Today is a special day for my humans: it’s their 12 year wedding anniversary! And since I’m almost 6yrs old, that means I have been with them for almost half their married lives together! 
To mark their special day, I thought I’d show you some pictures from their 12 happy years together – starting with some ‘official’ wedding photos…(actually, these were taken before the reception because in traditional Taiwanese weddings, the bride & groom are expected to have a photoshoot first and then to have all the photos ready in an album for the guests to look at at the reception!)
My humans actually got married first in a special office in London but they wanted a traditional Chinese-style wedding, so after that, they went to Taiwan (which is where Hsin-Yi is from) with some family and friends to make the party there!
A Chinese wedding is very different from a Western wedding. First of all – there is no dancing but there IS lots of eating! 
There are also lots of funny traditions so I thought you might enjoy learning a bit more about them…
In the olden days, the bride & groom never saw each other before they got married because their families would arrange everything and they would come from different villages. On the day of the wedding, the groom would come from his village to get the bride from her house and take her away with him back to his village. Of course, this does not happen anymore but a traditional wedding will still follow this ‘symbolic ritual’.
Because Paul and his family don’t have a home in Taiwan, they had to pretend that their hotel was their home and come to get Hsin-Yi from there. When they arrived, there were lots of firecrackers set off to scare away evil spirits and to announce the happy news. The Chinese believe that a happy occasion should always be celebrated with as much noise as possible! 
(see the firecrackers?)
Meanwhile, Hsin-Yi and her family were getting ready upstairs, including putting red flowers into their hair (a Taiwanese tradition for the bride’s family) – even Hsin-Yi’s brother had to have a red flower tucked behind his ears!
When the groom and his family entered, they were met by Hsin-Yi’s sisters. In the olden days, they would start bargaining with the groom for the “bride price” – for example, they would ask for 9,999 gold pieces, the groom would offer 99 gold pieces, then maybe they might finally settle on 999 gold pieces. (9 is an auspicious number because it sounds the same as the word which means “forever”). Of course, now people don’t do “bride prices” anymore so Hsin-Yi’s sisters just played a game – and gave Paul and his brothers & friend 9 challenges to complete before he was allowed to see the bride.
Here they are being asked to say “I love you” in 9 languages…
Then the groom’s family was served a special sweet soup (to wish sweetness and happiness for the newlywed’s life together)…
…and then finally, the bride was allowed to come out. There was no religious ceremony: the bride & groom simply bow to their ancestors, bow to their parents and then finally bow to each other to pay their respects.
Then Paul had to take Hsin-Yi back to his home (hotel!) to complete the ceremony. As they left, they were delighted to find the neighbourhood stray dog ‘escorting’ them out…because they both came from families which hadn’t allowed pets and they couldn’t wait until they could get pets of their own, they thought it was a perfect omen for their new life together! 
When Hsin-Yi came out of her apartment building, they quickly covered her with an umbrella (even though it was a sunny day) because it is important to protect the bride from the gaze of any evil spirits…
…and after the car started pulling away, a male member of the bride’s family (in this case, Hsin-Yi’s brother) had to throw a bowl of water after the car. This is because the Taiwanese believe that “water that is thrown out cannot come back” – it is a symbolic way of hoping that a daughter that is married out never comes back because of widowhood or divorce.
Paul and his family were staying at the Grand Hotel, which is one of oldest and most beautiful hotels in Taipei. It was built in the classical Chinese architecture style, to look like a traditional Chinese palace, with beautiful red pillars and intricate carvings of dragons, lions and plum flowers and a golden yellow, tiled roof.
The Grand Hotel, Taipei
When the car arrived at the hotel, before Hsin-Yi was allowed to get out, she had to rub 2 oranges brought to her by a little boy who was the son of a family friend…the golden colour symbolised wealth and prosperity and the round shape symbolised fertility.
And then up in Paul’s family’s hotel room, Hsin-Yi had to serve tea to her new husband and his family. In olden days, this ‘tea ceremony’ was a chance for the groom’s family to judge how useful the new bride was going to be around the house! 
Then finally it was time for the banquet!
Before they went into the Banquet Hall, everyone (including every guest) had to sign the Silk Cloth of Happiness – this would be a souvenir for Paul and Hsin-Yi to keep forever.
