10 traditional Chinese wedding taboos couples should know

You’d be surprised just how much thought and care goes behind even the smallest details. While many wedding decorations are chosen based on the theme, venue or personal preference, Chinese wedding decorations have taboos on the colours used.

Colours like white, blue and green are mourning colours and would be frowned upon if used as decorations. Even floral arrangements, like Pale yellow or white chrysanthemums, which are placed at funerals or ancestral graves shouldn’t be used either.

It’s best to avoid getting married in the first lunar month to avoid clashing of luck with the New Year.

It’s also good to avoid holding a wedding during the third lunar month – which is when Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day, occurs – and the seventh lunar month, because negative energy is in full force during these periods.

The sixth lunar month shouldn’t be an option too; due to the belief that it’s a half-year, which could result in a “half-marriage”.

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No one should sleep in the bridal bed after it has been blessed.

If the groom has to sleep in it before the wedding – since it is his bed after all – he can only do so in the company of a young boy born in the year of the dragon.

Leaving one side of the bed empty is considered bad luck.

There may be a clash in luck if one bride runs into another on their wedding day.

It’s suggested that member of the two bridal parties exchange red packets to neutralise the effects.

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According to folklore, you shouldn’t have a unmarried friend who has been a bridesmaid for three times.

It is believed that if she is a bridesmaid for more than three times, her marital luck will be affected negatively, and so will yours.

This goes back to the historical significance of the role of your bridal party, where chosen maidens will be dressed like the bride to trick the devil.

Therefore, if she has been a bridesmaid for so many times, it is believed that she is tainted and recognised by the devil.

To reverse the curse, so to speak, you can simply be the one to catch the bridal bouquet, or be a bridesmaid for a total of seven times.

These days however, most of us no longer believe in this “curse” and for those who do, just be sure to catch the bouquet.

There shouldn’t be white, blue and green accents for the wedding decor as they are considered colours of mourning.

Also, because pale yellow or white chrysanthemums are usually used during funerals, they shouldn’t be included as part of the floral arrangement.

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Anyone with a star sign that clashes with the wedding date should give the joyous event a miss or they might end up passing on the bad luck.

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To not have their luck clash with the bride’s, the groom’s family shouldn’t get in her way and hide when she reaches their house.

They can only emerge after the couple has made their way to the bridal room.

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The steamed fish that is usually served at Chinese wedding dinner banquets shouldn’t be turned over or have its bones broken as this may disrupt the luck of the newlyweds and cause them misfortune.

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This article was first published on Cleo Singapore.