Weddings and Ramblings

In the 4 years of wedding photography, I’ve met a lot of couples who have no, or only a vague idea of the customs that they observe on that day, so I decided to post a few of the common ones (and more whenever I can think or recall them). Most people will have a good idea of the standard wedding stuff… car door opening, gatecrashing, etc so I’ll not talk about those, but more on the minor details that most people tend to overlook. Most of these are points that I learnt during my family members weddings, some during my shoots, and some talking to other photographers.
These are the more ‘modern’ day customs that may be perculiar to Singapore, and some to Chinese (in general)
1) Opening the car door. One of the things that most people forget when opening the car door for the arriving groom is the oranges. You need to bring 2 oranges to give to the groom (for good fortune), who will leave them in the car. The oranges stay in the car until the end of the day (or so I’m told).

2) The bride and groom do not need to remove their shoes throughout the day. I have no idea why though.

3) When the bride leaves the house, the matchmaker/sister/mother would shelter her with a red umbrella until she boards the car. This symbolises ???? … or bringing many descendants to the groom’s family. Rice, red beans, green beans are also thrown on the floor ahead of the bride. This custom is only practiced by certain dialect groups in Singapore, and only the more strict ones. I’m Cantonese, so I can tell you this is not a Cantonese custom…

4) The bride wears new shoes when she leaves the house, so she doesn’t take away any luck from her parents when she leaves the house.

5) Cantonese brides will usually ask for a roast pig from the grooms family, to be brought back with the bride when she returns home as a gift. The bride’s family is supposed to cut out the center portion, leaving the head and the tails of the pig, to be returned to the grooms family. This symbolises continuity (????). After taking out the center part, the bride’s family will put back 8 oranges and a pair of new pants for the groom (at the center portion between the head and tail), and wrap it with red paper.

there are probably like 10,000 more, so i’ll just write more when I think of them and organise my thoughts.

Tagged: ramblings