On 25/9/16, Sunshine and I went to a fengshui master, Master Long, to help us choose an auspicious date for our wedding. Both my parents accompanied us to Master Long’s house, a landed property, in Woodlands. We went to the wrong address initially but soon found it in the next row of houses. Like many others who blogged about the place, Master Long’s house is big and there is a swimming pool in it! I like =p
We were promptly led to Master Long’s office, where he was already seated in front of his desk, waiting for us. He first addressed Sunshine and we realised that he got Sunshine’s Chinese name wrong! =( Apparently, Sunshine said most of the people, even his Chinese teachers in school, would get his name wrong as they usually have not seen that particular Chinese character before. I was worried that the dates calculated would then be inaccurate but it dawned on me that no names were used in calculating the dates. Oh well… though I do not like the blemish, at least the dates are still accurate.
After confirming our details like birthdays and time of birth, he proceeded to read the signs for Sunshine first then myself. Next, he explained how to use the booklet he gave us (it’s our booklet with our names on it! Personalised =p), the dates suitable for us (a total of three years’ worth of dates!) and a brief explanation of how he got them, some customs to follow and other customs to ignore. After asking some questions and clearing our doubts, Sunshine paid him the $150 that was agreed upon beforehand. Throughout the process, he was quite informal, relaxed and hilarious when explaining to us. The whole session took us about 30 minutes in total. My father, who was initially quite wary yet nonchalant after knowing the price we were charged, was quite satisfied with Master Long’s services in the end. Yay! With that, we went home and started choosing our dates based on our booklet.
All along, I wanted to get married on the 13th of August as it is our anniversary date. Furthermore, August 13 2017 falls on a Sunday and that its corresponding date in the lunar calendar is not in the seventh month! When I googled “auspicious dates to get married in 2017”, August 13 was also listed. Hence, I was quite hopeful and just looking forward to the fengshui master confirming August 13 2017 as THE date for us to get married. However, things did not go as planned. There were no dates listed in the whole of August for us! My guess is that this is because the August period is the second （*轮月）sixth month in the lunar calendar and its second half is also the seventh lunar month. According to my mother, no one marries on the second xth month （轮月）as it is usually deemed not as auspicious as the “original” month while generally no Chinese would marry during the seventh lunar month due to the Hungry Ghost Festival. This is still quite true and practised today even by my friends who are Christians and Catholics etc.
Sunshine and I then have to choose another date for our marriage. I did not want to get married in the first half of the year because 1) both my brothers would be overseas and 2) our house may or may not be ready by then. The projected time our house would be ready was initially third quarter of 2017. However, as with most projects, the house would usually be ready in one to two quarters ahead of the projected quarter. Moreover, the signage outside the construction area has already amended the projected completed date to be second quarter of 2017 and that some other sources said that it could be ready by first quarter next year! With this ever-changing projected completion date, Sunshine and I decided to not take the risk by planning our wedding anytime before June. Hence, we narrowed down the list of dates to the second half of the year. We saw October 10 and for a moment, we were discussing if we should choose that date as it signifies “Perfect 10” or 十全十美。However, we rationalised that 1) since it is a Tuesday, our family, relatives and our groomsmen and bridesmaids would have to take leave for us and 2) it would be a popular date still despite it being on a weekday. As people often book their banquet venues more than one year before their wedding dates and even earlier for popular dates, we most probably would not have much choices left.
Next, Sunshine eliminated most of the dates by deciding that we should get married only on Sundays (somehow, there were not much Saturdays in our list) due to convenience. Good job! As we wanted to get married as soon as possible, we tried to find an earlier date. There were only two dates available for us in July and September each and a couple more in October. In those three months though, there were only two Sundays, one in July and the other in October! We reckoned that if we chose 2nd July, we need our house to be ready latest by June. If our house would only be completed and handed over to us in the second quarter of 2017, we might not be able to renovate it by June. Hence, we took the only other Sunday which was left, in October. The date looks quite nice too so I am satisfied with it! =) Our parents were supportive and agreeable to this date too! Yay! Sunshine was the only one who had something negative to say about it: he complained that he will have Aug 13 and from next year onwards, another date to remember and celebrate! Hahaha! =.=
I was quite happy that we settled on our date so easily, without much effort. Haha. It is time to move on to other wedding preparations!
*In 2017, the 轮月 happens in the sixth month of the calendar ie. there will be two “Junes” AKA 轮六月 next year.
Read Wedding Planning Chapter 2 – Choosing Our Wedding Date Part 1 here.
Read Wedding Planning Chapter 3 – Bridal Studio Signed! here.
