Chinese
Ceremony

The tea ceremony is usually hosted before the wedding , traditionally, the tea ceremony for the groom’s family is usually performed in the morning after the groom has fetched the bride home to his place.

To fetch his bride, the Chinese groom must face certain challenges set by her bridesmaids during the gatecrashing

This is also called the fetching of the bride. Bearing gifts and her bouquet, the groom and his groomsmen set off to collect his bride.
Before he can enter her home, he must complete challenges set by the bridesmaids. The most crucial is haggling over the price of their hongbao for letting him in.
Once in her room, he lifts her veil and hands her the bouquet. Before departing for his home, both bow and thank her parents.

A tea set is used for the ceremony which is meant to be a meaningful keepsake for the wedding.  You will also need two red cushions – one for the groom and one for the bride – to kneel on while serving the tea.

The couples will have to kneel down while serving tea to their elders. The groom should be on the right with the bride on his left side. The male elder should sit in front of the groom while the female elder should sit facing the bride. It is suggested to have a “fortune woman,” or maid of honor, and two bridesmaids to assist during the tea ceremony.

After everything is ready, the bride and groom will start serving tea to their relatives in order of seniority. Usually this begins with the parents first, followed by grandparents, uncles and aunties, elder siblings, and then elder cousins. (Note: Some families will prefer serving the grandparents tea first and then their parents.)


For each serving, the groom is the first to serve tea and then the bride takes her turn. They should serve to the father and then the mother. For every couple you serve, there should be four tea cups on the tea tray. Always serve the tea cups with both hands and greet them by their formal title in the family. For example, “Father, please drink the tea.”

After drinking the tea, the parents will present gifts in the form of red packets or jewelry to the couple. At the same time, they will give words of blessings and put the jewellery on you. The tea ceremony is finished when all relatives of both families are served.