A good many Macao residents are planning to hold wedding ceremonies during the eight-day holidays they are going to enjoy due to the landmark return of Macao to China on Dec. 20.

The holidays, which start from today and will last until Dec. 26, are unusually long for Macao residents.

Leong Ut Keong and his fiancee Mok Pui In got their marriage certificate a few days ahead of the public holidays. This Christian couple said they plan to have a wedding in a church the Sunday after the next. A Chinese traditional wedding ceremony is also planned the same day, at night, in a Chinese restaurant.

Many other young people have similar plans. According to the local marriage and death registration bureau, people applying for a marriage certificate during the past several days have doubled in number.

Leong Tak Fu, the bureau director, said he has acted as marriage witness for more than a dozen newly-weds every day during the period.

A difference today is that documents for the newly-weds to sign are in both Portuguese and Chinese instead of in Portuguese only, as was the case in the past.

About 1,000 couples have got married annually during the past several years, which translates into six or seven couples a day.

For some, getting a marriage certificate before the return of Macao is not necessarily followed by having a wedding ceremony during the public holidays. "We want to try our luck, that is, to become the last Portuguese couple getting marriage registration here before Macao's return to China." said a young Portuguese couple signing for a marriage certificate at the registration bureau.