Settling on an auspicious wedding date (DIY)

Each culture or custom has it own way of determining the auspicious dates for marriage. Some of the young couples these days may prefer to hold the solemnization or wedding on some special memorable dates (e.g. engagement date, birthday date, day of first-met), many would still play safe and engage a fengshui master to calculate an auspicious date and time for marriage, fetch the bride (FTB), etc. It is about $60-$150 to engage a fengshui master. However, the few auspicious dates may be quite popular and it is likely that one would need to pre-book the wedding venue a year in advance in order to have one's preferred choice of hotel ballroom. If the hotel of choice is booked, one may need to reconsult the fengshui master again for other dates. The reiteration process may add additional costs and inconvenience.

I have discovered a way to more or less determine an auspicious date (chinese way) with certain level of confidence. I would like to document down and share. Below is an example:

First, list down the Chinese zodiacs of the bride, groom, bride's parents, groom parents. You could also list the Chinese zodiacs if you would like to consider other key people in your familiy e.g. siblings. However, the more variety of zodiacs would limit your dates even more. 

Second, list down the dates in the period which you would like to consider, e.g. Fri, Sat, Sun dates between Apr-Jun 2014. 

Y-axis, dates from 19 Mar 2014-29 Mar 2014 are listed.

X-axis, relevant zodiacs are listed. (Column D-H are for bride groom and their parents)

Third, use some reliable sources on lunar calendar to determine if the date clashes with which zodiac and whether the date is generally good for wedding. A plausible one is Sina 星坐算命. 

冲 (clash) 虎 (tiger); 宜 (positive) 嫁娶 (wedding)

Hence, 01-01-2014 is a good date for wedding but clashes with tiger

Fourth, for dates that are good for wedding, indicate (1) in column C. If it is not good indicate (-1). For respective zodiacs, indicate (-1) if the date clashes with the zodiac.

Lastly, if there is any (-1) for date or zodiac, indicate -1. If the date is good for marriage and there is no clashes with any zodiac, the number should 1 in column L and M (as shown for 21 Mar 2014). This is a little more confusing as it is not a normal summation. If L is negative, do not bother to do for M. If L is positive, do for M. If both L and M are positive, the date should be your first priority. 

With the above method, you could have a lot more flexibility in determining the few best dates for you to decide for your actual wedding. Relatively easy, isn't it?

Once you have decided the date and you would like to find out which timings are good for fetch-the-bride. You could use the following calendar which is usually made available a few months before the actual year to determine the timing for fetch-the-bride.

As indicated in the calendar, 7am-1pm is very auspicious, 1pm-7pm is so-so. 7pm-9pm is bad.