DIY Tinghun Planning Guide: What to prepare and where to buy tinghun items

Okay! You’re having a tinghun, and you want to save. That means, you need to DIY most things. Fret not – this blog will guide you with a detailed list of things to buy and where to buy them (or at least where I bought them). I’ll also indicate whether it’s the bride or the groom who should be purchasing these items. Since I was the Chinese part of the couple, I ended up guiding Josh on this, so I like to think I am now ready for both the bride and the groom part of the planning!

Other tinghun blogs you might find helpful would be the following:

Expensive Stuff First

So the most important stuff first – which by the way, are also the most expensive stuff. As early as possible, I highly encourage you to start buying the jewelry sets, the medallion, the bangle, the watch, and the wedding rings. These are high value items AND they have many many designs. So don’t expect to go to a jewelry store and leave with a purchase, because each jewelry store only has limited sets for you to choose from!

Groom: Jewelry Sets

So the jewelry sets serve as the groom’s gift to the bride. These sets consist of a necklace, earrings, and a ring. They should always be even numbered – so either 2/4/6/8 sets. The most common would be to give 4 sets, but if you’re saving, 2 sets would suffice. I’ve attended tinghuns where the groom gave the bride 8 sets. Ohlala! But honestly, you don’t need that much, so you do you.

Now each set is supposed to be a precious metal/stone, so you can choose to give gold, diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire, pearl, etc. There are mixed reviews on the following, but I was told you shouldn’t give sets made of:

Jade: Because in Chinese jade sounds like “friction,” so if the groom’s family gives you a jade set, it forecasts a fractious relationship between the bride and the mother-in-law
Pearl: Because some pearls are shaped like tears, it forecasts a sad relationship. I like pearls though, so I requested to include one pearl set. Hehe. Anyway, the South Sea pearls were perfectly round and did NOT resemble tears in any way, shape, or form; so my mom decided to just give in

Also! If your mom has jewelry sets, she can opt to hand this down to her daughter-in-law during the tinghun. This will save you money, because you wouldn’t need to buy. So in the past, it was usually the groom’s mother who purchase the jewelry sets. I’ve heard of many stories where moms would slowly buy jewelry sets over the years in preparation for her son getting married. More modern families nowadays buy the jewelry set with the bride though, because they recognize that it’s important the bride herself likes the jewelry being purchased, as she’s the one who’ll be wearing them!

So where can you buy these sets? Honestly, Binondo is always a good bet. I’ve indicated below the stores we checked out. Note that you can also have your set custom-made according to the stone size and design you want, but it will take a bit longer. Some people fly to Hong Kong for more selections too, although price-wise, Hong Kong is just a little bit cheaper than Binondo.

Pro tip: When you go shop, it’s important for you to already have a budget (max) and the precious stone in mind. This will make it easier for you so that when you go inside the store, you can just tell them to bring out jewelry sets within your budget and with the precious stone setting you’re looking for. Ideally, you should also go with someone who has precious stone experience, or an awareness of how much certain things should cost. Remember also that you are expected to haggle! Never accept the given price, and always bring it down. I normally ask them to shave off a few thousands and request for a few freebies (e.g. boxes, pouches, pendants).

See below for the stores I visited:

Po Guan: 569 Nueva St., Binondo
DECP Jewelry: 955 Ongpin St, Binondo
Mayfair Goldsmith: In front of Ty Po Huat
Ty Po Huat: 811 Ongpin St, Binondo
Ling Chao Merchandising: 728 Ongpin St. Binondo
Gans Marketing: 560 Tomas Pinpin St., Binondo
Nouvelle Jewelry: 575 Yuchengco St., Binondo
7th Heaven: 575 Yuchengco St., Binondo

Bride and Groom: Medallion and Chain

Honestly, I thought this would be super simple because how many medallion options are there? Well, actually, not much. Haha! Most Binondo stores carry the traditional dragon and phoenix design with 福 at the back – which they all sourced from Hong Kong. This did made it easier for us to choose though because we could just focus on the price (peso per gold gram) and the weight of the medallion and chain.

Note that traditionally the medallion and chain are supposed to be 24K gold. These are meant to be your “insurance” in case things go south, as at least you have 24K gold to pawn. Having said that, 24K gold is quite expensive, so you can also opt to go 18K gold. Some people do 14K even, but I think you shouldn’t do this unless you have expressly agreed upon this with your partner, because it may come as a shock to them if they gave you 24K gold, and you gave them only 14K gold back.

