Tang Dynasty Wedding: A Luxurious Kind of Romance from the Great Tang

According to the Book of Rites – Marriage Rites, there were six formal steps in a traditional Chinese wedding: proposal, name inquiry, betrothal approval, betrothal gifts, choosing the wedding date, and the bride’s escort to the groom’s home. This system continued throughout Chinese history, and the Tang wedding followed the same custom.

Betrothal Gifts in the Tang Dynasty

The Tang-style betrothal gifts included symbolic items such as hehuan flowers, auspicious grains, donkey-hide gelatin, calamus with nine stalks, red reeds, twin stones, cotton, long-life threads, and dried lacquer. Each carried its own meaning — donkey-hide gelatin and dried lacquer symbolized long-lasting love and unity; hehuan flowers and good grains represented shared happiness; calamus and red reeds symbolized flexibility and harmony in marriage.

Tang Dynasty Wedding Ceremony

► On the day of the wedding procession, the groom personally led a band and a ceremonial entourage to the bride’s home. Music and drums accompanied the journey. The bride’s family performed rituals for good fortune — filling a mortar with three measures of millet, covering the well with a mat, blocking windows with flax, and placing three arrows above the door to ward off evil.

Before getting on the bridal carriage, the bride dressed up in her room while the groom or his guests sang “urging makeup poems.” One famous poem went:

“By candlelight you touch your rouge and powder, before the mirror you paint your spring again.
Don’t finish your makeup yet — leave your brows for the one who’ll paint them.”

Another version read:

“Once I went to the Jade Capital, a goddess caught my eye,
Today, our fates are joined as Qin and Jin unite,
May phoenixes descend to the bridal tower.”

After the poem, a short speech called “blocking the carriage text” was read. When the bride left her room, she stepped over a saddle — a wish for safe travels to her new home. Midway, the two families stopped for “blocking the carriage,” a cheerful drinking and gifting exchange where the bride’s escort playfully demanded money before letting the carriage pass — one of the classic Tang wedding rituals.

► When the bride arrived at the groom’s home, all family members, starting from the parents, exited through a side door and reentered through the main gate — symbolically stepping on the bride’s footprints to bring luck.

After entering, the bride first bowed to the household spirits, the stove god, heaven and earth, and the ancestors. Then the couple bowed to each other. In the Tang wedding, the bride also bowed to her parents-in-law, elder relatives, and even the guests — a gesture known as “bowing to the guests.”
Three days after the wedding, the bride would visit the family temple and then begin her new duties, starting with cooking in the kitchen to show filial respect to her parents-in-law.

► After the main ceremony came the playful “bridal chamber games,” known in the Tang period as “playing with the bride.” The newlyweds then entered their room together — the groom walking backward — and shared the “union wine,” or hejin, what we now call the cross-cup wine. This ritual symbolized love and the unity of two lives into one — a key part of Tang wedding rituals.

► After drinking the wine, the couple bowed again, then sat together on the bed — the groom on the right, the bride on the left. Married women then scattered coins over them, a ritual called “scattering wealth.” The coins, often inscribed with “Longevity and Prosperity,” were tied in bundles with colorful ribbons. With that, the Tang wedding ceremony officially ended.

Customs After Entering the Bridal Chamber

► Lifting the Fan:
In ancient times, brides covered their faces with fans until after the bowing ceremony. The Tang bride used either a silk fan or a folding fan, so the act of uncovering her face became poetically known as “lifting the fan.” The groom was expected to compose a “fan-lifting poem.”
Some verses went:

“Don’t finish your makeup yet — leave your brows for me to draw.”
“The wind chills the candle flame on the city wall, as the silk curtain lifts, a phoenix appears.”
“The moon is full and round — may our love be just as perfect.”

► Joining the Hair:
Another key ritual was “joining the hair,” also called “tying the knot.” It symbolized lifelong unity and harmony. In earlier times, the groom untied the bride’s hair ribbon from her maiden days and tied it again himself. By the Tang wedding, both the bride and groom would cut a small lock of hair and twist them together into a “shared knot,” which the bride would keep as a symbol of eternal love.
The Tang poetess Chao Cai wrote in “Song of Midnight”:

“I cut my cloud-like hair, and he cut a strand of his,
Hidden from others, we tied them into a heart-shaped knot.”

Tang Dynasty Wedding Attire — Grand and Magnificent

Grooms wore crimson official robes for the procession — many believe this was the origin of the Tang red wedding dress in later dynasties. Brides wore blue ceremonial dresses decorated with gold, silver, and crystal hair ornaments. The vibrant color contrast of “red and green” reflected the magnificent style of the Tang wedding and even gave birth to the saying “red men and green women.”

Han Chinese women’s formal attire often followed the shenyi (deep robe) style, symbolizing modesty and virtue. The “blue gown and connected skirt” was one example of such a robe. However, during the prosperous Tang era, the ruqun (blouse and skirt) style gained popularity, embodying the dynasty’s open and splendid spirit — perfect for a Hanfu wedding.

One of the most elegant formal dresses was the Chai Dian ceremonial robe, a multi-layered ruqun outfit combining the solemnity of deep robes with the graceful beauty of Tang fashion. Emperor Gaozu of Tang, in the Wude Code of 624 CE, officially listed this robe among the formal garments:

The empress’s three ceremonial attires included Huiyi, Juyi, and Dianchai Tan Yi;

The crown princess had Yudi, Juyi, and Dianchai Li Yi;

Noblewomen could wear Zhuiyi, Dianchai Li Yi, Li Yi, Official Robe, Half-sleeved Skirt and Blouse, and Huachai Li Yi.

Even the wives of scholars and commoners were permitted to wear the Chai Dian ceremonial robe for a Hanfu wedding.

Want to bring Tang romance to life?
Check our Tang wedding guide for modern ideas!