Londoners join thousands in China to make their 'lucky 8' wedding vows

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The auspicious date 8/8/08 sees a rare combination of the Chinese lucky number eight - the reason it was chosen for the opening of the Beijing Games. The ceremony began at precisely eight minutes and eight seconds past eight, Beijing time.

Tens of thousands of couples in China chose today for their weddings and even in London there was a marriage boom.

The lucky combination comes only once in a decade - although the luckiest day of the century is another 80 years off, when 8/8/88 will bring especial good luck.

The number is seen as lucky because it sounds similar to the word for prosper or wealth in Chinese, or fortune in some dialects.

Islington town hall has treble, and Westminster more than double, the usual number of wedding and civil partnership ceremonies on their lists today. On a typical August Friday, Islington would stage four ceremonies but today it has 12. Westminster would typically host eight, but is fitting in 19 - and started at 8am.

Westminster superintendent registrar Alison Cathcart said: "It's going to be a fun day, we could have booked the day three times over. We would have carried on until 8pm if we could, but it's not legal after 6pm unless you're Jewish or a Quaker."

Dr William Mathieson, an Imperial College cancer scientist, will marry Stella Chan, an accountant, today in Islington. The couple, who live in the City and are both 41, met 10 years ago. Dr Mathieson said: "Stella liked the idea of today being lucky so we decided to go for it and we hope it will bring us a lot of happiness."

Julia Liu, 27, from St John's Wood is marrying fiancÈ Jan Scheffel, 26. British-born Ms Liu, an investment researcher, said: "Jan wanted to impress my parents by choosing an auspicious date, and I think he succeeded."