Chinese wedding video editing, from the door games to the yam seng
A Chinese wedding day often starts before sunrise and ends after a long evening banquet. Many families fit door games at the bride's home, tea ceremonies with both families, a church, temple or registry ceremony for some couples, photos and a banquet of many courses into one day, with the betrothal gifts (guo da li) and the hair combing in the weeks and the night before. With WeddingEditor you upload one event or the whole wedding as a project, name the relatives and moments that matter, and get back a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser made by WeddingEditor's AI editing.
Customs differ between Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka and other families, and between Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the diaspora. The edit follows what you write.
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Last updated October 2026
How to get a Chinese wedding edited
- 1
Decide what goes in each project
One project produces one edit. If the family wants the tea ceremony as its own short film, put only that footage in a project of its own; if they want one highlight of the whole day, put the bride's home, the groom's home, the ceremony and the banquet together. Add the files from your camera and your second shooter's camera as they are, with no renaming or sorting. A project has no cap on file count or total size, and a single file can be up to 5 GB.
- 2
Write the brief only you can write
WeddingEditor was not in the bride's living room and does not know which aunt is which. Use the preference questions to name the parents, grandparents and elders, say what each wore (a red qun kwa, a qipao, a white gown), list the moments that must stay in the order they happened, and choose how much of the speeches, the MC and the toasts you want to hear. Leave a question blank if you have nothing to add; nothing is invented for it.
- 3
Start processing, then review
Pay with One Wedding or a plan credit and start processing, which typically takes 24 to 72 hours. The finished edit appears in your project, where you can watch it and download a 1080p MP4. If something is off, you have up to two revision rounds: send notes by email from the link in the app, and that same edit is revised.
Preference notes for a Chinese wedding
Write as if briefing someone who never met the family: who, what they wore, what happened and in what order.
Who the elders are
"Bride's paternal grandmother: seated center at the tea ceremony, dark green jacket, gives the gold bangles. Groom's parents: father in a navy suit, mother in a red qipao. Please make sure both grandmothers appear clearly."
The door games
"Keep the groomsmen eating the sour, bitter and spicy dishes, the push-ups and the red packet bargaining through the gate. End the sequence on the bridesmaids finally opening the door."
Two tea ceremonies
"Tea ceremony at the bride's home at 9 am, then at the groom's home at 11 am. Show each set of parents receiving tea, and the moment the bride's mother puts the dragon and phoenix bangles on her wrist."
The banquet sound
"Balanced speech and music. Please let the MC's family introductions and the father of the groom's speech be heard, and keep the three yam seng cheers. Skip the long karaoke number at table 12."
Faith and family wishes
"Church ceremony at 1 pm for the couple, who are Christian; the groom's grandparents bowed at the family altar at home that morning. Include both, but keep the altar moment short and respectful, as the family asked."
Things to leave out
"Please avoid the shots of the red packet counting table and the uncle who asked not to be filmed (grey cardigan). The couple does not want the outfit change backstage in the film."
What Chinese wedding footage usually includes
This is a common shape, not a rule. Practice varies by family, region, dialect group and faith, and many couples mix Chinese customs with a church, civil or Western-style ceremony.
A long day split across homes
Many weddings begin at the bride's family home with the groom's arrival and the door games, move to tea ceremonies with the bride's family and then the groom's, and end at an evening banquet. With a second shooter, one camera often stays with the bride while the other follows the groom's party.
Events before the day
Some families, especially Cantonese ones, hold a guo da li in the weeks before, when the groom's side brings betrothal gifts to the bride's family, and a hair combing ritual for each of the couple at home on the night before the wedding. Others skip these or hold them privately.
Who plays a part
Parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts are honored at the tea ceremony, usually in order of seniority. The bridesmaids (often called the jie mei) run the door games, the groomsmen (the brothers, or hing dai) take them on, and in some families an older relative or a woman considered lucky in life leads a ritual such as the hair combing.
