Choosing THE DATE!

So when should your big day be? Six months later? A year later? While it really depends on how simple or how grand your wedding's gonna be, I personally do feel that a year is a very comfortable pace for most couples. You probably need a lot of time to shortlist the perfect bridal studio, that restaurant or hotel that can bring about the ambience of your dream wedding. People from different countries, different cultures, have their own ways of deciding the date they deemed to be the best.

Let's bring this closer to home - Singapore. As a Chinese myself, I understand how this process of picking the date can be a rather tricky one. I should be thankful though that my family is not those of traditional type whereby every single hour of the wedding has to be specifically calculated to check if it's auspicious. For the benefit of those who embrace the Chinese traditions, let us look at the details of this.

It is important to find out what your Chinese zodiac sign is before choosing your lucky wedding date. There is a total of 12 signs:

• Rat – 鼠 (子)

• Ox – 牛 (丑)

• Tiger – 虎 (寅)

• Rabbit – 兔 or 兎 (卯)

• Dragon – 龍 / 龙 (辰)

• Snake – 蛇 (巳)

• Horse – 馬 / 马 (午)

• Goat – 羊 (未)

• Monkey – 猴 (申)

• Rooster – 雞 / 鸡 (酉)

• Dog – 狗 / 犬 (戌)

• Pig – 豬 / 猪 (亥)

Not sure which one you fall under? Check it out at http://www.astrology.com/chinese-astrology.

Next, it's time to bring out the Tung Shing (通胜) which literally is a book that will lead you to find victory in everything! It looks like this:

(Source: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTEzN1g5OTQ=/z/lvAAAOxyTjNSj-vs/$_35.JPG)

Under each day, there is actually this associated Chong (冲) that cancels out the predicted good fortunes for anyone born under a specific sign.

If you have any dream dates in mind, try looking up this book first before going to your parents to discuss. Chances are higher that you will be able to get what you want if you do your homework. ;)

Click here to access this site from 8th Voyager that has a full list of auspicious dates with its respective Chong (冲). If you are looking at dates for 2015, here it is.

Endnote:

I have personally seen many strained relationship between the couple and their families over this selection of auspicious dates. Most importantly, try to discuss in order to come to a place of compromise. It is never easy and definitely takes some effort. Afterall, we want to make sure our big day is going to be the most memorable day of our lives but let's not forget about honouring our parents who had gone through a lot to bring us up. A marriage is a joyous event, let it start on a good note. :)