Olympic weddings: Chinese couples queue to get married on lucky dayMore than 16,000 weddings take place at 8am on the eighth day of the eighth month – the opening day of the Beijing gamesTania Branigan in Beijing guardian.co.uk, Friday August 08 , :33 BST
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A Chinese couple following their wedding on the first day of the Beijing Olympics

The bride wore blue: a Beijing 2008 volunteer shirt, coordinating nicely with her new husband's red uniform as they posed in front of a giant heart emblazoned with the traditional "double luck" symbol.

A dozen quick snaps and the next pair of newlyweds replaced them on the podium. They were, after all, only one of more than 16,400 couples celebrating the games by getting married in Beijing today. At least 100,000 more are marrying across the country.

The Chinese regard eight as the luckiest number. To wed, like Xu Wenjuan and Heng Chao, at 8am on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 is almost outrageous good fortune.

"It's a very auspicious day. But it's also a once in a century occasion because of the Olympics. You can be happy together, with your country," said Xu, 25.

She preferred her uniform to a traditional wedding dress, she said. "I feel this has been specially made for me for today. I'm going to tell my grandchildren: 'Your grandparents got married during the Olympics, as volunteers'."

They will not have much of a honeymoon: both will spend the next fortnight shepherding spectators around Olympic venues. "We're lucky to have this opportunity to give something back to the country," said Heng, 26.

Chaoyang register office alone had reservations for 2,400 couples today. But when hopefuls who had not booked began queuing outside its doors shortly before midnight, officials took pity and let them in anyway.

"All the world's attention is on China; today has a special and memorable