Scope out a venue Reach out to potential places to host your tea ceremony. Make sure they can accommodate all your guests and provide additional supplies (chairs, cups, tables, etc.). Ask if they have a place for you to get ready so you can also plan accordingly.
Decide what to wear There are many wedding qipaos/cheongsam styles. If you want something modern and high quality, check out our collection of cheongsams. Order your wedding cheongsam early and leave yourself with more buffer time for any alterations. If you don't want to wear a qipao, consider a simple red dress since red is a lucky color in Chinese culture.
Send in your dress measurements & accessorize If you're going with a custom size wedding qipao, make sure to complete your measurements in time to make your qipao. Pair your cheongsam with a hairpin, gold jewelry etc.
Finalize your guest list and send out invitations While your relatives might already expect to be at the tea ceremony, you can still send out cute Asian-inspired invitations to formally invite them.
Book the venue Nice venues get reserved quickly so be sure to lock down your tea ceremony location.
Purchase decorations & tea ceremony supplies You'll need a tea pot, tray, tea, enough tea cups, kneeling pillows, decorations, and any thing else you want to include (extra red envelopes, etc.)
Assign roles to your bridal party Typically, the Maid of Honor will hold the tray and tea cups next to the bride & groom during the tea ceremony. The rest of the bridal party can help set up the venue/ decorate.
Print out your guest list Familiarize yourself with the order in which you're serving.
Practice the etiquette and the script Run through the motions and practice saying your relatives' names and the phrase "Please drink the tea." in Chinese.
Pack everything you need the night before So you're ready to go the next day and only have to worry about getting ready and setting up the venue.
Both the bride and groom will take turns serving the same person. Each person served will be drinking 2 cups of tea so don't pour too much tea into each cup!
You'll need a lot of cups (4 per couple you serve) for the ceremony! Plan on either having someone rinse and bring out new cups after each round or using disposable cups.
You'll need a place to store all the red envelopes you'll be gifted from your elders during the tea ceremony. Have your Maid of Honor help keep them somewhere safe.