Sister City Wedding Editorial

Sister City Wedding editorial
17 September 2008
Hastings Mail
General news or page one option

One of the biggest events ever to hit Hastings is about to descend on the city this month. Over three hundred million television viewers will watch as one very lucky couple from Guilin, sister city to Hastings, tie the knot in Hawke’s Bay fashion with plenty of help from local businesses.
This week, a Beijing-based travel channel confirmed that the wedding, to be held at Hastings’ Cornwall Park’s Osmanthus Gardens on 20 September will be covered by a film crew and broadcasted across China.
The couple arrived in New Zealand earlier this week, but the preparations for their big day have been in the pipeline for months. Donations, various wedding gifts and specially created wedding accents have flooded in from Hastings’ organizations and businesses including the Hastings. The Hastings District Council are assisting financially while local businesses such as Heards Jewellers, HBS, Alexanders Menswear and many, many more are lending a hand to make this occasion a memorable one for the betrothed couple.
Gan Dan and Chen Yanyan or Daniel and Caroline, as they’re known by their English names, will be married in the Osmanthus Gardens before proceeding to St Matthew’s Church for a blessing service and then to a grand banquet at Ormlie Lodge. The two were selected from 16 other couples for the dream wedding as part of the Ultimate Challenge competition to promote and celebrate the sister city relationship between the two cities.
The event has been organized by Hastings District Councillor for the Hastings ward Kevin Watkins who couldn’t be more excited about the big day and hopes this will continue to promote the Bay to the huge viewing audience overseas.
Caroline and Daniel have been together for six years and both work for the Longsheng government where Caroline is the secretary and Daniel is in the environmental protection department.
This is one wedding that will surely go down in history as the international sister city wedding of the year.
“Join with the mayor and councillors in making this a very memorable day in the life of our Sister City relationship with Guilin, China,” Kevin says.
Tickets for the event are $80, available from TicketDirect which will get wedding-goers into the three venues including the banquet and will get the chance to enjoy the evening entertainment as well, but this event is limited to 180 guests, so those interested are urged to reserve their spot quickly.

The Hastings businesses assisting with Caroline and Daniel’s big day are:
The Hastings District Council, HBS, Heards Jewellery (providing specially-made wedding rings), Alexanders Menswear (providing Daniel’s suit), Ochi Designs Ltd Exclusive Couture, Mangapapa Lodge (the couple’s honeymoon location), Urban Retreat, Elephant Hill Winery, Matariki Winery, Ngati Kahungunu Inc, M>phosis Hair, McEntree Event Hire, Hung Key (NZ) Trading and Development, Matapiro Olives, Te Awa Wines, Ngatarawa Wines, Flowers by Tania, Discount Carpet Outlet, Black Barn accommodation, Leon Brebner Print and Claremont Motor Lodge with others joining in the ranks daily.