Couples eager to wed on lucky day

Calla Cheng and Collins Ke believe marrying on 09-09-09 will bring everlasting happiness. Photo / Greg Bowker

Wednesday 09-09-09 is shaping up to become a hot date for a Chinese wedding.

This is because the number nine, when pronounced "jiu" in Mandarin, sounds like "everlasting".

Auckland couple Calla Cheng and Collins Ke consider themselves "trebly blessed" to be getting married on that special day.

The high school sweethearts, who came to New Zealand from Shenzhen in 2001 as students, said no date gets more auspicious for a wedding than the "lucky triple nine".

"We believe the date has an effect on our fate, and getting married on this special date will mean that we will continue to be in love and be together forever and ever," said Miss Cheng.

Others, like Jim Wang and Lisa Zi, who could not get a slot to register their marriage registry, are choosing to hold their customary wedding that day.

"As Chinese, we consider our customary wedding as our actual marriage day. So for us, it is more important to have a special date for this than the date we register our marriage, which we would consider as our Western wedding date," Miss Zi said.

Auckland University's Confucius Institute director Nora Yao said Chinese around the world believed in registering the weddings on auspicious dates and the Chinese community in Auckland were no different.

"Eight is good for business and New Year because it sounds like prosperity in Mandarin, but nine is the most sought after date for a marriage because it is something married couples want to last forever."

As this is the Year of the Ox it is also seen as a good year to get married.

"The Ox is honest and hardworking, so couples believe that this will also be good traits to have in their married life," she said.

Wedding videographer Sylvia Yang is busy with Chinese couples wanting her to film their 09-09-09 wedding.

"It is definitely not the norm for people to get married on a weekday, but I guess such a special date such as this doesn't come too often in their lifetime," Ms Yang said.

The Department of Internal Affairs, which oversees the registry of marriages, said its Auckland office had to expand its appointment schedule from 10 ceremonies to 12 on September 9 - but it was still wasn't enough to meet the demand.

"People had booked well in advance by lodging their application for intended marriage so that it coincided with this date," a department spokesman said.

However, the department was not able to say if most who are booked in to be married on Wednesday were Chinese as it did not record ethnicity people getting married.