Wedding Reception Dinner

On the weekend Ben and I attended our first Mongolian / New Zealand wedding reception. I was excited to be invited as I had never been to a wedding here in Mongolia before.

Terry the groom from New Zealand works on site in a different department to Ben and the bride Oko is from Mongolia. Weddings in Mongolia are a little different to Australia as the ceremony is very small and the wedding reception is where most guests are invited to which start in the afternoon and finishes early evening.

We arrived on time to the reception to find that the room was still being set up, I was told this always happens due to "Mongolian Time". Not knowing where to sit we waited for other guests to arrive.

Picture: Terry & Oko

The tables where not labeled with names so it wasn't until a staff member asked us to sit down that we knew it didn't matter where we sat. We ended up sharing a table with other expats we knew. Through the afternoon there was a range of entrainment from traditional music, dancing and a local rock band.

Pictures: Young girl performing traditional dance

Picture: Musician playing horse head fiddle

It was like attending a music show. There where the normal speeches both in English and Mongolian, plus the guests where invited to present their gifts to the bride and groom. A very touching part was when the bride and groom kissed both countries flags as a symbol towards each families home country. As the afternoon turned to early evening, pop music was played where most guests danced too. I found myself up and dancing as one of the little girls had taken a liking to me and she wouldn't let me sit down. At one stage the little girl had to walk me to the ladies room to make sure I would still come back and dance with her. I was saved by the mum as the little girl had to go home.

Picture: Little girl who liked to dance with Bernadette

Picture: Two little dancing girls with Bernadette & Oko

At about 8pm the reception had finished and most of the expats had moved onto one of the local bars, where we where joined by the bride and groom. It was a great wedding reception where both Ben and I enjoyed ourselves very much.

Picture: Our table

Picture: Shane, Terry (groom), Murry & Ben