If your parents have their medallion and chain from their tinghun, they can also hand this down to you. Instant savings (again!).

Note: Gan’s Marketing is a local gold manufacturer, so their designs are actually different from the Hong Kong ones. They’re very reputable and considered to be one of the best (or at least all my aunties recommend them). Having said that, their designs aren’t as polished as the Hong Kong ones, probably because the Hong Kong ones are machine made (to a certain extent). I would have liked to go with Gan’s, but given the prices were roughly the same, we decided to just go with the polished (albeit common) design.

Again, don’t be afraid to haggle. Honestly, these Binondo people expect it!

Groom: Two Gold Bangles, tied with a red thread

Who would’ve thought gold bangles would be expensive? Certainly not me. But I was shocked when I realized how heavy these gold bangles were. And since we were paying by the gram for 24K gold, it certainly added a significant amount to our budget. Not only that, but I honestly hated all the existing designs in Binondo. Again, all these stores (except for Gan’s) purchase from Hong Kong, and the popular design now are these really wide, heavily embellished bangles, which look super ugly and clunky in my opinion. Gan’s Marketing’s designs were a lot better, BUT they were also a lot heavier – because they use solid gold.

Thankfully, our family jeweler offered to custom-make the gold bangles according to my preference. She showed us a catalogue to choose from, I chose the design I liked (something slim and classic looking, that will still look fresh even decades down the road) and told her the weight range we were willing to pay for. A few days later, she came back to us with a rough costing and design from her Hong Kong supplier. Three weeks later, the bangles arrived. I am super happy with them, really. When I look back at how frustrated I was when searching for a bangle I’d actually like, and agonizing about whether or not I should just buy this or that bangle even though I hated the design just to get the whole thing over with, then I look at the bangle I have today, I really feel at peace and I thank God for His provision (even for something as shallow as a bangle hehe)

Groom and Bride: Watch

Crazy – so in the past, this literally was just a watch. But nowadays, it seems to be a given that the watches you exchange must be AT LEAST a Rolex. Well, fine, let’s get a Rolex then. Except every Rolex store we went to had ZERO stock, and you had to be placed on a waitlist. Guys, my tinghun is happening in 2 months, and I need a watch. We couldn’t AFFORD to be on the waitlist. Anyway, in the end, we decided to just buy from the secondary market. A lot more expensive. Sad.

Groom: Wedding Rings

This one we kind of procrastinated because there were SO MANY OTHER THINGS to worry over. So we ended up starting to look for wedding rings around 1.5 months before the tinghun. A bit of a struggle on my end, because I thought I knew what I wanted. But when I went to bridal fairs and jewelry stores to try on what I thought I wanted, I wasn’t super happy with it. Anyway, in the end, we landed on rings Josh and I were both happy with, so yay! I actually really wanted platinum rings because it’s supposed to be more cost-efficient in the long run (albeit pricier in the short term) since you don’t have to keep getting it replated, plus it’s a lot more durable and less easily scratched. But Josh preferred white gold, and I researched, apparently platinum is also a lot more difficult to resize, so I decided ok fine, I may get fatter in the future (aka when I get pregnant) and I do want to keep the option of resizing open, so white gold it is! And yes, these are the rings you’ll be using for the wedding itself, so choose carefully!

Gift Bags

Next, let’s discuss the gift bags to prepare, and what each one entails.

Groom: Gift Bag (to be given to bride guests)

Minimum of 8 gifts inside, and 80 gift bags to be prepared (although this can be less or more, depending on the number of people the bride is giving to).

The traditional ones found here would be:

Sang Hee Misua: We bought this from Bee Tin Grocery in Binondo. You can get it cheaper from Karuhatan Misua (the factory directly), but we decided to prioritize convenience since all our suppliers were already in Binondo
Royal Dansk: You need biscuits, and I don’t know why but Royal Dansk is super popular. Anyway, Josh and I both don’t really like butter biscuits, so we changed this to Voortman Chocolate Chip Cookies which I really love! We purchased this from Benby Mart, along Banawe
Ferrero Rocher: This is the “candies/chocolate” or sweet part of your gift bag. Again, we weren’t overly fond of Ferrero, also they’re so expensive? So we switched this out and placed Choco Pies instead! Yum yum. We bought the Choco Pies from Landers
Fruit Cocktail: Super traditional – you can buy these from any supermart. I’d suggest buying these from the same supplier as the Peach Halves and Gulong Pork Leg though. Also, I really recommend you buy this from the supermart and NOT online, so you can check the cans one-by-one to minimize the damaged cans you get since you can’t give away damaged ones
Peach Halves
Gulong Pork Leg
Apple: Bought the apple and oranges from the wet market so that it’s cheaper
Orange

