Step by Step Checklist Before Your "Big Day" (Chinese Wedding)
*This is just a guide line only

Twelve Months Before Your Wedding


What Needs To Be Done


  • The joint agreement between two families.
What You Should Do


  • Arrange a date & time for parents of the couple to meet up for the proposal to confirm the official engagement

  • Parents decide on the marriage date & dowry (The Grand Gift List)
 
  • Work on the guest list to get a rough head count
 
  • Obtain a marriage license from the Registrars of Marriage
The Guide


The Grand Gift List (from the groom to the bride)

1.       Double Happiness Cakes (Dragon-Phoenix Motive)
2.       Jewelry
3.       Raw Fruits
4.       Poultry
5.       Dried Seafood
6.       Red Cloths
7.       Wedding Candles
8.       Fish
9.       Coconut
10.   Wine/Liquor
11.   Tea
12.   Li Shi money in Red Envelopes

Dowry (From the bride to the groom)

1.       Bedding, linens and accessories for the new home
2.       Red dates
3.       Vegetable seeds
4.       Lotus seeds.


Eight Months Before Your Wedding


What Needs To Be Done


  • Set the wedding location
What You Should Do


  • It all depends on your budget and preference whether you prefer a garden wedding, beach theme wedding, ballroom wedding, etc. Talk to us to plan the wedding of your dream.
The Guide


  • Make a booking with the restaurant or hotel

  • Request for a selection of wedding menu

  • Express your budget for your wedding

  • Accommodation capacity


Four to Six Months Before Your Wedding


What Needs To Be Done


  • Wedding Invitations
  • Wedding Door Gifts
What Should You Do


  • Prepare the guest list

  • Order your Door Gifts and Invitation Cards
 
  • If possible but not a must rule, make a personal visit to your guests to courteously invite them to your wedding.

 
The Guide


  • Send out invitation cards 
  • Double check on courtesy titles such as Dr, Datuk, Mrs, Miss, etc

  • Include date, time and venue of the wedding ceremony
 
  • Make a final headcount for food preparations and seating reservations
 
  • Ask  your guests to RSVP to your response card or call to confirm attendance within a specific date.


Three Months Before Your Wedding


What Needs To Be Done
  • Qipao/Kwa Basics
What You Should Do
  • Shop for your Qipao/Kwa

  • Book at least two makeup artists for tryouts before your wedding day

  • Try on your Qipao/Kwa to see whether alterations are needed

  • Order groom’s traditional suit at about the same time
The Guide


One - Two Months Before Your Wedding


What Needs To Be Done
  • Choose your Maid of Honour / Dai Kam Zhe

  • Hire a Feng Shui master to determine the timing of your wedding
What You Should Do
  • Ask for referrals from married friends for a great Dai Kam Zhe
The Guide
  • The Dai Kam Zhe can be a male or female conducting the necessities for your wedding

  • Get someone who speaks in your language

  • Request for a fee


One Week Before Your Wedding


What Needs To Be Done


  • Red Envelopes

  • Tea Set

  • Door Game Ideas

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  • Wedding Guest Book
What You Should Do


  • Prepare red envelopes for the tea ceremony

  • Purchase tea set to suit your taste and style

  • Get your girlfriends to think of ideas for the door game

  • Prepare the guest book for the night’s wedding reception
The Guide


  • Please contact us for all the necessary items as well as ideas for the door games should you require assistance. We know a few interesting ones. 


One Day Before Your Wedding


What Needs To Be Done
  • Bed Installation
What You Should Do
  • Groom should select a couple that has been blessed with good fortune to set the bridal room  
The Guide
  • Red banners with good messages plastered on the walls as wedding decorations


The Night Before Your Wedding


What Needs To Be Done


  • Hair Dressing
What You Should Do


  • Both the hair dressing and capping rituals symbolize the fact that the bride & groom are ready to embrace adulthood and are willing to start a new life together

  • Select a woman who is blessed with good fortune (married with stable income, good life and good children) to comb the bride’s hair three times for good luck
The Guide


Your Wedding Day


What Needs To Be Done


  • Pick up the Bride





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  • The Door Game


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  • The Prayer Sessions

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  • Tea Ceremony
 
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  • Enter the New Room








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  • The Dinner
What You Should Do


Prepare to leave for the venue at least an hour to avoid traffic
  • On the morning of the wedding day, the groom leaves the house with his best men and grooms men to fetch the bride  
 
  • Upon arrival of the groom, the bridesmaids will try to stop him from entering the bridal room by posing questions and games
 
  •  The bride & groom seeks blessings from the lord and ancestors by performing the prayers session
 
  • The bride & groom pay respect to their elders with a tea ceremony
 
  • According to tradition the groom removes the bride’s veil and throws it onto the cupboard top as a symbol of marital eternal union
 
  • A young boy is needed to jump on the marital bed in hopes that the newlyweds will have children to carry on the family name

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  • Start your dinner on time. Once the main table guests & VIPs have arrived, you may begin the dinner program. Its best to always follow the time printed on the invitation cards as this small gesture will be remembered forever. You may give an allowance of 15 - 20 minutes for late comers. It is not fair to your guests who came early or was punctual to wait for an hour or two for the dinner to commence. Your guests will always remember your wedding as "the wedding" that started very late and the night they had gastric. Remember who is the VIPs on that day. It's you and your significant other. So you decide what time to begin the dinner. As long as the main table and VIPs has arrived, dinner should commence.

Reason why we want you to be particular with time is that few years ago we attended a wedding dinner and to this day we still remember that day which is the wrong reason to remember. The invitation card states 7:00pm but we do know it will not start at 7:00pm. Latest will be 7:30pm or 7:45pm or 8:00pm. Lo & behold the dinner only started at 9:15pm with the first dish arriving on the table at 9:30pm and the entire thing ended at 11:45pm. Kids were restless and some guests left at the 5th dish which was served at 10:45pm. Waiters had to work overtime and what if those require public transport to reach home? Be an understanding individual.

​We found out that the couple were waiting for the last batch of late comers even though both parents and grandparents as well as the VIPs were already seated.  We saw some bought pastries, cakes and buns to eat. We were also one of them.

​To us that is very very very wrong in our book. You don't have to wait for every single guests to arrive. What if some guests arrive at 10pm? So start at 10pm?

Well it did happened in another wedding a friend of ours attended. They waited for that one person. What if the last one came at midnight? 

​Amazing! 
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