There are many wedding planning how-to guides. Most often, these must-do checklists offer advice with someone else’s ideas rather than your own which is why cultural weddings are the perfect answer if you want a wedding designed for you, your family, and your culture. By incorporating traditions into your wedding, the ceremony pays tribute to both families uniting. Our first SG Wedding Favors Cultural Wedding Series is on a traditional Chinese wedding.
1. Wedding Date
Are you having trouble choosing a wedding date? In traditional Chinese weddings, the couple’s birthdates and astrological signs must first be compatible. All couples must consult a Chinese calendar or with a monk or a fortune teller to provide the right date as well as seasons to avoid. It is a critical tradition that couples must adhere as it foretells of a marriage’s success or failure.
2. Betrothal Gifts
Three months before a Chinese wedding ceremony, a groom must visit the bride’s home to give a betrothal gift. It is considered a formal ceremony to a bride’s family. The gifts chosen by the groom must signify fortune and prosperity. There must also be an offering of a bride price presented in a red envelope that must be accepted by her parents. The bride’s family presents a dowry that allows a daughter to bring the property to a marriage.
The bride’s family also provides betrothal gifts as a goodwill sign for a lasting relationship with his family. Money, jewelry, liquor, dried goods, sweets, and fruits are considered normal gifts. The bride’s family gives clothes, linens, a bedside lamp (wealth and fertility), a bucket and ruler (children), chopsticks (fertility), or tea sets (tea ceremony). Buy the Round Double Happiness Favor Box for your smaller gifts.
3. The Tea Ceremony
An important wedding tradition is the tea ceremony as the couple pays respect to their parents and give thanks for their care. The bride’s parents receive their tea first and then to her family members. The couple then repeats the ceremony for his family.
4. Chinese Hair Combing Tradition
The Chinese hair combing tradition is a coming-of-age symbol for both the groom and the bride that is held the night before the ceremony in their family homes. Both the bride and groom must first bathe in pomegranate leaves to fend off evil spirits. The bride sits in front of a window facing the moon while the groom faces the interior of the home where a woman of good standing (or a relative) performs the hair combing ceremony.
5. Traditional Dress
Brides today change into three dresses, one white, a bridal dress with a phoenix crown made of feather and pearls for the tea ceremony, and a cocktail dress to see their guests off at the end of the night. The groom wears a black silk coat and blue dragon robe.
The wedding is also full of tradition. Do not forget paper parasols or silk fans so that your guests can participate wholly and make it a truly memorable and traditional Chinese wedding.