Bride: Gift Bag (to be given to groom’s guests)

Minimum of 3 gifts inside if you go the traditional ka-sai-keh route, and 48 bags to be prepared (although again, this can be more or less depending on the actual groom guest head count).

I opted to give 6 gifts – so that’s what I’ve listed below:

Ka Sai Keh: This includes three things (monggo hopia, peanut glutinous cake, ampao). I bought all three from DEC Binondo. They only allow you to order 1 week in advance, and they only accept cash payments. Pick up to be done one day before the tinghun because they use zero preservatives, so you need to tell your guests to eat these ASAP or else they will spoil
Royal Dansk: Josh and I both agreed to switch this to Voortman Chocolate Chip Cookies which I really love! We purchased this from Benby Mart, along Banawe
Ferrero Rocher: Again, joint decision to switch this to Choco Pies instead! Yum yum. We bought the Choco Pies from Landers
Yam Cookies: Didn’t want to put yet another cookie into my gift bag, so I decided to get Royal Family Taro Mochi instead – which I super super love. Got this from Bee Tin Grocery along Ongpin. By the way, it’s super convenient to buy from them because I Viber them my order, they send me the price and total to pay. I pay via BDO, then I have a driver pick up my purchase within the day. Driver doesn’t even need to park. He calls up my Bee Tin contact, and they help load my purchase to the car

Then of course, each of these should have a sang hee sticker stuck on top (except for the misua since it’s packaging already contains the sang hee marking). Then, place them all inside the sang hee paper bag.

Sang Hee stickers: I bought this from Shopee. They sell them by the roll, which is SUPER cheap vs New Victory. Link: https://shopee.ph/product/79831666/16800246617
Sang Hee paperbag: I was planning to buy from Shopee, but in the end I bought from New Victory instead because they had the fat paperbag (10 x 10 x 12) I wanted. Having said that, I found their paperbags quite flimsy, and we had a couple break on the day itself. I’m not sure if it’s because the contents were heavy, but yeah, just something to keep in mind.

For Display Items

Other for display items on-the-day itself which you need to prepare would be:

Bride: 2 Pang-Teh baskets

These will be brought home by the groom’s family, and my understanding is these are supposed to be eaten with tea. I have no idea. Anyway, I decided to go the non-traditional route and just fill it up with my favorite goodies to be shared with my future family. To prepare, I bought 2 baskets, and placed the following inside:

Bundaberg Ginger Beer – seriously one of my favorite drinks, I find it so refreshing
Swiss Miss Chocolate – with marshmallows! I decided it was important to give 2 drink types
Café de Lucca Luxury Cream Wafers – this is usually given as part of the bride gift bag actually, but since I was giving Ka Sai Keh, I placed this in the pang-teh instead
Green Tea Quadratini Wafers – again, a usual part of the bride gift bag, that I co-opted here instead
TimTam Original Chocolate – one of my fave cookies to dunk into my milk. Ahhh yum!
Nutella Hazelnut Spread – my favorite bread spread hehe
Smartfood White Cheddar – crunchy! Something you can eat as pica pica
Brookside Dark Chocolate Acai & Blueberry – added some fruits para healthy hahaha joke lang

Bride: 120 eggs

We bought this from the market a few days before. Don’t wash it as this kickstarts the egg spoiling process, instead gently wipe it so no visible dirt (or bird poop) can be seen. Then stick sang hee sticker on it

Bride: Candies

You need to buy enough candies to be served to the guests on the day of the tinghun. I would suggest just buying 2x of what you need, and a variety of flavors and brands so guests can choose. Remember: only sweet candies allowed. YES – I totally served Potchi – my childhood favorite candy hehe

Bride: Satin Set

Purchased from New Victory. I have no idea what’s in it.

