30/10/2015 - 过大礼 Chinese Betrothal Ceremony

Shall get down to blogging bits and pieces of the wedding preparation. 过大礼 has got to be 1 of the most important process of a traditional Chinese wedding, or at least to us and especially my parents. Because we believe in doing the 'full set' for our Chinese wedding. 

After getting auspicious dates from Master Long Tian Xiang for our customary wedding day, we also referred to the dates he has provided for the 过大礼 day. 

Months before the 过大礼 day, we get down to hunting for the betrothal gifts. It wasn't that difficult after doing some research online since most of the stuff can be googled these days. 

We went down to Shuang Xi Le to look at the various packages they have. It was complicated at first(so many different type of packages) but we narrowed down on the Teochew package since I'm a Teochew. 

On top of the package, we have also rented the Traditional Teochew basket from them for 过大礼. I can't really remember the price but it was roughly 20 plus dollars. Not forgetting there's a deposit of 80 bucks or so for the basket just in the case of customers damaging it. 

The day before the 过大礼, we went down to collect the package that we ordered and also the basket. 

Here's the 2 tier basket. 

There's actually a even bigger basket (3 tier)but we are fine with renting this since we don't have much items. 

When we opened the basket, they have actually placed all the items inside for us. 

The items in the Teochew Package are: 

Four Treasure 四宝礼品

2 pairs of Dragon Phoenix Candles 双龙双凤蜡烛

2 sets of 9.9ft Red Cloth 红彩两套

2 pairs of Mini Elements Seed 迷你五谷

Bride Price Red Packet 聘金喜包

Please don't ask me what exactly each items are for and their purpose for it because I only know the common ones like the Dragon Phoenix Candles, Red Packet and the Red cloth lol. Pig trotters and the Dragon Pheonix Candles is a must for my parents. 

We rearrange the basket to our liking the night before the 过大礼 day.

All the items from Shuang Xi Le we put in on the top tier and the oranges we placed it at the bottom tier. To be honest, it's really quite heavy.

The service at Shuang Xi Le was pretty normal. They didn't really hard sell us that much but we feel that their knowledge was barely there especially when comes to answering our enquiries. But it's alright because we just want to faster 'chop' the package and settle it once and for all haha. I will feel that those traditional Chinese wedding shops sales person will be more familiar with all these customs.

As you can see on their website, they do provide you option to add on stuff like Teochew Biscuit and pig trotters. After questioning them, their Teochew biscuit needs a minimum order of 4 boxes hence we get the Teochew biscuits ourselves instead. The pig trotters were at a much higher price as compare to getting it on your own so we opt to buy it ourselves instead.

Shuang Xi Le

Square 2 #03-39

10 Sinaran Drive, Singapore 307506 (Above Novena MRT Station)

Operating Hours:

Monday to Saturday: 11am to 9:30pm (Including Public Holiday)

Sunday : 12pm-9:30pm 

Tel: 6397 2018

For the Teochew biscuits, we decided on getting 2 boxes for my parents. Once again, after much researching, we decide on getting it from Gin Thye. 

I was pretty afraid there's a minimum order but actually there isn't. We ordered it more than a month prior to the collection date and the Teochew biscuits can actually last up till 2 weeks. 

We collected the Teochew biscuits 2 days before the 过大礼 day since the day before we have to rush to get the Teochew baskets from Shuang Xi Le. 

Pretty packaging 

And that's what is inside.

I'm glad that my dad loves it alot so I guess only the older generation will know how to appreciate it.

1 box of Teochew biscuits cost $20. I'm glad my parents didn't request the wedding cakes for relatives to be Teochew biscuits (since my mum's side is not Teochew). They are actually quite heavy too. I'm not sure whether do they do delivery and the minimum order for them to deliver to your place.

Gin Thye

632 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4

#01-964 Singapore 560632

Tel: 6458 0206

The amount of things to be carried over to my parents place

过大礼 checked! The table is too small for the stuff hence many were on the floor.

The dowry items prepared by my parents to be returned to the groom's side.

For the wedding cakes, my parents and Derp prefer those classic kind of wedding cakes. Hence we narrowed down to cake shops like Prima Deli, Swee Heng and Bengawan Solo for our wedding cakes to be distributed to relatives.

Eventually, we decided on Swee Heng's wedding cakes because they are affordable and it comes in heart shape! My favorite shape of all time :)

The pretty box of the wedding cake.

The heart shape marble cake :) Got the wedding 气氛 right? haha! 

I can't remember the exact price of the wedding cake, but it was roughly $7+ for each cake. They have various choices and also those classic old school cream cakes too. You may get the brochure for their wedding cakes at any of the Swee Heng Classics outlet. s

As we did not hit the $200 orders (we only ordered 15 boxes), there were a $20 delivery charge imposed. There were various delivery time(as early as 6.30am) and they were actually very punctual. I will definitely consider them for baby shower cakes in the future. I've always loved their pastries :)

Last but not least, ending this post with a pic of us with all the 过大礼 goodies. Pic taken by my mum and yes it took her quite awhile to get it right haha! 

That's all for now :) Hereby wishing all the brides to be good luck in their wedding preparation and jia you!