the date

the first thing that came to our mind in the ROM preparation was to select the date it was to be held. (well, it's quite common sense isn't it?)

We decided not to get any fengshui master to calculate an auspicious date, cause we thought that ROM is an ang mor sorta event and it doesn't involve the Chinese Traditions, so it wasn't really necessary. I understand that different couples hold different opinions regarding this, but this is the stand that we took. Actually, among both of our parents, and himself and me, I'm the only one who's very superstitious about fengshui, customs, etc., even though I'm the youngest. haha! So I'm probably the only one who would really be very concerned with this. And since I don't think it's necessary, the rest of course agreed. =)

Now it's on to choosing a nice date.. we wanted to ROM within 2009, and since by the time he proposed it was end 2008, we figured it would be too rush to have the solemnisation within the first half of 2009. In fact, I would love to ROM on 09/09/09, cause it's such a pretty date! My eldest sister had her solemnization on 02/02/02, my second sister had hers on 20/03/2003, and my niece was born on 05/05/05.. so I wanted to have a date like that too! Unfortunately, it coincided with 七月, which is supposedly inauspicious as it was the Ghost Month according to Chinese traditions. And although I mentioned that I didn't want to "calculate" an auspicious date for my ROM, but holding it during the Ghost Month still wasn't exactly a very comfortable choice for me.

We wanted our ROM to be an event of celebration and joy, where our close friends and family come to share our happiness as we embark on the next stage of our lives together. So we didn't want to inconvenience our working friends by holding it on a weekday, which will require them to take leave and make additional arrangements at work just to be able to attend our ROM.

We brainstormed, and shortlisted the following dates, which we thought "looked" pretty nice:

* 09/08/09 (六月 十九)， Sunday
* 09/09/09 (七月 二十一)， Wednesday
* 19/09/09 (八月 初一)，Saturday
* 03/10/09 (八月 十五)， Saturday
* 10/10/09 (八月 二十二), Saturday

I can't recall if there's any specific reason why these dates were all around September.... but we finally decided to hold our ROM on 10 October 2009... I figured since I can't hold it on 09/09/09... 10/10 looks pretty good as well. Besides, he felt that 10/10 also had the meaning of 十全十美，which was how we wish our marriage would be in future. :)

Yups! We had our date fixed. What's next?