Traditions 102: Meet the Parents

Both sides' our parents, the "matchmaker", Cliff & I met over lunch on 8/22~ So, I learned about the tradition that Cliff's parents have to formally come over and ask my parents to marry me off, with the assistance of the "matchmaker"... sounds strange to me.

We didn't meet via a "matchmaker" and I did kind of say yes, after the proposal...

I figured, if Cliff came over and ask for my dad's permission, that should be fine~ but Nope, we followed traditions 102.

We met and had lunch at 鴻廚 ~a restaurant instead of meeting at my parent's. There was nothing special other than daily conversations and slight discussions of tradition 101: wedding date, locations...etc

3 hours of lunch and off we went shopping for the wedding band. My parents have finally realized that some support should be shown via wedding planning, and to take some stress off my shoulders. We made a visit to potential wedding locations the very next day at 1) Grand Victoria 2) Grace Hill.

My mum in front of G.H

Traditions 101: Choosing a Wedding Date

Choosing a wedding date is a major decision in all cultures. Mywedding.com suggested couples to consider the summer/winter breaks in order for the convenience of friends/familiy's to travel over.

According to chinese traditions, choosing the wedding date involves combining the couple's (lunar calendar) birth-dates + birth-time, usually sent in to a "master" to select the "best" date for marriage. There's a high chance that if we followed this tradition, the "master" might give a wedding date for 2009 instead of our plans for our wedding in 2010! I've also heard that the date might even be on a weekday, rather than a weekend...

So it's decided, we'll not follow the entire chinese tradition. Choosing a relatively suitable date for marriage on the lunar calendar ( most calendars have detailed descriptions of - whether it's a good day for moving/ travel/ wedding/...etc). Various versions of the calendar are online, making it a lot more accessible.

Parents from both sides agreed, however, they are still contraditory when it comes to deciding a date. So, we've finalized.....In addition to selecting a "suitable date", we'll have to make sure our birth-year ( Year of the Rooster ) does not clash with the lunar calendar!