Catshanghai

We were surprised and delighted to receive the most unusual wedding invitation that we have ever laid our eyes upon. It was a string necklace with the letters of the invitation printed on each cubed wooden bead and it read:

Great pleasure invite u to come to ChoCho and Daxiong’s wedding party at six pm on seventh of July at Absolut Ice Bar at Infiniti Huai Hai Zhong Road

ChoCho and Daxiong are successful local fashion designers who are known for making cool, but slightly elegant black and white clothes with weird cuttings. It’s a million miles away from the cheap fakes that are peddled to you at every gift market from Qipu Lu to Nanjing Xi Lu.

This was a very unusual wedding party, because the bride (ChoCho) was pregnant and the groom (Daxiong) was wearing shorts. All the guests were instructed to wear white so we all matched each other perfectly. This was an informal party for friends. All family were banished for the occasion.

A highlight of the evening was going into the ice bar to raise a toast for the married couple. Although Absolut gave us groovy warm coats, it is a very strange sensation to drink vodka cocktails in an in an ice chamber while wearing flip flops. You can hang out in this room for about twenty or thirty minutes before returning to main foyer. It’s too cold otherwise.

We wish ChoCho and Daxiong all the best for their future lives together as laopo (wife) and laogong (husband), obsessively hardworking designers and parents. We are sure that their baby is destined for great things in the fashion world.

Post Script and Side Issue
Apparently, it costs you 100 RMB to go into the ice bar for a drink, but we were guests at a friend’s party so it is not very polite to ask about such things. It’s not a bad place to go for a drink to cool off in this hot, sticky weather.

Absolut Ice Bar can be found in the basement of B1, 138 Huai Hai Zhong Lu (Infiniti), Tel: 021-6375 6500
Crossposted on Shanghaiist