What Exactly Is This Guo Da Li, or Chinese Betrothal, About?
Guo Da Li is a traditional Chinese betrothal ceremony that marks the official beginning of the marriage process. It involves the exchange of gifts and the formal announcement of the engagement. For every Singaporean Chinese couple out there, your parents would probably love to have this process. The event usually takes place around two to four weeks prior to the actual wedding day.
The Guo Da Li event revolves around the gifting of items that you’d usually never buy. Such as dried red dates and longans, the baby “tam pui“, double happiness stickers and all. A very enterprising dude took this to the next level and set up The Chinese Wedding Shop. At a reasonable mark-up, the shop sells literally everything that you will ever need. Their friendly staff would also guide you on the various steps needed, with an instructional booklet. Fret not, just get everything there.
Tips & Tricks for a Successful Guo Da Li Ceremony
While it may seem like a daunting amount of items to settle, most of the items would have been provisioned if you bought the packages from The Chinese Wedding Shop. Some additional items that I’d advise to self-source:
- Red weird-looking PJs (i.e. pajamas) from Taobao
- Red wine or liquor from Shopee
- Mandarin oranges max 3 days before the ceremony lest they turn moudly
- Shuang Xi 囍 stickers, slippers, towels etc. from Taobao
It is also important to note that they do have col