A traditional Chinese wedding banquet has 12 courses and includes ‘auspicious foods’ like Steamed fish (served whole!) as a symbol of prosperity, Duck which represents fidelity, Sharks Fin Soup as a sign of wealth, Pigeons symbolising peace, Chicken representing the ‘phoenix’ and Lobster representing the ‘dragon’ and of course, Noodles for longevity. Paul and Hsin-Yi did not have all the traditional foods (for example, they would never approve of eating Sharks Fin!) but they did have some, like noodles and steamed fish.
The couple sat at the top round table, underneath a special red character inside a circle. This character means “double happiness” and is only used at weddings.
The other funny tradition in Taiwanese weddings is that the bride is expected to change into 3 different outfits. Of course, traditionally, a Chinese bride would wear red because that is the colour of happiness – but most girls nowadays wear a white Western-style dress with a veil to start with and to arrive at the banquet. Then, halfway through the banquet, they leave to get changed into their 2nd outfit – and then the couple make a grand entrance together again!
Now the bride & groom have to go around all the tables and toast all the guests. Because they must always empty their glasses and there can be a LOT of tables, their glasses are usually filled with tea instead of rice wine, otherwise they would get very drunk!
And then finally, at the end of the banquet, the bride & groom go out again for the bride to change into her final outfit…
And in this outfit, the bride & groom and their families must form the ‘Farewell Line’ outside the Banquet Hall to say goodbye to all the guests. Hsin-Yi also had to hold a tray of sweets for guests to take with them as they leave – again, to wish sweetness for the future.
But wait – it’s not finished! After the last guests leave, the close friends and siblings of the bride & groom go with them to their bedroom where they play “Traditional Bedroom Games”. This means they do naughty things to make the bride & groom do silly things to each other and then everybody can watch them and laugh. For example, they put a plastic pearl down the top of Hsin-Yi’s dress and then told Paul to put his hand up her skirt to try and find it!
The last game they did was making Paul and Hsin-Yi get into the bed under the covers and then making them take one item of clothing off each other at a time and throwing each out to lots of cheering…and only when both of them were completely naked would everybody leave the room!
It was a great, fun day and a wonderful start to a life together!
Well, I hope you enjoyed that little tour of a Chinese wedding! And now I will just leave you with some pictures of my humans’ happy moments together…
Hey! If your humans had an unsual wedding too, maybe you’d like to tell us about it on your blog?
Oh, Hsin-Yi, Paul and Honey -- what a great post! Thank you SO much for sharing these wonderful photos with us and many congratulations on your 12 year anniversary! You two look amazing and sooo happy in your wedding photos -- and you know what? What is absolutely wonderful is that in every blog post where the two of you appear you STILL look just as happy and as much in love….you two are obviously soul mates, aw, it made our female human go all misty eyed!
Our female human also worked out that you were the same age as her when you got married. 
Hmm, our humans eloped :O when they got married as they were getting fed up with everything completely taking over their wedding arrangements… is that unusual enough?! They were meant to get married in the month of November but ended up getting married in August and are delighted they did things ‘their’ way. It’s important, our female human tells us, to have the sort of wedding that YOU want, not the wedding that everyone else thinks you should have!! We wouldn’t know about that, we’re only puppies, he he he!
Anyway, Hsin-Yi looks sooo beautiful and Paul is very handsome -- what a great couple. A gorgeous girl like you Honey certainly makes for a very attractive family!
Schnauzer snuggles -- JD and Max.
Wow, that’s so interesting and so nice of Hsin-Yi to share her wedding photos and story. Congratulations to Hsin-Yi and Paul on their 12th Wedding Anniversary!! Wishing them lots of happiness and many more happy years together!!
Hi Honey
Congratulations to your mom and dad on thier 12th wedding anniversary. We wish them a lifetime of happines together.
Thanks for sharing the wedding with us, we enjoyed it very much.
Love Ruby & Penny
Happy anniversary to your mom and dad. Those wedding photos are so beautiful!
HAPPY 12TH ANNIVERSARY to aunty Hsin Yi and uncle Paul.
Honey are you sure they’ve been married for 12 years?
They still look lovely and youthful, it seems like they just got married last month! The bride and groom looked so stunningly beautiful, they couldn’t hide their double happiness, now they have you, that’s triple happiness and us doggy friends from all over the world, that’s united happiness!
I enjoyed the traditional bedroom games, haha, it was hilarious, naughty naughty friends!
