding, there was no money and she had to make do with very little.  This is a chance for her to make up for all that she never had.  I understand that and that is why I'm letting her do all this.  She has booked the photographer and videographer for the day and she has booked the transportation and emcee.  She has done more for this day than I have for my own wedding.  I feel slightly guilty about her paying for all this since she works so hard to save money and she has insisted on paying for everything herself.  I'm sure I'll contribute some but with the other wedding reception, it'll be hard.  And it's a compromise for both of us - my Mom dislikes many aspects of the Western wedding decisions I've made (dress, colors, etc) and I'm sure I'll feel very mulish about the "hokey" stuff she wants for the Chinese reception.  But I tell myself it's about a day of love and it'll be fun...if we can both survive the planning process.  =P