Speech in several languages
Blessings, kinship titles at the tea ceremony and banquet speeches may be in Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, English or a mix. The banquet has an MC on a microphone and toasts such as the Cantonese and Malaysian yam seng, a long shout led from the stage. All of it is live sound that your cameras recorded, and the edit can let it be heard.
The edit you get back
A project returns one edit: a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser, delivered as a 1080p widescreen MP4. A day of this size can be one project or several, each using its own purchase or plan credit.
Your sound and music together
WeddingEditor uses the MC, the toasts and the laughter in your footage together with music. The audio preference decides the balance: more speeches and voices, a balance of the two, or mostly music-led.
Parts of a Chinese wedding and what to put in the preferences
| Event | What to film or flag | A preference note for it |
|---|---|---|
| Guo da li | Gift baskets and trays carried into the bride's home, the families greeting each other, the return gifts | "Feature both mothers when the trays are opened." |
| Hair combing | A parent or chosen elder combing the bride's or groom's hair at night while saying blessings | "Keep the four blessings audible, in my grandmother's Cantonese." |
| Door games | Groomsmen at the bride's door, food challenges, quizzes, red packet bargaining | "End on the door opening and the groom seeing the bride." |
| Tea ceremonies | The couple serving tea to each elder in turn, red packets and jewelry given back | "Show every elder once, in the order they were served." |
| Ceremony | A church service, a registry or solemnization, or a family altar rite, depending on the couple | "Vows in English, keep both readings by the cousins." |
| Banquet | Grand entrance, family introductions, courses, speeches, yam seng, table by table toasts | "Keep the yam seng and the parents' entrance; skip the slideshow." |
| Outfit changes | Many brides change between a qun kwa or qipao and a gown during the day | "Show her in all three outfits at least once." |
What is a Chinese wedding video edit?
A Chinese wedding video edit is a short film cut from the footage of one or more parts of a Chinese wedding, from the gift exchange and the door games to the tea ceremony and the banquet. With WeddingEditor it is a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser, made from what you upload and made by WeddingEditor's AI editing, which follows the people, moments and wishes you name.
Chinese is not one tradition. A Cantonese family in Hong Kong, a Hokkien family in Penang and a Mandarin speaking family in Vancouver may hold different events with different names, and many couples are Christian, Buddhist, Taoist or not religious. Ask the family what they did and write that into the brief.
Chinese wedding editing questions
Can I send only the tea ceremony or only the banquet?
Yes. Create a separate project for that event and upload just its files. A project makes one edit, so the tea ceremony can have its own Highlight Reel while the whole day goes into another project, each with its own purchase or credit.
How will WeddingEditor know which relative is which at the tea ceremony?
From your notes. In the question about specific people, list each elder with their relationship to the couple and what they wore, for example "groom's eldest uncle, brown suit, served third". Each answer has room for up to 2,000 characters.
Can the banquet montage be set to a Chinese love song?
The MC, the speeches and the yam seng from your footage can stay in, and WeddingEditor uses music alongside them. Pick the audio preference that fits: more voices, balanced, or mostly music-led.
The day mixed a church ceremony with a tea ceremony. Is that a problem?
No. Upload all of it and say in the brief which parts matter most and in what proportion. The AI editing follows your notes; it does not decide how much of the faith ceremony or the family customs belongs in the film.
Can I get an edit to show at the evening banquet?
No. Processing typically takes 24 to 72 hours after you start it, with no guaranteed turnaround, so it is not suited to a same evening screening. Cut that piece yourself and use WeddingEditor for the highlight you deliver afterwards.
Can my second shooter upload the groom's side footage?
Yes, if they are a signed in member of your WeddingEditor team. WeddingEditor sets up a team upload link for teammates, and their files land in the same project as yours.
What does editing a Chinese wedding cost?
One Wedding is $119 one-time for one wedding, or plan subscribers use one credit per project. Up to two revision rounds by email come with each full edit.
More for Chinese weddings
From the bride's door to the last yam seng, in one film
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