The May First holiday is usually a time for wedding ceremonies galore. But this year the epidemic of SARS in Beijing stopped 90 percent of the long-planned wedding parties - postponed until later in the year. The Juyong Guan Great Wall mass wedding ceremony has also been shifted to October.
Mr. Liu from the Happy Wedding Ceremony Company said that there is little work to do at the moment so they stay at home as most couples have changed their plans this year. May First in past years witnessed over 20 couples per day holding their wedding ceremonies, he said, while this year saw only about two per day.
Information from restaurants where the weddings were due to be held proved the news that many who ordered banquets on May First had postponed. As a matter of fact, wedding business this year should have been good. Soon after the Spring Festival, many couples had gone to restaurants for consultations and on-the-spot investigation, some even paying deposits at once.
However, given the surging SARS epidemic at the moment, both the restaurants and the couples responded actively to the call of lessening large gatherings by the government, and postponed their long-prepared wedding.
Mr. Wu said to his relatives, ?All this should be blamed on SARS. However, health is the most important thing in this special period.?
Miss Zhu told her family, ?Recently we all fell under pressure because of SARS, everybody feeling so nervous. As everyone is upset about it, the atmosphere will influence our wedding, so we decided to hold it later.?
Mr. Li has been in love with his girlfriend for quite a long time. He also had to postpone his wedding that took him half a year to prepare. Li said, "Anyway, health should be the most important thing, security also. As for a wedding ceremony, it is a social activity. If my girlfriend is true to me, it's not so important. I believe in my love. SARS cannot separate us.?
Mr. Xiang loves his fianc?e so deeply that he made up his mind long ago to ask her to marry him this May First. However, to his surprise, he experienced great love in the SARS period as his fianc?e asked him to get married. According to his fianc?e, she wanted to show the people surrounding them that they are the happiest couple in the world. Moved to tears, Xiang said, ?It is the biggest treasure in my life that she can marry me in such a difficult time. I think nothing could affect our future happiness.?
Miss Li from Beijing 100 Year Happy Wedding Company said that even though one couple canceled their wedding party, they celebrated in their own way and on May 2, the bridegroom went to pick the bride up in a first-class car hired from the wedding company for a romantic occasion.
At the moment, the Internet is turning out to be a wonderful place to hold wedding ceremonies for some people during this special time.
For this sweet couple, Miss Xu and Mr. Chen, their matchmaker is the Internet. Originally they planned their wedding on May First but were hindered by SARS. So without hesitation, they turned to the Internet - holding their wedding on the net. Their relatives and friends sent their greetings via Email and watched their wedding via net cam.
(China.org.cn by Zheng Guihong May 12, 2003 )