I like the picture of the adorable newlywed couple and the dog, yeah, that’s a wonderful sign of Honey and Lemon coming later to make it a perfect family! ( Lemon, we’ve missed you dearly).
Aunty Hsin-Yi an uncle Paul and Honey,
We wish you three prosperity, fidelity, wealth, peace, longevity and super love to the Phoenix and Dragon happy couple like the 12 course wedding banquet 12 years ago!
Mango, Chubs and Ximui from Texas.
Happy anniversary to both of you!!! Mom was so thrilled with this post because she often wondered if Hsin Yi were Taiwanese. Our human sister-in-law Anni is from Taiwan. So much of the tradition in the post brought back memories to mom of her son’s wedding time. He went to Taiwan with Anni and did that pre-wedding photoshoot. He is 6″7″ tall and he had to wear a traditional male Taiwanese outfit, they had to take his picture sitting down because they didn’t have pants long enough for him. It was just wonderful to share your memories today.
Hugs, the OP Pack
Happy anniversary! Very cool seeing your wedding pictures!
Happy anniversary to your parents!!! Wow, we just LOVED hearing about their wedding -- the customs and how they interpreted them into a more “modern” ceremony! Our favorite part was the dog escorting them -- ha roo roo roo!
Your mom is SO beautiful and so were her dresses! I especially like the second one! Soooo pretty!
Love,
Ammy
Happy, happy Anniversary! That was just fascinating -- what a gorgeous couple you are -- such incredible traditions -- I just love how you told this wonderful story, accompanied by the marvellous photos. Thank you so much for posting this momentous event in your lives -- so very special.
Hugs xo
Sammie
Tank woo fur sharing the pikhs, the khustoms, and the memories!
I’m sure it was bittersweet to see them fur I’m sure some of the guests are no longer with us…
My unkhle Steve was recently married on the mainland so Mom got to see many of his pikhs (his previous Chinese wife was from Taiwan but the latest one is from more central/northern China)
We wish the three of woo many more years of happiness!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
How beautiful! Thank you for sharing the wonderful story of your marriage. My Mom says congratulations, and wants to know what Hsin-Yi’s secret is for staying so young and beautiful?
Honeydog sure is a lucky girl to have been chosen by two people as wonderful as Hsin-Yi & Paul.
Extra wags, wiggles & slobbers to you on your anniversary
Murphydog
Honey, your momma and dadda had such a lovely wedding. Please thank them for sharing such wonderful memories with all of us.
That sure was some wedding! Three different outfits? My momma would have expired. I really like Paul’s purple vest and then I thought your Hsin-Yi’s last dress was the prettiest.
They waited six years to have a puppy? That must have seemed like a long time.
I’m not sure about those bedroom games, but the abundant foodables sure sound good.
Slobbers,
Mango
Wow, what a beautiful and exciting wedding your humans had!! And what a beautiful young couple they were! (And, after 12 years, they haven’t changed a bit!!) Thanks for telling us about their wedding and sharing great wedding photos.
Our mum is going to attend her brother’s wedding in late Septemebr, so she might be able to report something about a wedding in Japan after that. But, it is not going to be a typical Japanese wedding, as her brother is having a rockabilly concert as his wedding party and he himself is going to play the bass in a rockabilly band there!
Happy 12th Wedding Anniversary!!!!!
This was so interesting to read about the wedding traditions. I think if I ever decide to renew my vows I want to have a Taiwanese wedding!! It sounds like you had so much fun!
I like that the stray dog escorted you out and I love all of the pictures. The dresses were all beautiful.
Happy Anniversay!
Honey, I think your mom is the most beautiful bride ever!
I loved reading about the Taiwanese traditions. Sounds like a wonderful way to start a life together! Thanks for sharing the photos & story of your special day.
what beautiful photo’s, thanks for sharing them with us.
Dear Honey,
How much fun you would have had if you had been there!
How much fun would I have had If I’d been there!
Beautiful pictures; and wonderful to hear about the Chinese-style wedding! Mumma thinks the three different dresses is one of the best parts!
Your hoomans still look so young and happy! Of course a lot of that must be because of you Honey, making their lives so happy!
smooches,
Mr Darcy
Happy Anniversary!
Thanks for sharing your wedding pictures and all the traditions!
