The habit of going to weddings with 'rubber bands': The host 'cries', the guests 'laugh'

Many weddings in Hue City are often held about 30 minutes to 1 hour late because they have to wait for everyone to arrive - Photo: MINH LINH

The reason is that weddings in the city often take place later than the time printed on the invitation, making guests wait "for a long time".

Many delicate "half-laughing, half-crying" situations have occurred at such weddings, leaving both the host and guests extremely confused.

Late to the wedding but still have to… wait

"At my wedding, please come 30 minutes early to take pictures and project them onto the big LED screen at the wedding center. During the party, both families will not come to each table to take pictures, so try to come early with me," my friend Ngoc Bao (residing in Huong Thuy town, Thua Thien Hue province) sent me the invitation and told me in detail.

According to Bao, weddings in Hue are often held 30 minutes to 1 hour later than the time printed on the invitation, especially wedding parties at noon.

There are many explanations for using this "rubber band" time, but mainly because the homeowner wants to wait for the presence of all friends and relatives in the most important ceremony of one's life.

In the city, wedding invitations often fall during off-work hours so most workers have to rush to attend the party.

Traffic jams, being busy picking up children, cooking for the family or finishing work… are the reasons that many people in the city give to explain being late to weddings.

When it was time to start the party, seeing the empty table below, the host probably didn't want to start his important ceremony at all.

On Bao's wedding day, I also finished my work and arrived early. The wedding took place at a restaurant located right in the center of the bustling Western quarter of Hue City.

Although I could not arrive early as my friend had told me, I still believed that I would arrive on time as printed on the pink invitation. However, my friend’s wedding ceremony could not start because although it was on time, not many guests arrived.

Nearly an hour later, the first dishes were served and the wedding party began. Nearly an hour into the party, my group of friends and Bao started to appear at the restaurant, even though there were already many guests standing up to leave.

Sitting at the table marked “reserve”, my group of friends called the restaurant waiter and asked for the food to be served. However, due to the lack of people (10 people per table), the restaurant staff refused to serve the food. So, even though they arrived late, my friends had to wait for more people to arrive to fill the table.

Although the groom Ngoc Bao was busy saying goodbye to his guests, he had to stop and find the restaurant manager to ask to serve food to his friends.

Lessons learned when attending a wedding in the countryside

Many times, our group of friends in town reminded each other that when invited to a wedding in the countryside, we must go early, absolutely no "rubber bands" or we will get the full brunt.

A few years ago, in the group there was a friend from Vinh Linh district ( Quang Tri province), 100km from Hue city center, who invited us to his wedding.

The wedding invitation clearly stated the party would start at 11am. Calculating the travel time to be about 3 hours, the group agreed to get in the car at exactly 8am to go to the wedding.

We arranged to meet at a coffee shop to go together, but unexpectedly, my friend and I were the first to arrive on time. It wasn't until 9am that everyone arrived and the bus departed.

When we arrived, it was almost noon. When we got off the car, we saw my friend and his wife standing at the restaurant gate, bidding farewell to the guests.

"I know you guys will definitely be 'rubber banding' so I told the restaurant to leave two tables. Luckily it's my wedding, otherwise if it was someone else's wedding you guys would have left hungry," my friend jokingly teased the group, then invited everyone to join the party quickly or else they'd be... hungry.

Many ways to remind guests to attend a wedding party

To avoid the "rubber band" situation affecting their wedding party, many brides and grooms have thought of ways to remind friends and relatives to be on time, to avoid making others wait too long and get tired.

Groom Ngoc Bao shared that telling everyone to come early to take pictures is a way to remind everyone to be on time. Bao said that many people also cleverly print reminders on the wedding invitation, or schedule appointments via social networking apps like Zalo, Facebook... so that when the time comes, these apps will notify everyone on their phone screens.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thoi-quen-di-dam-cuoi-day-thun-chu-tiec-do-khoc-khach-do-cuoi-20240806141756786.htm