Guide
The le an hoi, the tea ceremony, the red lacquer boxes and the ao dai. What happens at a traditional Vietnamese wedding and how it is photographed.
- Last updated
- July 21, 2026
- Written by
- VowDeLune, Los Angeles
Short answer
A traditional Vietnamese wedding is built around two events: the le an hoi, an engagement and gift giving procession where the groom's family carries red lacquer boxes to the bride's home, and the tea ceremony, where the couple serve tea to their elders and receive blessings and gifts in return. The bride and groom usually wear the ao dai, often red for luck.
The groom's family arrives at the bride's home carrying round red lacquer boxes covered in cloth, held by unmarried young people from each family. The boxes hold tea, fruit, cake, betel leaves and roast pork, and the number of them matters, traditionally an odd number in the south and an even number in the north.
The handover happens at the doorway and it is the strongest visual of the day: two lines of family facing each other in red. Position for it early, because it is over in minutes and it does not repeat.
Inside, the couple kneel or stand before the family altar, light incense to ask permission from the ancestors, then serve tea to parents and grandparents in order of seniority.
Elders give jewelry, usually gold, and it is placed on the bride there and then. Shoot the hands. Almost every photographer shoots the faces and misses the gold going on, which is the part the family will want to look at in twenty years.
Both events happen indoors, in homes, often in small rooms with a bright doorway behind the action. It is one of the harder lighting situations in wedding photography and it punishes anyone relying on available light alone.
We bring lighting to every tea ceremony and we keep it small and quiet. Nobody wants a strobe in a room where a grandmother is speaking.
Related on this site
The couple light incense at the family altar to ask the ancestors' permission, then serve tea to their parents and grandparents in order of seniority. The elders give blessings and traditionally gold jewelry in return.
They are lacquer gift boxes carried in the le an hoi procession by the groom's family. They hold tea, fruit, cake, betel leaves and often roast pork, and they are presented to the bride's family at the door.
The couple usually wear the ao dai, frequently red, which is considered lucky. Guests wear formal clothing and generally avoid white, which is associated with mourning.
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