Pawesome!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza
Congratulations Hsin-Yi & Paul. Thanks for sharing that and your special day.
x
Aw, that was beautiful! What a love story! Thanks for inviting us along!
Happy Anniversary!!! Thank you for sharing your wedding story and all the beautiful photos!
Hi Honey!
Congrats to your parents on their 12 year wedding anniversary! It was so interesting to read about traditional Taiwanese weddings and how Hsin-Yi and Paul included different parts for their own celebration. Great pictures!
And Hsin-Yi looks exactly the same now as when she was married 12 years ago -- beautiful!!
xo
Beautiful photos & CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Happy 12th anniversary! what a great account of Taiwanese traditions! It’s so fun to look at all your photos and the history behind the traditions.
You look so happy together, we wish you many many more years of happiness!
Hsin-Yi, thank you SO much for your advice regarding Brownie’s doggy social skills. We did something similar as you adviced (on recommendation of a trainer), but it didn’t work because we upped the stakes too quickly. Your explanation (i.e. start with an uninsteresting toy) showed me that we were rushing Brownie and not setting her up for success… so we’re going to go back to square one and try slowly! Patience is a virtue!
What a great post! I can’t believe all the stuff your Mom and Dad did for their wedding? My Mom and Dad got married at home, and the actual ceremony took about 10 minutes (most of which was taken up with Mom trying to walk down the stairs in a dress and high heels, and their recessional music, which was AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ (Dad’s only request)). Then they had a big party for all their friends. I think Mom would have been in serious trouble if she’d had to change in to multiple dresses -- one wedding dress was almost too much for her!
*kissey face*
-Fiona
Hi Honey!
Happy 12 year wedding anniversary to your mom and dad! Thanks for sharing their wedding stories and pictures! So beautiful!
xoxo
Thor
Happy Anniversary Paul and Hsin-YI! It was so fun to see photos and learn about your wedding.
You both still look just the same and those were some fantatstic and fun pictures. We have some family friends who had a semi-traditional Chinese wedding too. The bride was also from Taiwan and they had the 12 course meal and I remember them talking about the bedroom games. Although I think when the bridesmaids and groomsmen attempted to do that they kicked them out of their bedroom. 
We really enjoyed that wedding and the food was so yummy! Anyway, we are very happy for you and Paul…you always look so happy together and we love the omen of the stray dog too! It was clearly accuarte. 
As for the skinny dipping question…..oh dear, maybe I should take that photo out of the slideshow???
I did have my bathing suit on but the sunlight was so bright right on me that I can see where it may appear that I did not. 
Well, hope you are enjoying your day!
Many COngrats! What a lovely ceremony and we enjoyed the explanations of all of the wonderful traditions. We also appreciate your mention of not eating Shark Fin Soup. Traditions are very important for sure but that is one that people can choose not to do or continue doing until the sharks are all gone and then have no choice in not doing. Anyhow, as a marine ecologist I appreciate your enlightened view!
I really loved the pic of you two being led out by the stray dog. Very sweet!
Here’s to many more years together with dogs (and cats)!
Moose + Dana
wow Hsin-yi! Your wedding pictures are really nice. and the memories of you guys together are So sweet! We are so envious! Wait, you guys NEVER changed at all!
Oh, By the way, to insert a watermark in your pictures, please do it using Picasa, there’s an Insert Text function!Try to adjust the transparency level, so that it reduces the effects on the picture? We’ve got a new batch of pictures!! Shall be uploading them soon! do check back in a day’s time.:)
happy 12th year Anniversary! Hsin Yi and Paul. May you have an everlasting happy marriage!:)
Love,
Camry, Chevro and Cayenne
Hi Honey
Happy Anniversary to your parents and thank you for sharing those stunning wedding photos as well as telling us something of the traditions.
We thought your parents looked very beautiful and happy. We saw a wedding yesterday in the park we visited -- lots of couples in Glasgow have their photos taken to have beautiful surroundings.
It made our parents think back -- a long long time ago to their own wedding.
Such a special day in a human’s life!
We are glad Honey that you have now joined the family.
We will go and vote in the slobber contest -- our mum never did get one of us -- in fact, unlike her last basset, we do not drool that much!
