"520" Sparks Marriage Registration Rush as Nation's First Civilized Marriage Customs Stamp Debuts in Yantai

Source: YMG  Reporter: Lai Haoyang  Correspondents: Wang Xiaopeng, Zhou Ping

Every year on May 20, because its pronunciation resembles "I love you" in Chinese, it becomes a peak day for marriage registration. On this festive day, the launch ceremony for the nation's first personalized civilized marriage customs stamp, themed "Eternal Vows · Sweet Yantai," and the inauguration of the "Sweet Economy" Alliance were held at the marriage registration office of the Zhifu District Civil Affairs Bureau. Leveraging the romantic occasion of "520," the event focused on advocating civilized marriage customs, displaying cultural and creative collections, and stimulating sweet consumption. Using stamps as the medium and sweetness as the keynote, it successfully launched the nation's first personalized civilized marriage customs themed stamps and simultaneously established the "Sweet Economy" Alliance. While promoting the concept of civilized marriage customs and breaking down undesirable wedding practices, the event built a collaborative platform for government, enterprises, and businesses, fostering the deep integration of the wedding, cultural tourism, and consumer industries. In a gentle and romantic manner, it conveyed the new trend of simplified weddings and stimulated the city's sweet consumption potential. During the event, marriage registration offices across all districts and cities in Yantai were linked simultaneously, jointly creating a romantic and warm sweet atmosphere.

At the venue, newlyweds brimming with sweet happiness and representatives from various wedding businesses gathered together to witness this grand event, which blended ceremonial quality, cultural and creative value, and urban warmth. The event featured immersive experience activities such as a solemn oath ceremony, stamp collection check-in points, letter mailing, and exclusive sweet benefits, engraving a special "520" romantic memory for the newlyweds who registered that day.

At 9:00 a.m., a large screen dynamically displayed stunning imagery of Yantai's mountain and sea scenery along with marriage registration mementos, capturing the city's romantic essence amidst the flowing light and shadows. As the screen's light and shadow lit up, the beautiful vision of developing the sweet economy was officially launched. After the launch ceremony, the highly anticipated nation's first personalized civilized marriage customs themed stamp made its stunning debut. This set of stamps is limited to 1,314 pieces, implying the romantic meaning of "a lifetime together" (as 1,314 sounds like "forever" in Chinese). It is accompanied by the release of nationally usable love commemorative letter cards with a face value of 5.20 yuan. The stamps meticulously integrate Yantai's coastal scenery, city landmarks, wedding culture, and love blessings, encapsulating the tenderness of the mountains and sea within a small square. They are exquisitely and delicately designed, serving both as an effective vehicle for spreading civilized marriage customs concepts and as urban cultural and creative commemorative pieces of high collectible value.

At the event, the organizer also shared the design concept and original intention behind the stamps, interpreted the heartwarming intent of the "Happiness Delivery" mailing segment, advocated for civilized love and marriage concepts of simplified and sincerely committed weddings, and guided young people to establish healthy and pure views on love, marriage, and family. Meanwhile, the Love-themed Post Office was officially announced online, and a national recruitment initiative called "Love Across Miles" was launched for newlyweds, allowing letters full of love to cross mountains and seas, conveying Yantai's romantic warmth to all parts of the country.

To provide newlyweds with more comprehensive, convenient, and high-quality wedding service options, a signing ceremony for Sweet Economy Alliance merchants was also held at the event. Eight local high-quality wedding businesses officially formed the Sweet Economy Alliance, covering the full chain of the sweet economy including home appliances and furniture, wedding photography, cultural tourism and wineries, wedding planning, dress customization, wedding banquet hotels, and postal cultural and creative products. Industry associations stated that they will effectively integrate local high-quality wedding resources and optimize service processes to provide Yantai's newlyweds with cost-effective, one-stop wedding services, promoting more transparent wedding consumption and a more pleasant wedding experience.

"We will practice changing customs, persist in new and simplified weddings, and inherit the virtue of diligence and thrift; we will carry forward fine family traditions, love and respect each other, show filial piety to our elders and love our relatives, and jointly build harmonious families..." Newlywed representatives solemnly swore an oath on site, making a solemn commitment to practice civilized marriage customs and uphold sincere marriages, supporting the reform of marriage customs with the strength of youth. Subsequently, a warm and heartwarming group certificate presentation ceremony officially began, presided over by professional certificate presenters. The newlyweds jointly recited their marriage vows, and guests presented marriage certificates to the newlyweds. The solemn and sacred ceremony allowed the newlyweds to deeply appreciate the responsibility and beauty of marriage, effectively enhancing the sense of ritual and happiness of marriage registration.

After the certificate presentation ceremony, eight couples embarked on an exclusive sweet check-in journey, sequentially visiting the eight sweet stations set up by the alliance merchants. Each station created exclusive check-in scenes incorporating Yantai's characteristic landmarks, paired with customized thematic stamps that bestowed unique and beautiful meanings. The newlyweds checked in at each station and collected the exclusive stamps. After collecting all eight, they returned to the main venue to complete the stamp sealing, and then sent the blessing letters bearing Yantai's urban memories to various parts of the country through the postal service, completing the heartwarming "Happiness Delivery" segment.

During this event, marriage registration offices across all districts and cities in Yantai synchronized their activities. Taking the opportunity of the national debut of the civilized marriage customs themed stamps, they vigorously advocated for a new era civilized marriage custom that is simple yet moderate, romantic yet solemn, and with simplified wedding affairs, creating an exclusive Yantai wedding civilization activity IP. At the same time, by linking with local high-quality wedding merchants and building a one-stop wedding service platform, every newlywed could feel the sanctity of marriage and harvest exclusive romance. In the next step, the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau will continue to deepen the reform of marriage customs, constantly optimize convenient marriage registration services, broaden the forms of sweet economy activities, improve the one-stop wedding service chain, and continually polish the "Sweet Yantai" city namecard. The sweet economy will empower the city's high-quality development, allowing civilized marriage customs to nourish people's hearts, and letting the romance of mountains and seas witness more beautiful unions.