12 places to check out for the Chinese betrothal or guo da li packages

Photo: www.shuangxile.com

The betrothal ceremony or guo da li is one of the more important rituals (along with the tea ceremony) in Chinese weddings - this is mainly for the groom to show the bride's family that she will be well taken care of after marriage.

The ceremony traditionally takes place two to four weeks before the wedding on an auspicious date (determined by a fortune teller or an almanac). During that time, the groom, a matchmaker (or an elderly female relative) will present the bride's family with a series of gifts.

Different dialect groups will have different items for their own ceremonies (and the items have to correspond to the groom's dialect group, unless the bride is Teochew), but the more common items include:

These are the places which you can look to, for all-inclusive packages (with the exception of the jewellery, cakes, pig trotters and ang pow):

1) Amanda Dreamweaver

#02-1030 People's Park Food Centre, 9726-1638 / Facebook

2) Cheok Keuw 

Blk 506 Jurong West Street 52, 6566-0311/ Facebook

3) Chop Kwong Mee Chinese Wedding Shop

Blk 4 Sago Lane # 01-127, 6220-8442

4) Fu Yuan Wedding Shop

32 New Market Road Food Centre #02-1158 , 9620-8406

5) Jia Jia Wedding Items

#01-226 Chinatown Complex

6) Le Knot

www.leknot.com.sg

7) Minah Departmental

#01-19 Beauty World Centre, 6468-5870

8) Shuangxile

www.shuangxile.com

9) Sin Chye Departmental Store

#01-K3 Beauty World Centre, 6469-4653

10) The Chinese Wedding Shop

www.thechineseweddingshop.com

11) Tiao Xiang Wedding & Gifts

#01-77 Chinatown Complex, 6224-8848

12) Tiong Poh

#02-58 Hong Lim Complex, 6533-1407

See also: PIN JIN OR DOWRY: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS CHINESE WEDDING TRADITION