We were surprised our pals the beagles drooled more than us!!!
love
Martha & Bailey xxxx
Hi Honey. Thanks for posting about your parent’s wedding. It was fascinating and the pictures are just beautiful. Wasn’t that amazing with the stray dog? That was fate! And your Mama’s dresses are gorgeous, at least my Mama thinks so. Kiss your parents Happy Anniversary for me!
xox
Chef
How lovely! Thanks for sharing this story and wonderful pictures. It sounds like it was a lot of fun!
What an unexpected surprise -- and what a beautiful day. Congrats on your dozen year anniversary!
Hi Hsin-Yi, I hadn’t seen some of these before! I still feel cross with my ex-boss, all these years later, for not allowing me the time off. You were and are absolutely beautiful. What stunning photos of you all. lots of love Becky xxx
This was a wonderful post to read, interesting and informative, and I wish your humans many, many more years of happiness.
Congratulations on your 12 years anniversary Hsin Yi and Paul! Chinese weddings in Malaysia are very simiar too. What a lovely trip down memory lane for you.
Hi honey!
Thanks for coming to visit us! We love to see your humans celebrate a special day. My humans celebrate that day on March 24th every year. I hope that you have a good week! I will try to post some pictures of my humans wedding soon.
Kisses
Boxen & Bella
we LOVED IT!!!! especially the last game.. definately the best part
Happy Anniversary to your humans Honey!!! Tell Hsin-Yi thank you very much for sharing them with us….your mom and dad were just stunning in their wedding photos. It was great to learn all about their wedding customs. I loved the photo of the stray dog following your mom and dad outside.
AARF -- Kasha the Great Dane
Wow! What a pawtastic post Honey! Happy anniversary to Hsin-Yi and Paul! They look so lovely and happy together it has warmed Mum’s heart. We were very interested to hear about the Taiwanese wedding ceremonies and traditions. My Mum likes tradition to be kept alive. It looked a lot of fun and a great start for their life together.
~lickies, Ludo
Happy Anniversary to your Mom and Dad! Thank you so much for sharing memories of that wonderful day with us!
This is such a wonderful post! Thanks for sharing details of your beautiful wedding! My pawrents’ wedding was pretty similar too, guess it’s all about the same when it comes to Chinese weddings. My favourite picture is the one with the stray dog escorting the couple! That’s was really sweet of the dog!
BTW, my Mummy wanna thank Hsin-Yi for the precious advice given to her on how to get me into the car boot successfully. She is going to try out the suggestions and I’m also looking forward to the irressistible treats!
Happy Anniversary!
What a brilliant post, I really enjoyed it. I wish our wedding had been as much fun as that! Everyone looked so happy and I love that the dog got in on the act.
I see from the collage that Hsin-Yi and Paul visited Drumnadrochit…….I spotted Nessie in the background!
Hello there Hsin Yi and Paul,
Happy Anniversary! What a great post. We enjoyed reading about your Taiwanese wedding ceremony and the photos!
It’s quite similar to chinese weddings here in malaysia -- just we don’t see the red flower much. But the outfit changes yes -- some brides go to the extent of changing five times!!
t
Those photos were fantastic! And what a great wedding!! Hsin-Yi, you looked gorgeous, and your dresses were amazing! Oh my, I’m jealous.
Whoa!!! 12 years!!! Happy Anniversary Hsin-Yi and Paul! What a special wedding! Never expected you guys to have such a traditional wedding. Love all your wedding pics too! You are both gorgeous! Thanks for sharing with us, it warms my heart! A toast to many many wonderful years together for the both of you!
Love, Dino
what incredible pics and story -- we loved the history and tradition that your wedding represented
that collage of pics were really nice too -- did you guys meet in college
Woodrow -- Sweetie -- MJ
Yes, we did meet at college! You could say that we were college sweethearts!
Hsin-Yi
I love this post! Thanks for sharing. You guys look so happy and in love. I love reading about different cultures and traditions. I once spent a month in Taiwan and loved it -- had blonde hair back then from months of backpacking, and much slimmer, and was treated very nicely. Gorgeous country and people. And gorgeous wedding by the look of these photos!
(late) Congratulations! The photos are so beautiful! What a great day! We love to know more about traditions!
Kisses
Rufus and Indie
So Beautiful! And that’s the same beautiful red dress!! Like you I’m usually in my dog-walking attire, but I do enjoy looking at beautiful clothes!! You had such a wonderful day
And it’s almost time for #14!!
Cheers!!
You guy must have been drinking a lot of tea
Happy Anniversary !