As my regular readers will know, I’m getting married soon – and as a Chinese bride it is traditional to have a Chinese tea ceremony.
So, another thing to tick off the wedding to-do list was to find a tea set. I wanted something that was vaguely Oriental, without any gaudy gold leaf or dragon/phoenix motifs. Fortunately Jetsetting Mum found just the right set for me at the funky tea store, T2. Ivy is a blue and white tea set with a curlicued design which is reminiscent of typical Chinese porcelain. Unfortunately I can’t show you what it looks like at the moment as the cute teapot ($20) and handle-less tea cups ($4 each) are packed away in T2‘s distinctive Asian newspaper gift-wrapping. (If you want to stickybeak at what else we’re doing for our wedding, check out Telegramstop).
On a completely different note, I got talking to the friendly shop assistant at T2 who told me that she’s actually a crafter. Berri Drum designs a collection of crochet accessories under the label Hand.Hook.Yarn. The photo above shows her winter collection and for summer she’ll be selling collars made from cotton rather than wool and in more vibrant colours. You can check out Berri’s work at the following upcoming markets: Rose Street Artists Market (1 and 22 Nov), Thread Den’s market (15 Nov), the Shirt and Skirt market (29 Nov), the new Blackbird Market in Fitzroy (5 Dec) and Craft Hatch (19 Dec).
- T2, 340 Brunswick St, Fitzroy (and other locations) 1300 832 866
I was in T2 (in Perth) once, and some guy said to a little girl (I’m assuming dad + kid) “you can tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese because Japanese is written across the page, and Chinese is written down the page.” And I didn’t know whether to interrupt or not.
I love tea ceremonies! Especially the Ang Pau that comes with them!
Hi Steph
I’m quite nervous about the tea ceremony to be honest. No one understands the order of tea pouring, Jetsetting Mum is fussing about cup hygiene and RM’s family don’t understand the concept of Ang Pau (yet). I just hope I don’t spill any tea on myself or anyone else!
Jetsetting Joyce
have you sent out the invites? we included an ang pau in the invites, with instructions (‘don’t feel obliged, but here’s what us chinese do’ sort of thing) and it worked GREAT. just about everyone got into it (and a lot of people thought it was really cool).
we skipped the tea ceremony for exactly that reason though, worried about cup hygiene. but it never killed anyone in my family before!
steph
Hi Steph
Thanks that is a great idea! We will include the ang pau with instructions for family who will be involved in the tea ceremony. For our other guests we’re going with a honeymoon wedding registry, because we’ve booked a trip to China and Hong Kong straight after the wedding. Yay!
Jetsetting Joyce