Having just gotten back from China...wait, I can't believe I just typed that.

I just got back from China - a place I never thought I'd go. Not because I didn't want to, but because I thought that if I ever went overseas, to an exotic far away place, it would be Africa to see the lions or to Ireland to see the guys with hot accents.

So had I not taken a business trip to China, I probably never would have gone. But I am really glad I went. The extreme culture shock, the incredibly long flight, all of it just left me in a state of wonder.

I like being jarred out of my everyday reality. And China did that for me. The entire thing felt like a long odd dream. A good dream. A very hot dream. Did you know Guangzhou, China feels positively tropical in late April? It does and it kind of took me by surprise. Rather, it took my hair by surprise. Well hello little clown wig!

But the toughest thing to adjust to in China wasn't the time change or the humidity. It was the etiquette, or what they call "li." Apparently the better one knows one's etiquette the more learned and moral a person you appear to others. Which would be fine, except that there seemed to be absolutely no consistency. In fact, many of them almost conflicted. Chinese culture says that it's rude to hand a business card to someone without using both hands. But it's okay for them to scrutinize any cash you give them with intense suspicion. I actually had a cab driver refuse some of my money, so convinced was he that it was counterfeit.

What else, what else...if you give someone a clock, it means "I wish you would die." But if you give them a WATCH, it means "We're as close as lovers or family." China is a minefield of offenses for a hapless foreigner like myself. I felt myself tiptoeing around and constantly triple-checking with our interpreter that I wasn't being unintentionally rude.

Reminded me of when I was a bride, consulting all the etiquette books, making sure I wasn't unintentionally being a boorish bride. There are so many do's and don'ts to conducting a wedding that it's hard to know what is the proper thing to do at any given time. Heck, we even have a little etiquette war of our own going on here at HCTB.

What is your least favorite wedding etiquette? How important do you think it is to have rules and regs when it comes to your wedding?