The centuries-old practices and customs of feng shui are not just for arranging furniture in your home and office—it can be applied to special events as well. Whether it’s a dinner party with the boss or a very special birthday or the wedding of your dreams, feng shui elements can be brought into any major event that you want to be successful.
Every bride dreams of a perfect wedding, and incorporating feng shui practices can help ensure harmony on the big day. From picking the right day, to selecting the wedding colors, to lighting, these feng shui tips can help the wedding flow more smoothly.
Picking The Date
One of the most important decisions, choosing an auspicious date is the starting point to ensuring a successful day, and possibly, marriage. Picking the right date, using a Tung Shing (or Tong Shu) Almanac, can bring good luck to both bride and groom. Tung Shing is an ancient Chinese formula used to calculate the most effective days for carrying out various important milestones and everyday tasks in your life.
Another way to ensure an auspicious date is to pick a date with the number 8 or the number 9 in it (or numbers that add up to 8 or 9, like 17 or 18). Eight is a homonym for success and nine a homonym for longevity in Chinese tradition, therefore, it is believed that the more number 8s and 9s that appear in your wedding date, the longer you’ll live happily ever after. Two and six are also considered to be “good” numbers, but perhaps not as fortunate as 8 and 9.
Venue Details
Lighting is key to good feng shui of the venue. Having plenty of light at your ceremony and reception locations are believed to brighten the future before the bride and groom. Additionally, dark areas hinder the “chi,” or life energy, from flowing freely throughout the space.
Pick a site with plenty of natural lighting that comes in from the side (like through windows) and avoid “heavy” overhead lighting. If you are set on an evening wedding, candles coupled with mirrors provide a soft and feng shui-friendly light.
Decorate with crystal and glass to reflect even more light in your venues of choice. Crystal chandeliers are considered very auspicious as the reflected light double the positive “chi” of the space and keep negative energy at bay.
The arrangement of furniture at the reception should also follow certain feng shui tenets. Try to use round tables if possible as hard, sharp angles from rectangle tables can create a feeling of conflict.
Choose The Right Colors
Color is a very powerful element in feng shui practice, as it is an expression of light. The colors for the bridal party, flowers, linens, décor elements and more should be chosen with the most lucky colors and combinations in mind. The color you choose for your wedding sets the tone and mood of the wedding day, so picking hues that are calming as well as invoke happiness and a sense of fun are key.
Black and white are favored for the bride and groom as it represents a strong, balanced relationship between the yin and the yang.
Red is considered a very lucky color and favorable for weddings as it is associated with love and romance; however, some feng shui experts warn against combining red with metallic colors as the combination is considered inauspicious.
Yellow can help brighten a venue that isn’t well lit. Add crystal, mirror and glass elements to help counteract poor lighting.
Earth tones for table linens are ideal as they help reduce stress. Orange is another excellent color from creating an atmosphere of ease and promoting conversation in large groups of people (who may be strangers at the start of the reception). Blues and greens can also help promote calm, so these colors are also good for reception areas.
Making sure all five elements are presented
A key tenet of feng shui is ensuring the balance of the five elements of life: water, wood, fire, air and metal. The presence of all five feng shui elements are necessary to thrive—together, they form a cycle of living energy. Find ways to incorporate all five elements into your wedding.
Whether you opt for literal representations, like candles for fire, and an outdoor water feature for water, or choose to use interpretative versions, like the color gray for metal and square shapes for earth, ensuring that you have all five elements is an excellent way to incorporate feng shui in your wedding.
These simple tips are easy to add to existing wedding ideas and might help simplify the decision-making process. Incorporating elements and practices of feng shui might help reduce stress levels and increase harmony on the wedding day, and start marriage on the right foot down a bright and successful path.
Photos courtesy of zoe.wang & simoncollierbaker on Flickr.com.
Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer, mother and yoga enthusiast in Southern California. She not only incorporates feng shui in her home decor, but for special events as well, such as her children’s birthday parties.
