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Question

Is it proper etiquette to send a wedding present to the bride's house?

Answer

Traditional customs include the so-called "three letters and six etiquette". The "three letters" involve a series of three written letters ("request letter", "gift letter" and "wedding letter") being hand-delivered in sequence by the groom's family to that of the bride through an elderly female envoy/liaison from the groom's family. The "six etiquette" consists of six steps that are carried out prior to and during the wedding day. In the first step, the groom's family's envoy communicates the offer of marriage to the bride's family and attempts to persuade the bride's family to accept. If the offer is accepted by the bride's family, the two families negotiate the terms of the marriage. In the second step, the groom's family, via its envoy, requests the bride's family to disclose the eight Chinese characters that mark the date and hour of the bride's birth. A fortune teller is then hired to analyze the date and hour of the bride's birth with the date and hour of the groom's birth to see if the bride's date and hour of birth are compatible with those of the groom. The third step consists of the groom's family sending some initial gifts to the bride's family. The fourth step is where the groom's family will pick a "good day" to send their formal gifts to the bride's family and to send gifts, cash, cakes and food for use in ancestral worship. The fifth step is the selection, by the hired fortune teller, of a "good day" for the actual wedding date.

— Source: Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)