Happy Days Ahead

Traditions are comforting in uncertain times. Perhaps that's why today's brides are embracing old traditions with new enthusiasm and their celebrations are packed with old fashioned wedding customs. Because most of these traditions are based on folk lore, they're wide open to interpretation and brides should feel free to express the traditions in any way that's meaningful to them.

1 Corinthians. 13:4-13

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
And now faith, hope, and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.

I Love You...

I love you.
You are my best friend.
Today I give myself to you in marriage.
I promise to encourage and inspire you,
to laugh with you, and to comfort you
in times of sorrow and struggle.
I promise to love you in good times and in bad,
when life seems easy and when it seems hard,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort.
I promise to cherish you,
and to always hold you in highest regard.
These things I give to you today,
and all the days of our life.

Our Pledge
We pledge to each other to be loving friends and partners in marriage.
To talk and to listen, to trust and appreciate one another;
to respect and cherish each other's uniqueness; and to
support, comfort and strengthen each other through life's joys and sorrows.
We promise to share hopes, thoughts and dreams as we build our lives together.
May our lives be ever intertwined, our love keeping us together.
We will build a home that is compassionate to all,
full of respect and honor for others and each other.
May our home be forever filled with peace, happiness and love.

By the Seaside
As we stand beside the ocean tide,
may our love always be as constant and unchanging
as these never-ending waves that pour beneath our feet,
flowing endlessly from the depths of the sea;
your love came softly upon my heart,
just as the foam comes softly upon the sand,
and just as there will never be a morning
without the ocean's flow,
so there will never be a day
without my love for you.
I pledge myself to you this day.
Our love will be as unchanging
and dependable as the tide;
as these waters nourish the earth
and sustain life, may my constant devotion
nourish and sustain you
until the end of time.

As We Renew Our Vows
Today, we reaffirm our commitment to each other
as beloveds and partners in marriage.
We continue to strive to be sensitive to each other's needs,
to be open and understanding with each other,
and to share our thoughts, our feelings,
and our experiences with each other.
We renew our promise to try always to
bring out the qualities of forgiveness, compassion,
and integrity in our selves and in each other.
We continue to cherish each other's uniqueness.
We continue to share in life's joys and remain steadfast
and comfort each other through life's sorrows.

Kahlil Gibran on MarriageFrom Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, Master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

I Promiseby Dorothy R. Colgane

I promise to give you the best of myself
and to ask of you no more than you can give.

I promise to respect you as your own person
and to realize that your interests, desires and needs
are no less important than my own.

I promise to share with you my time and my attention
and to bring joy, strength, and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to keep myself open to you,
to let you see through the window of my world into my innermost
fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you,
to be willing to face changes in order to keep our relationship
alive and exciting.

I promise to love you in good times and bad,
with all I have to give and all I feel inside in the only way I know how.
Completely and forever.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

I take you as my partner...

I take you as my partner, my friend and my love.
My hopes and dreams will now be intermingled with yours.
I will seek to balance my needs with those of our community and family.
I will openly draw from our combined experience
and feelings in our search for truth and meaning.
I will strive for harmony through compromise and understanding.

I will be forgiving, but not complacent.
From this day forward, I take shared responsibility
for our marriage, family, community and myself,
regardless of our successes or failures.

I promise to be faithful and true to you in mind,
body, and spirit; to cherish you and respect you;
and to be a source of comfort and encouragement,
free and bound by our love, as long as we shall live.

Marriage in Hong Kong & Wedding in China

Groom-Deng Li 28, and Bride- Huang Fang 25, clad in white wedding attire on Monday, May 12, 2008.



Days earlier, the couple had asked !%%\'s advice on a suitable outdoor setting for their wedding photographs. @@!!, owner of a photography studio in Chengdu, recommended Bailu Academy, a deserted catholic seminary hidden halfway up a mountain slope in Bailu township, Pengzhou county. The timelessly peaceful scenic spot is both a tourist attraction and a popular backdrop for wedding photos.



They arrived Monday, May 12, 2008 at noon. "The weather was weird. It was sunny in the morning, but turned overcast and cold," !%@@ recalled. "I saw bees hovering on the way, something I had never noticed on previous visits."


$$% says there were 33 people at the seminary that day, including five other couples and photographers from two studios.

As his team began their preparations to shoot after a quick[Quake] lunch, %#%! suddenly heard a loud cracking sound overhead. Looking up, he saw to his horror the roof & beams in the main seminary building splinter and fell. As he fled to the courtyard outside he saw panic-stricken people running out of the chapel, the opposite building to the church which was vibrating and swayed violently.


He realized that he was in the midst of an earthquake. When he looked at his watch, it was exactly 2:28 pm. He found that its surrounding was suddenly plunged into a smoky, dusty and sudden darkness. It was only after about 10-second the tremor stopped that the air cleared and he could see and breath freely again.


