Wild Geese and Tea: An Asian-American Wedding Planner [Paperback]

Shu Shu Costa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

This practical, easy-to-follow wedding planner offers details on how to blend the traditions of East and West, from betrothal to the marriage ceremony, from elegant gowns to elaborate feasts, from floral arrangements to group photos. Inside is a month-by-month planner, a selective resource guide, and suggestions on: * Planning pre-wedding parties and showers * Creating distinctive invitations * Wearing traditional Asian wedding costumes * Adding symbolic decorative motifs * Orchestrating a tea ceremony * Serving a traditional wedding banquet * Incorporating ceremonial rituals and toasts

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Wedding planners are a perennial for public libraries, which should buy new ones periodically to keep up with current trends. Two of these three would be good choices if your copy of Martha Stewart's Weddings (Crown, 1987) is wearing out. Both Weddings and The Perfect Wedding present the requisite gorgeous photos, planning timetable, and suggestions for choosing and working with florists, caterers, and the rest of the myriad support services these events entail. McBride-Mellinger (The Wedding Dress, Random, 1993) takes a slightly more traditional stance, while Clark (Wedding Memories, Wilshire, 1990) shows what can be done with Western, nautical, Victorian, or Renaissance themes, in addition to the more traditional weddings. McBride-Mellinger's book is somewhat easier to use for actual planning, while Clark's is more of a wishbook for style. McBride-Mellinger's resource directory is particularly well done. Costa, who has written for Redbook and Working Woman, looks at the traditional weddings of China, Japan, and Korea and also offers suggestions for blending these customs with Occidental styles. Menus and recipes are included, along with an excellent resource list for supplies and for further information. All three titles will be useful to public libraries, and Costa's is very highly recommended for those serving Asian American populations.?Susan B. Hagloch, Tuscarawas Cty. P.L., New Philadelphia, Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573226505
• ISBN-13: 978-1573226509
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too Generic with some false information, September 15, 1999

By 

"heyang" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Geese and Tea: An Asian-American Wedding Planner (Paperback)

I bought this book on a whim since my cousins & I are at the age where we are getting married. This book may be useful if your family has been in this country for several generations or if you are not of Chinese ancestry. As a 1st generation American Born Chinese, I was hoping to ready more about the do's & don'ts - (i.e. the tea set used to serve tea for the new in-laws must be purchased by the bride, her family, or a friend.) Also, in the section about Chinese wedding banquets, she states that 'in China, 4 is a lucky number'. BAD MISTAKE. In some dialects, the pronunciation of the word four sounds like the Chinese pronunciation of DEATH. Eight is the luckiest number. I do Not recommend this book because of some mistakes and lack of interesting information.

76 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cultural Co-opting, January 28, 2000

By 

ttt (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Geese and Tea: An Asian-American Wedding Planner (Paperback)

I bought this book, or rather I picked it out and, very nicely, my boyfriend/fiance paid for it, and it was really cheesy.

A Chinese American woman wrote this book about how to gear your wedding to include some cultural aspects of one's ethnicity but the book is totally useless. She says stuff like "My fiance and I picked out invitations that had crances flying over a peaceful lake and instead of having traditional italics, we chose an ORIENTAL style of writing" First of all, Being asian is more that some cheesy cranes flying over a lake and no asian person invented that kungfu bamboo style lettering you see at take out chinese places. Also, what the heck is "oriental"? Uggh.

This person doesn't seem to know that having or doing things as an Asian or Asian American would do them involves more than an invitation with motifs based on caricatures of what non asians think represent asian culture or apeing practices from the past if you don't carry yourself and think of yourself as Asian american or asian. I mean, a yak won shik (engagement ceremony/dinner) is normal if your friends and sisters and brothers and cousins and your future kids are going to do it and it has an affinity with the past and the future in your family, but when you do it to think it will give your wedding an "Asian" flair than that is when a culture is in danger if being co-opted for the mere opportunity to dress in costume and feel that you are more asian than you think you are.

It's like thinking of a hanbok as a costume rather than as an item of clothing (albeit one that doesn't get that much use) in one's wardrobe.

I'm about halfway through and am loathe to finish the rest but I hate to let the book go to waste.

Anyway, a warning not to buy this useless, wedding industry, book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pathetic!, April 5, 2006

By 

To Be or Not to Be - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Geese and Tea: An Asian-American Wedding Planner (Paperback)

I am ashame to know that an asian person wrote this book....that's just how bad it is. To those that rated this book with high marks: dont believe everything you read - you were duped. And by the way, unlike how the author describes the asian culture - chinese, japanese, korean, and all of the various asian ethnic groups do NOT share the same traditions.