Incorporating a traditional wedding tea ceremony in the wedding allows the bride and groom to pay their respect and gratitude to their family. This is why the Chinese Tea Ceremony is one of the most important Chinese wedding tradition. In this event, the couple’s family will, in turn, bless the new chapter of their life as a married couple. Are you planning to have your upcoming Chinese wedding? Not sure how your wedding timeline should look like? Our Chinese American wedding planner and team can perfectly assist you. Check out our helpful wedding planning tips below:
Related: 3 Must-know Details About Your Chinese Wedding Traditions
What should you prepare?
- Tea
You can prepare any normal Chinese tea for the ceremony. For instance, you can use tieguanyin or pu’er. But always remember to avoid using diet tea since skinny means bad fortune for Chinese. In each teacup, there will be one unpeeled lotus seed – a symbol for quick and continuous childbearing. And then, the other teacup has one red date as a symbol for good luck.
- Cushions
There should be two red cushions for the bride and groom to kneel on. In this case, you can choose to purchase a new set or use a hand-me-down from your parents.
- Tea Set
A tea set is what you will use for the ceremony. It is meant to be a memento for the couple’s new life adventure. And one of our crucial Chinese wedding planner tip reminder is that you should always count the number of your guests for the ceremony since you have to make sure that everyone will have their teacup.
How does the ceremony go?
- For a modern tea ceremony, the event proceeds to the tea ceremony after the bride’s hand is handed to the groom by her father at their home.
- Then, the bride (at the right side) and the groom (at the left side) kneel.
- The bride’s father will then sit in front of the groom and her mother on the left side beside her father. In this case, the groom will be facing the bride’s father and the bride will be facing her mother.
- Next, the groom will be the first one to serve the tea to the bride’s father and then the mother.
- And then, the bride will take her turn to serve the tea in the same way.
- After the drink, the parents will then give their blessings and/or gifts to the newlyweds. It comes in the form of red pockets or jewelry.
- Both hands should be used when serving and receiving tea and gifts.
- The bride will then proceed to serve the tea to her grandparents and other relatives. In some cases, families prefer to serve tea to the grandparents first before the parents.
- After the bride’s family is done, the couple will then go to the groom’s family for the tea ceremony.
- After the tea ceremony at the groom’s family is completed, typically, the bride and groom will then proceed to change into their wedding gown and tux followed by the Western Ceremony at their venues.
In planning a perfect Chinese traditional wedding, having a Chinese-speaking wedding planner is the best choice. To learn more, check out these related articles that our Chinese wedding planners have prepared.
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