Preparations for Actual Day/   Tea Ceremony

Today is THE day! Congrats on your big day! HUAT ARH!



 

This only serves as a guide; changes can be made according to individual family traditions, there is no right and wrong all should be planned a few days to a few weeks before the wedding. There are bound to be people who are out to spoil your wedding out of pure jealousy OR they simply do not function with brains, so the key is to to have brothers and bridesmaids whom you can trust and who are able to act quickly on the spot. 



Prepare red packets for the bridesmaids, best mans, photographers, make up artist and other helpers, you should do a calculation and prepare 6 to 8 extra red packets for those who pops up suddenly.



Market rate of red packets:

1. Bridesmaids & brothers $12 to $38

2. Photographers & make up artist $12 to $68

3. Helpers and boy who opens the car door $8 $18

4. Misc people who are obviously there for the red packets $6

5. Extra red packets you should prepare 4 packets between $8 to $12 and 4 packets between $18 to $38



That Morning:

1. Groom before leaving the house, should light the phoenix candles before leaving the house. Bride should do so at the same time. The candles can be left to burn till the very last drop of wax or another more common way of burning the candles is burn it till is halfway through, then using a fresh orange, cut the orange in half, using the juice to put out the light. When you pass by a temple throw the remaining candle into a burner and job done.

 

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2. The groom is to wait for a young boy to open the car door for him once he reaches the bride side. He will leave the oranges in the car and give a red packet to the young boy.



3. The matchmaker, or brothers if there is no matchmaker, will carry a red tray containing 2 red packet (each $12), 12 oranges for the meaning of 一年源源满满，大吉大利. Nothing needs to be returned to the groom side.  The red packet can be kept by the ones who receive the tray.

 

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4. When the groom arrives at the bride’s house, be prepared for gatecrash. Once you enter the house before you and your bride leaves the house, sit down for a bowl of tang yuan, after the tang yuan, just before the bride steps out of the house, her father will shelter her with the red umbrella all the way into the bridal car. On the way, IF there is a wake nearby, please use the umbrella to shield the bride all the way into the bridal car.



5. For those of you who bought the fan, there are 2 ways of going around to practice this ceremony.
1. For those who bought just 1 pc of fan, once you enter the bridal car pls throw the fan out of the window, mother of the bride will pick it up and bring it home
2. For those who bought 2 pcs of fan, once you enter the bridal car pls throw one fan out of the window, the other one bring it to your new house.

 

 

Preparing Tang Yuan

Ingredients

1. Tang Yuan (can be bought from NTUC, use the pink tang yuans only)

2. Brown sugar

3. Red dates

 

Preparation

Put water to boil

When water is boiling put in brown sugar, red dates and stir for 5 mins

After 5 mins put tang yuan in to boil and tuan yuan is considered cooked when they starts floating on water surface. Serve 2pcs on each bowl. 



Tea Ceremony

Ingredients for red date tea

1. Red dates

2. Brown sugar

3. Dried longan (can be found at NTUC dried food section)

4. Lian Zi

5. Bai He

Put everything to boil for 15 to 20mins on medium heat, let it completely cools down before serving so suggested cooking time is 1.5 hours before the tea ceremony. OR if you simply have no time to cook this can buy Yeo's red date packet drink to serve. Please do not serve packet red date drinks at least pour it out in the tea pot.



 

Once reached the groom side for tea ceremony, the bride must step inside the house with her shoes on, throughout the whole ceremony the bride must have her shoes on. There is no need to offer tea to those who have passed.

The groom will stand on the left, bride on the right, the sequence for tea ceremony is:
Parents
Grandparents
Granduncles then grand aunties
Relatives from father side from eldest to youngest
Relatives from mother side from eldest to youngest
Elder brothers and sisters
Elder cousinsBrothers and sisters who are younger then the groom

Cousins who are younger than the groom

After the tea ceremony the bride will change into another outfit before return to her own house for the tea ceremony, the groom will stand on the left and the sequence of the tea ceremony is:
Parents
Grandparents
Granduncles then grand aunties
Relatives from father side from eldest to youngest
Relatives from mother side from eldest to youngest
Elder brothers and sisters
Elder cousins
Brothers and sisters who are younger then the bride
Cousins who are younger than the bride

Proceed to have your photos taken and prepare for the banquet