Hong Kong Valentine’s Day couples take marriage plunge on auspicious day

“Still another hour,” Siliang Chan, 33, said impatiently.

He stood next to his soon-to-be wife Soolu Tsang, 27, in her flowing white dress and tiara, waiting outside the city’s marriage registry building early on Tuesday – Valentine’s Day.

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The date was doubly special for the couple given it was two days after the first anniversary of the couple getting together after meeting through friends and falling in love “after a motorcycle ride”, Chan said.

Tsang, who was holding chocolates arranged in a bouquet, joked that their most romantic memory together was “getting into fights”.

Once the ceremony was completed, Chan and Tsang posed on the steps outside the registry, with Chan at one point carrying his new wife bridal-style.

When asked why they chose this day to get married, Chan said simply: “It’s Valentine’s Day!”

The two were just one of 212 couples eager to tie the knot on Valentine’s Day this year, up 27 per cent on the year before.

This year, the date fell near the start of the Year of the Rooster – a lucky year for marriage due to the double spring in the Lunar New Year cycle, which is symbolic of new life.

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The city gave the pairs 15 minutes each to receive their marriage licence, so there was a “full house” of couples waiting their turn, said senior immigration officer Tiffany Lam Yu-ling.

“It’s more casual today,” she said, in reference to couples congregating in the registry office in casual wear. “Last year, maybe because Valentine’s Day was on a Saturday, people wore more formal clothes and they had more relatives around.”

But the lighter atmosphere didn’t stop couples from enjoying their romantic day.

“The best gift for Valentine’s is to give myself to you,” Ann Lam said to husband of just a few minutes Huang Ziyue.

“We chose to get our licence on Valentine’s Day, so it can be a special day for us in the future,” Lam said.

The two had been together for a year, having met through work. They already had their traditional ceremony with revelry and rounds of baijiu – Chinese rice wine – back in October.

“I am happy,” Huang said with a sheepish smile. “This is quite special.”

Winnie Poon, 32, and her new husband surnamed Fu, 34, walked down the steps outside the marriage registry as an official couple.

The two met in secondary school and survived a year apart when Poon went to Australia to study and work.

Now, the two are reunited in Hong Kong and were all smiles, with Poon in a strapless white dress with a simple flower bouquet and Fu in a blue patterned suit.

As to why they chose to make things official on February 14, Poon said: “It’s special, and easy to remember.”