I do! Lovebirds fly to tie the knot
SHANGHAI lovebirds flocked to marriage registration centers yesterday, as the date May 20, 2020, sounds similar to ai ni ai ni wo ai ni, or “love you, love you, I love you,” in Chinese.
A total of 2,567 couples tied the knot in the city yesterday, compared with the normal daily 300 to 400.
Marriage registration centers in the Pudong New Area, Chongming District and Minhang District were the busiest, with 441, 190 and 182 respectively, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.
Li Ying, a 26-year-old resident in Huangpu District, arrived at the district’s marriage registration office at 11:30pm on Tuesday.
She held a bouquet of flowers from her soon-to-be husband.
“My boyfriend and I were closely checking for reservations since March but unfortunately found all slots were fully booked by April 19, just one day after reservations for May 20 opened,” Li told Shanghai Daily.
“It’s a very popular date for marriage.”
Although reservations are recommended, they are not mandatory. To seal their love on this special day, the couple made sure to grab an early spot in line.
“We decided to wait here overnight because it’s a very rare date,” she said.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime date and we didn’t want to miss it,” Li’s sweetheart Ye Lingsheng added.
“We picked the date one and a half years ago when we booked our wedding banquet, which will be held next month.”
The couple brought two stools and waited overnight outside the center. They drew their marriage certificates around 9:40am.
The couple met at a party three and a half years ago.
“This is a big, sweet moment in our life and we will have a banquet with our parents in celebration,” said Li.
Jack Ni presented flowers to his wife at the center for the momentous occasion.
The couple arrived at 5am after also failing to make a reservation.
“We wanted to try our luck because it’s a good date,” he said.
The lovebirds met each other in 2015.
“We ordered breakfast via a delivery platform this morning, but will have a sumptuous lunch as a celebration,” he told Shanghai Daily.
Yu Jiani, another bride, made a marriage reservation one month ago. But she still waited more than one hour at the center due to the large queue.
“It’s a sweet day and all the waiting is worth it,” she said with a smile.
An official with the center, surnamed Zhang, said it had made preparations for the expected avalanche of demand on what is believed to be an auspicious date.
“The 100 reservation slots for today were snatched quickly,” she told Shanghai Daily.
“We opened half an hour earlier today for lovebirds and will grant marriage certificates for everyone who comes, even if they failed to make a reservation,” said Zhang.
At other marriage centers, the scenes were similar.
Today, May 21, which also sounds similar to “I love you” in Chinese, is also popular.