Every one was gray-haired and coated with a layer of thick dust over their face. "The brides and grooms [6 pairs]in their smudged makeup and muddy, dust smeared wedding costumes looked like ghost or dust monkeys" $!@ recalled. All 33 people present gazed and dumbstruck at the pile of rubble where the seminary, which would have celebrated its 100th year anniversary a week later, once stood majestically on the slope of the mountain.


The seminary had taken more than two decades to build, but was demolished in just seconds by the 8.0 quake. Only half of the front wall to the church was still standing.


Luckily, no one was hurt. But, all 33 people in the remote village were completely cut off from the outside world; all its trunk roads had been destroyed and telecommunication interrupted as there was no mobile phone signal.

Then it suddenly started to rain. Other distraught newlyweds and photographers took a quick refuge in their cars, but %@!\'s team had parked theirs at the foot of the mountain. Bride Huang Fang shivered with the cold & rainy weather. The heels of Deng bride's shoes had broken during the escape in which she has to run barefooted. A woman from the nearby villager gave her clothes and shoes that she could salvaged from the of her quake wrecked home. They then worked together with other local villages to build a rude & temporary shelter made of wooden boards and plastic sheets.

At 4 pm, they heard news on the car radio that Wenchuan was confirmed as the epicenter. Huang Fang burst into tears. Her Tibetan family members lived in nearby Wolong County.

Villagers shared their meal and dinner of porridge and salted eggs with the couple. As they sleep, men took turns & watch, in case of any aftershocks and landslides.

Photographers and newlyweds had to walk two hours back to town along the destroyed & ripped up road, narrow mountain paths, dangerously close to lava spilled over & boiling rivers. @@#!@\'s team took a mini van to Pengzhou, while Deng Li and Huang Fang returned to Guanghan, Deng\'s hometown, which had suffered surprisingly light damage in the quake.

Huang made contact with her family five days later. All of them were safe.

Deng has since returned to work, teaching history at the local middle school. Huang, an employee of the Lixian county tourism bureau, is still waiting for news from her office.

When the couple spoke to @#!@ recently, they told him that their love for each other has grown even stronger since the quake. They now want to bring forward the date of their wedding banquet, originally planned for August. They also want to choose another location for the photos that will complete their wedding album.

$! took a photo of the Deng couple, tremendously happy by hugging each other and brimming with smile, shortly after the quake. "As I viewed them through the lens, the words 'zhi zi zhi shou, yu zi xie lao\' (To hold your hand, to grow old with you, from the Book of Odes) came to mind," #%## recalled.

All 33 people at the seminary that day have pledged to revisit to the site and hope that its ruins would be restored in the near future.

Wedding Vows Like You've Never Heard.

Higher Purpose

"You were designed for a Higher Purpose, to fulfill a greater destiny in life. Deep within each person is a Higher Purpose, longing to be recognized, screaming to be released, yearning to be achieved. You have always known it. It is a purpose so grand none of us can achieve it on our own. We were engineered for greatness. Join me in pursuing life’s Higher Purpose."

Dr. Kelly Carr

Wedding - Uranus & Yee Yen

Uranus & Yee Yen Wedding Celebration held on Friday, 20 March 2009, Hall 28, 9/F Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel, 6 Metropolis Drive, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.




礼堂 28
伊甸园婚姻登记处礼堂 28 都会商场 (红磡) 连接红磡港铁站，毗邻大型巴士、小巴总站及的士站。
位于商埸9楼，环境幽静。礼堂旁设有一私人中式婚礼室内拍摄区供注册后拍照留念。
主色调分别为浪漫粉红 ；长长的红地毯及两旁之花柱引领新人进场于末端的舞台上进行注册仪式。
礼堂拥有30 枝水晶吊灯，墙上挂有特色 玫瑰花镜令礼堂更具气派； 设有 180 个座位及 200 个企位。

除了于礼堂及摄影区内拍照留念，新人亦可于都会商场 7 楼的三千呎的室内花园拍照，
无论在炎热或下雨的天气下也能在有空调的环境内尽情享受拍照的欢乐；另外还加插了一些不同主题的摄影背景。

商场内亦有一有盖行人天桥连接红磡体育馆到户外集体拍摄区。
新人及嘉宾们可使用 7 楼礼堂20 旁之避车处上落客车，而此商场更设有400个泊车位。
婚礼服务如租借婚纱礼服及婚礼摄影等都尽在此商场内，方便各新人筹备婚礼。
餐饮服务包罗万有，如五星级洒店- 都会海逸酒店，日本和风餐厅及许多其它餐馆。


伊甸园婚姻登记处 礼堂 28 都会商场 ( 红磡 ) 位于：
九龙红磡都会道 6 号 9楼 953 铺


您可乘搭港铁到红磡火车站
巴士第 5C, 8, 8A, 11 K, 11X, 21, 19R, 81C, 87D, 260X, A21, K1, N216, N241, N271, N281号
小巴第 6, 6A, 8, 26 号

Place and Location: Wedding Ceremony & Reception.






A short clip of the Uranus & Yee Yen Wedding