Bride: E-Sit

This includes all fertility symbols. Was originally going to buy from New Victory, but DEC was cheaper! Since I was buying Ka Sai Keh from them anyway, I included the e-sit as well

Bride & Groom: 8 pomelos each (so 16 total)

Purchased this from the market. Also, since pomelos are bigger, you need bigger sang hee stickers. I bought the big sang hee stickers from New Victory (they’re the same sang hee stickers for the fabric boxes too!)

Groom: Box of apples and oranges

The apples and oranges are optional actually since they’re already included in the groom gift bags, BUT I requested Josh to buy some more so that it would add to our display hehe

Groom: Fabric boxes

So traditionally, the groom would give bolts of fabric to the bride (8/10/12/14/16 sets), which she can then use to sew her future clothes. But let’s be real, I can’t sew. So most modern couples end up just buying ready-to-wear clothes or dresses instead. The important thing is each box should have one outfit – top and bottom/dress. Ideally, you shouldn’t buy the color black also oops. Three of my outfits were black hehe
Fabric boxes were purchased from New Victory. You could choose between red or gold boxes. I went with gold as it looked nicer against my backdrop
The sang hee stickers for the fabric boxes were also purchased from New Victory

Groom: 2 bouquets with 12/24 roses each

Josh bought this from Flowerstore and just had it delivered the afternoon before

Groom: Sinna and contents

The sinna has to be in twos, and is typically rented. Since my coordinator was Tinghun Guru, I had no choice but to rent from New Victory even though they were more expensive. I say no choice because really, may delicadeza the Chinese community, so as soon as they find out Tinghun Guru is my coordinator, they really tell me to just get from New Victory

First sinna content (top to bottom layer) – each layer, place red paper at the bottom (this is to cover the black bottoms of the sinna), then the contents as detailed below, then a sang hee poster on top
- Male satin set: Purchased from New Victory. This already comes with 4 angpao (2 big and 2 small), which is what the groom’s family will present to the bride’s family
- 12 Gulong Pork Leg
- 6 Choco Pie: Purchased from Landers
- 8 Peach Halves
Second sinna content – arrangement same as the first sinna
- Corsage & boutonnière: we got this from ARC (our event stylist)
- 6 sang hee misua: Purchased from Bee Tin Grocery store
- 6 Voortman Chocolate Cookies: Purchased from Benby Market
- 8 Fruit Cocktail
10 hee posters: purchased from New Victory
8 red paper: purchased from New Victory

Bride: Candy tray, bowl set and tea set

Normally you’d need to prepare these as well, but these were part of my New World hotel package already. Yay, less things for me to prepare

Bride Accessories

Sintra board signage

Created our signage in Canva, then had it printed at STS Graphical Site. The easel – I just borrowed!

Invite and Thank you cards

Created our invites and thank you cards in Canva, then just had it printed by my cousin. I paid her for her paper, ink and labor

Hair accessories

Purchased these from Shopee and they’re so pretty! Link: https://shp.ee/sk8akuw

Cake topper

I bought acrylic cake gold toppers (12mm width) from Shopee too. Super sulit. Link: https://shopee.ph/product/322502586/14788896339

Prep robe

I just used a robe I got for free when I was part of my cousin’s wedding entourage before. Super nice silky material and it even has my name on the back

Sang Hee Fan

Purely for photo purposes – I purchased this from New Victory, and I’m not sure if it was worth it, but it’s SO pretty!

Perfume

Just got a pretty perfume bottle from my collection (that I’ve never used haha)

Earrings

I have this pretty pair I purchased in Dubai a few years back that I’ve never worn, so I was really excited that I would FINALLY be able to use them

Engagement ring

Contact lens and solution

First time to wear contact lens. I bought AIRISM lens from Ideal, and practiced wearing them for a month (aka 1x a week), all the way to the tinghun day. To be fair, no problems on the day!

Guest list and seating arrangement

Printed this out, along with the table layout so my registration people could use it as reference. I also sent these to my guests beforehand so they already knew what to expect on-the-day

Other incidentals

Breakfast for my HMUAs

Just prepared some bread, coffee, juices so they could snack on something. To be honest, they barely ate because they were kept busy the whole morning, but it’s the thought that counts!

Sang hee angpao

Bought additional sang hee angpao for the juice ladies, candy lady, sinna, as well as to provide tips for our suppliers. I bought these from New Victory

And that’s it! If you’ve got everything on this list, you should be good to go.

Goldie Goes Global