Till Death Do Us Part: Singaporean Couple Choose Burial Vault As Their Wedding Venue

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The newlyweds have made a columbarium their choice of venue to tie the knot.

According to Shin Min Daily News, on Saturday, 23 July, Huang and Zhuo became husband and wife at the Nirvana Memorial centre, located at Choa Chu Kang, Singapore.

With Huang dressed in a traditional Tang wedding suit and Zhou in a Qun Kwa, they posed for their wedding photos in front of the columbarium niches, hand in hand.

You see, it was where they first met. Huang said that he came to the memorial centre for a visit whilst Zhou was there for prayers. "It was fate," he said. 

Since then, Huang and Zhou began to date for several years before they registered their marriage two years ago.

Whilst they were all for getting hitched at the place that held so much importance to the couple, they were met with some pushback from older relatives who believed that such an auspicious event like a wedding shouldn't be held at a place where the dead are commemorated. Huang mentioned that his older relatives couldn't understand "young people's" thoughts.

Happily enough, though, the couple's parents supported their decision. "My parents are more open-minded. They feel that it's okay as long as we're happy. Even my in-laws are very supportive," said Huang.

Huang also mentioned that by doing the ceremony at the columbarium, they were killing two birds with one stone. Both of them would get the opportunity to pay their respects to their late relatives and 'inform' them of their marriage.

There are no objective rules forbidding couples from marrying in places at funeral homes or where the remains of the dead are kept, the Chinese believe that these places commonly carry a lot of negative energy.

Some devotees believe that this bad energy could rub off on the couple and spell bad luck in their marriage's future.

Which is why couples who are about to be married should stay away from places like these. However, more and more younger couples are actually more open to getting married in unconventional places despite what the taboos suggest.

According to AsiaOne, the person in charge of the columbarium actually mentioned that this year alone, Nirvana Memorial centre has received visits from two other couples on their wedding days.

"In the past, some used to think that it was taboo to do so, but newlyweds showing up at the venue in their traditional costumes shows that the mindset of the younger generation has changed," they mentioned.

However, there were some netizens that still thought having a wedding ceremony in the columbarium was taboo and that doing this disrespected the place where the dead should be honoured.

"The so-called taboo is the wisdom of the ancestors that's meant for us to learn from and avoid disasters in life. Doing the opposite (of the taboo) will ultimately end in divorce," said one user.

"It can only be said that the young people today don't know how to avoid (going against the taboo). Although it is already 2022, it is still a place for the ancestors. It is better to respect it and (people) shouldn't take it too far to be different," another user wrote.