Wedding tips

This post is specially dedicated to my dearest mum and soon to wed couple ....the 2 weis....
hey here are some article i think its best for you to follow instead of ignoring it....

Setting up and Securing The Bridal Bed 安床

In the days of old, newly weds will buy new beds and mostly all the bed sheets used for Customary Weddings were either red or pink and comes with embroidered 喜喜 with dragon/phoenix龙凤or with flowers such as peonies.

However, our younger generations might move into their new house first and use their current beds for wedding. The only thing is to use new bed sheets and pillow cases etc. They will prefer to decorate their bed with modern designed bed sheets, do try to go for the ones with more red, pink colours although you might want to forgo the 喜喜 with dragon/phoenix龙凤 etc. You can use the喜喜 sticker to stick to the head board.

Please note : avoid using Black, Navy Blue and Dark Grey colour combinations for the colour of your bed sheet and all related items. Of course, there would be the exception of the wedding gown and suit for the bride and groom that comes mostly in Black and White colours. Besides that, the other items should have more of the bright colours including red which is the auspicious colour for Chinese.

The designs chosen should be joyful and pleasant. Flowers or heart shapes designs either printed or embroidered are suitable. Having of these some designs that comes with laces will be an ideal option to create the romantic atmosphere just right for new couples.

This process of Setting up and Securing The Bridal Bed 安床 is one of the most important and crucial part of the Customary Wedding because it symbolize the blooming of a relationship that will last for a very long time and having many off springs. Thus it is important to select an auspicious date/time to set up the bed. ( Please take note...this is important )

Practically, it would be a week or few days before the Customary Wedding so that the groom would not be sleeping on the floor for too many days. Once the bed is set up, the groom and any other person except healthy young children (to bless the couple with successful pregnancies and healthy new born) are not supposed to touch, sit or sleep on the bed after the bed has been set up. ( This is also important!!!...wei u can sleep with kit for a few days...)

For those who are using your current bed, move the bed slightly to the left or right and slightly to the front and back. Then you start changing the bed sheets before you place the plate of auspicious items on the bed.

It is also good if you can get an elderly female relative, one whose husband and children are all alive and has grandchildren to be present when you are setting up the bridal bed. This is to symbolize that the Good Fortune Person 好命人will pass down the Good Fortune to the younger generations. (This has to be mum yeahhh...she's the one who has the full package)

This relative can help to make the bed with the new set of bridal bed linen and place the plate of auspicious items on the bed while saying auspicious words like夫妻和合, 甜甜蜜蜜, 早生贵子, 多子多孙, 百年好合, 白头到老 etc.

The Red colour plate with the 喜喜 sticker and will consist of the items stated below. Do take note that these are the common auspicious items used for customary weddings and the items might defer according to the dialect groups.

Two Red Packets (Ang Pows) with even numbers of cash inside eg $8 or $18 each
Two to Eight oranges (depending on the size of the plate) minimum two oranges

A Handful of Dried Longans 龙眼干 (Symbolize 甜甜蜜蜜)
A Handful of Dried persimmons柿子干 (Symbolize 甜甜蜜蜜)
A Handful of Red Dates 红枣干 (Symbolize 甜甜蜜蜜)
A Handful of Sweets (Symbolize 甜甜蜜蜜)
A Handful of Dried Lotus Seeds莲子干 (Symbolize早生贵子)
Some Dried Bai He Hua leaves干百合花叶 (Symbolize 百年好合)
Some pomegranate leaves番石榴/红花叶 (Auspicious item to ward off evil)

Do ensure that the bride does not lie down on the bed or rest on it before the customary wedding. It is believed that it will lead to poor health if she does so. ( TAKE NOTE!!!!)

The bride will only sit on the bed on the actual day of the customary wedding day and followed by young and healthy children rolling or jumping on the bed after the bride has sat on the bed for at least 10 to 15 minutes. The children can also eat the sweets that are placed in the plate together with the other auspicious items.

Important Note
Do ensure that the bride and groom do not utter inauspicious words such as “dead tired” 累的要死, “hot till want to die” 热的要死 etc. newly weds to remember to keep their anger in check on the customary wedding day, especially from the time the wedding starts until the dinner ends.

Stay calm and composed even if there are any events that has gone wrong or any unexpected things happens. Let the relatives, handle the situation., most importantly, both the bride and groom must not get angry, not to even mention to get angry or quarrel with each other.

Once the process of Setting up and Securing The Bridal Bed 安床 and placing the auspicious items on the bed is done. The next thing to do will be to lighting up the bedside lamps. This is to symbolize increasing the chance of having more sons 添丁. It must be a pair of lamps, best to be in red colour. In the olden days, the lamps are usually oil lamps, nowadays, we use electrical ones.

Battery operated ones are easy to use and practical; however, you have to consider whether the batteries will be able to last until your wedding day. Do not replace the batteries if the lamps run out of battery. Thus it would be good to ensure that you use electric power ones or some might choose to turn on the lamps on the morning of the actual customary wedding day.

Let the lights be turned on all the way until the night you come back from the wedding dinner.

Last but not least, do remember to give red packets to the good fortune woman, the children as well as those who have set up the bed for their help and also to bless them with good luck.

My dearest family members...kindly take note on the red letters above and FOLLOW IT!!! Its good to follow rather than ignoring it....