Wedding Taboos (婚礼禁忌)
A Chinese wedding has many
traditions, taboos and rules.
These
restrictions are to avoid clashing of good fortune of the couple and their families.
Normally is up to individual couple and parents to decide whether possible to practice all the taboos.
Wedding Day Process (大喜之日)
After
1 year of planning….
Finally
My Wedding Day has comes.
27
December 2014.
Wake
up 2 hours early before the makeup artist arrives to depuff the face.
Clean
up and prepare for my Big Day.
SETTING
OFF (出门)
Before
setting off to bride’s house, the groom needs to pray to the gods &
ancestors and bow to his parents 3 times.
Groom’s
parent will walk him to the bridal car.
The
groom leaves the house with 12 oranges and a ‘Diaper’ red packet for his
mother-in-law.
When the groom left, his father will coordinate
with bride’s family to light the dragon and phoenix candles together.
FETCHING
THE BRIDE (接新娘)
Upon
reaching the bride’s house, car horns will be sounded to signify the arrival of
the groom.
The
bride’s brother will stand by with 2 oranges to open the car door for the groom.
A
‘Door’ red packet will be given to him for his effort.
Then,
groom & groomsmen will face the gate-crashing game set by bridesmaid.
Successfully
passing the tests, the groom gets to meet the bride and unveils her with a
kiss.
After
that, tea ceremony for the bride’s family will take place.
The
couple need to bow 3 times to the bride’s parents before leaving to the groom’s
house.
The
bride’s father will escort his daughter to car using a red umbrella (symbolize good
shelter).
When leaving, the bride needs to throw the red hand fan
away.
ENTERING
GROOM’S HOUSE (过门)
Upon
arrival, the groom’s family members will need to go into the rooms as the couple
enters the house.
Traditionally,
this meant to prevent direct clashes between the bride and groom’s family.
They
will re-enter the living room after the couple goes into a room.
The couple will come out and the tea ceremony will
take place.
TEA
CEREMONY (敬茶)
Traditionally,
the couple required serving tea kneeling down.
Nowadays,
only requires them to bow while serving tea.
The bride's dowry tea set was used for the
ceremony.
The
groom's sister/ relative will assist in pouring the tea and washing the cups
with hot water.
Any sweet tea symbolizes sweetness in the new
union.
Types of Tea often serve:-
Lotus
seeds red dates tea (莲子红枣茶)
(Symbolize couple will bear children quickly
and continuously)
Longans
red dates tea (龙眼红枣茶）)
(The longan represents a "dragon"
and the wish for having male children)
Opps…I
guess that you all had spot the mistake.
We
are standing in the wrong direction.
All
of us are “Gan Jiong” until we did not notice of our mistake.
Hahaha…
Anyway,
by right should be…
The
bride will stand at the right of groom.
The
elder male sits facing the bride while elder female sits facing the groom.
Start
with Groom’s parents >>> grandparents >>> granduncles & grandaunts
>>>
uncles and aunts >>> elder siblings & cousins.
Finally,
younger siblings & cousins will serve tea to the groom and bride.
The
elder relatives will give their blessings by giving them jewellery or red
packets.
Unmarried
elder siblings will not present the couple with gifts after drinking tea.
The
groom and bride will present gifts to the younger siblings and cousins who
serve them tea.
After
the tea ceremony, the couple is served with ‘Tang Yuan’ in their bedroom.
This
practice is known as 结房圆.
A
young boy was invited to roll on couple’s bed, to wish them a life blessed with
children.
At the end of the ceremony, the groom will give the
helper a red packet.
WEDDING
BANQUET (宴席)
Normally, wedding
banquet will be held same day as wedding day.
The event usually
starts at 7.30pm for guest registration and cocktail session.
Bride will start
for makeup and dress up around 4pm.
Couple’s family
member, groomsmen and bridesmaid will standby at the banquet venue earlier
around 6pm for set up, make sure all items needed for the event was brought,
test sound system and projector, register incoming guest and usher guest to the
assigned table.
Wedding Rundown
The link below are my wedding rundown for your reference.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4-n1EGROY6PN3lEUWFmSUdSbkU/view?usp=sharing
Table Arrangement
Wedding Rundown
The link below are my wedding rundown for your reference.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4-n1EGROY6PN3lEUWFmSUdSbkU/view?usp=sharing
Table Arrangement
Once the dinner
start, the couple will march in to the VIP table.
Then, follow by
banquet food presentation.
After that, there
will be 2nd march in (stop at the 4th dish) for cake
cutting and toasting.
Next, the couple
will go around table to table for toasting.
Finally, there
will be photograph session and thanks the guest for coming.
BRIDE’S
HOME VISIT (三朝回门)
Olden days, the bride’s home visit was done 3 days
after the wedding ceremony.
Nowadays, all is simplified. The modern ceremony processes
are all compressed into one day event.
The
couple cannot go back empty handed.
Items
as return gifts such as red packet, roast pig 烧猪,
candies, tangerines or mandarin oranges 橘子
The
couple need to bring back the roast pig head and tail.
Sweet
soup with lotus seeds, dried longan, red dates and rice balls will be served to
wish the couple a sweet harmonious marriage.
DAY
AFTER THE WEDDING (大喜之后)
The
bride awakes early to pray the ancestors.
Then,
will formally introduce to the groom’s relatives and friends.
As
she kneels before each of the older relatives, she receives a small gift.
The
bride’s parents-in-law gave her a title according to her husband’s seniority in
the family hierarchy.
Finally, check and pack all the
goods that need to be return to vendor.
Settle any outstanding payments.
