Our private story
– Our company’s story
We are Reylita and Stephan, the couple behind Marriage in Hong Kong.
It all started with our website and blog at: meet-the-philippines.com, where we shared our experience and thoughts. Not just about the Philippines, but about how we got married in Hong Kong and all the advantages it offers for international and foreign couples.
Since then, we often get asked the question how we ended up with a business that provides wedding services in Hong Kong.
So here is our story!
2014
In love, engaged, and now?
When we started to report about all the problems of getting married in Germany or the Philippines, the feedback and encouragement we received from our couples was huge.
They all had to endure the same frighteningly long waiting times, and bureaucratic processes that are extremely complicated, or in other words: make it impossible to get married as an international couple.
After hours of research on the Internet and talking to other couples from across the world, we stumbled upon the wedding in Hong Kong by mere chance.
2015
Our wedding in Hong Kong
Getting married in Hong Kong was our final straw.
After further research into how much effort it takes, getting married in Hong Kong seemed manageable and relatively easy to do, given proper planning. We did exactly that and were finally able to get married in Hong Kong.
A day of liberation.
2019
Wachstum und dessen Aufgaben
Unser kleines Unternehmen machte stetige Fortschritte und Mitte Sommer war es dann soweit – wir hatten es geschafft (seit unserer Gründung 2017) über 250 Paaren mit einer Hochzeit den Weg zur gemeinsamen Zukunft zu ermöglichen.
Jedoch war all dies hart erarbeitet, denn gerade die vielen neuen internationalen Paare, mit Herkunftsländern von Angola bis Venezuela, trieben unseren Planungsaufwand auf ein neues Level.
Nicht nur die Anforderungen des Marriage Office in Hongkong ändern sich damit, sondern auch die verschiedenen Auflagen für das Beantragen des Familienzusammenführungsvisum nach der Ehe.
Es war nun unsere große Aufgabe, Paare jeglicher Herkunft zur Hochzeit zu führen und dadurch unseren Wissensschatz für darauf folgende Paare zu erweitern.
2016
The start of our service in German– Heirat in Hongkong (Marriage in Hong Kong)
Shortly after our wedding, at which point Reylita was already living with me in Germany, we realized how great the demand and need is from other couples to get married in Hong Kong, and thus have the perfect solution.
For us it is heartfelt matter, to share this special experience with other couples, and helping them to the best of our abilities. Setting them on a path that guarantees their futures are together, not apart, makes us very happy every time.
What started in 2016 with a few of couples as a test phase, quickly gained momentum. Soon afer we had to decide: do I quit my job and take the risk of starting a wedding business in Hong Kong? The answer quickly became clear to us: yes.
|
2017
The start of our company in Germany and Hong Kong
What started on my laptop in our living room, quickly had to be put on a more stable and professional foundation. We founded our company MIH (short for Marriage in Hong Kong) in Germany and its sister company in Hong Kong.
The next step was to build our very own website, where we try to explain and elaborate just how many advantages a wedding in Hong Kong entails; as it’s not always so easy to understand at first.
2018
Heirat in Hongkong goes international – Welcome to Marriage in Hongkong.com
While in 2017 we accompanied most of the weddings for our couples ourselves, it quickly became clear that this would only be possible to a limited extent with increasing demand.
It was now a matter of training and building up a reliable team of employees during our next stays in Hong Kong. This cost a lot of time and effort, but in the end, we made it.
Another milestone for us in 2018 = the building of our website in English. It quickly became clear that not only German couples suffer from all the bureaucratic obstacles put in their way. So, it was time to go international!
Start helping couples from all over the world!
2019
Growing our little company
We made steady progress and by mid-summer the time had come – we had managed (since our founding in 2017) to help over 250 couples get married in Hong Kong!
However, all of this came with its own set of challenges, couples ranging from countries such as Angola or Venezuela, drove the planning effort needed to a new level.
Not only do the requirements of the Marriage Office in Hong Kong change depending on where you are from, but also the various hurdles for applying for a family reunification visa, following the marriage, do too.
It was now our great task to lead couples of all origins to a successful wedding and thereby expand our wealth of knowledge for subsequent ones.
2020
Covid and its consequences
2020 started out exactly as 2019 ended, but then it slowly became clear that the world was headed for a lockdown, including an unprecedented, world-wide travel ban.
This was the beginning of the toughest time imaginable for us and our company. From one day to the next, none of our customers could fly to Hong Kong, let alone get married there.
We had no choice but to comfort our customers and hope that the borders would hopefully open again soon.
2021 and 2022
No end in sight
As if 2020 wasn’t bad enough, the coronavirus and its aftermath just didn’t seem to end.
As a company, we stopped taking new orders and even shut down our website shop entirely.
We could not accept further bookings in good conscience, as an end to the worldwide restrictions was simply not in sight.
In addition, many customers who had already booked wanted their money back, but at the same time we saw it as our responsibility not to let our loyal employees in Hong Kong down.
It was a knife edge, more than once we seriously considered filing for bankruptcy.
We were only able to keep our heads above water thanks to our own savings and the help of family and friends.
We also gave our existing clients a lifetime right to marry with us, with the prospect of being able to help them in the future, once the pandemic would hopefully come to an end.
To be honest, we felt helpless more than once, and weren’t sure whether our company would survive this Virus at all.
2023
It’s hard to believe, but here we go again!
In December 2022 the day we had been anticipating finally arrived! After almost 3 (!!) years of standstill, we were finally able to help our couples get married in Hongkong, once again! It was like Christmas had come early!
We were not only able to help existing customers finally have their dream wedding, but also new ones from all over the world!
While during the first few months it was still difficult to rebuild everything and financially exhausting, we knew that things could only get better.
We were back. Full of enthusiasm and positivity.
Your Stephan and Reylita
P.S A big thank you to all our couples. It was, is, and remains a great pleasure to help you on your way to a future together.
