Customary Chinese Wedding Paraphernalia

I love being a Chinese bride!

 

So many aspects of my culture appeal to me; and the best occasion to celebrate all these wonderful traditional nuances would be at a full-on Chinese wedding. And nothing shouts “Chinese wedding!” more than an elaborate Chinese wedding kwa.

 

Well, in light of that, I have the most exciting news! Many of you have heard me rant about my sad kwa incident; I really wanted to wear a traditional Chinese wedding kwa for the tea ceremony but the gorgeous ones I tried on when I went a-visiting with Babyduck made me look horrendously wide, square and pudgy! Like a big red oblong packet! So for a while I gave up on wearing a kwa for the tea ceremony. And then JM says “Don’t give up. You might find one that flatters you!” And then by surfing the local bridal forum, I got to hear about this place called House of Etiquette at Paramount Shopping Centre. It was just across the road from where my tailor is, so last Saturday I decided to pay them a little visit.

 

And then it happened! I tried on something they had in my size, and it actually looked quite nice on me! I think it had something to do with the fact that the hem of the top was scalloped and that kind of “broke” the straight square lines of the kwa, which made if more flattering for me. The skirt was of course, too short, but Angela the sales assistant assured me that they would add another 2 layers of beaded red cloth to the hem making it the perfect length for me. The only catch? I had to rent instead of buying my own, because they’d require at least 4 months to make one, and we just didn’t have the time. I was quite happy to rent because the garment was fairly new and the rental quite cheap too. More pictures after my next visit there! OH I’m SO excited! And happy!

 

I’m just wondering whether I should use the Chinese headdress as well, or whether that would be an overkill. It’s quite heavy but very interesting to look at! The groom would have to part the pearl strands covering the bride’s face when he enters her boudoir to pick her up, and then hook the strands up to the side before leading her outside to the main hall for the tea ceremony. The problem with this is that it makes me look so much taller than Mr. Panda! If I take the headdress, I won’t be telling Mr. Panda. He’d be so shocked, haha!

 

The headdress looks something like this:

 

 

Or maybe I should just go for pink peonies in my hair. What do you reckon?

 

Well given that I now will be wearing a kwa after all, I had to look for some matching shoes. No footwear I own would look right with the costume somehow. So at lunch time today, I trotted off to Yue Hwa the Chinese Emporium in (where else) Chinatown. 

 

The place turned out to be an absolute treasure trove of all things Chinese! And I got lucky too! Found my shoes on the second floor. I took the largest size they had and thank God, the shoes fit. The choice was mind-boggling. I LOVE my red shoes! They were extremely well-made, the satin was thick and sturdy and the embroidery very neat. The shoes had proper little wooden heels on them instead of the cheap rubber soles you’d find in the markets of Bali. There are pink flowers and little beads embroidered onto the shoe. Pictures do not do it justice! They make my giant feet look dainty (ok, maybe that’s stretching it a bit) and I felt so pretty in them. Even if I weren’t getting married I’d probably get a few pairs for daily wear with jeans and pedal-pushers. 

 

Here are my oriental ruby slippers!

 

 

 

I also got loads of “Double Happiness” stickers to decorate everything from doors to trays and random teapots around the house!

 

 

I also got a roll of Double Happiness ribbon. Very useful to tie around vases and jewellery boxes.

 

More Double Happiness! (At this rate I don’t think we have any chance of being NOT happy). This time on the two cushion covers for the cushions we’ll be kneeling on during the tea-ceremony. (There’s no cushion in it now, so the surface is a bit uneven, hence the patchy bits where the light didn’t hit.)

 

 

And then of course, I managed to snag a red velvet jewelry box with the Double Happiness emblem as well. Mom had been searching all over for something like this!

This one I got from House of Etiquette, where I’ll be renting my kwa. Even the inside of the box has a golden “Double Happiness” emblem emblazoned on it!

 

Here’s a group shot of my red goodies!

 

 

Next stop…the “Guo da li” (Betrothal) pack, the Dowry set and the Hair-combing set!

 

Stay tuned!

Advertisement