Business lunch puts pair on path to marriage
Tse Koon-yiu and Gigi Chui probably walked past each other numerous times in the office without saying a word to each other. However, when they were finally introduced at a business lunch they regretted that they had not got to know each other earlier.
Koon-yiu and Gigi were married yesterday at Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, then hosted a traditional Chinese wedding banquet at Aberdeen Marina Club with 200 guests.
Although they had been working as consultants at the Hong Kong Productivity Council, they were not introduced until the casual lunch in the executive director's office in April 2009.
'My first impression of Gigi was that she's very attractive. She's stylish and intelligent, yet very friendly and down to earth,' Koon-yiu said.
While enjoying the live band performing at the lunch, they learned that they both had an interest in music. Gigi was the drummer in a band formed by their colleagues. Coincidentally, the band was looking for a bass player and Koon-yiu was the man for the job.
Spending time jamming after work, the pair got to know each other better.
'Getting to know her, I felt that I could talk to her about deep emotional issues, and we also have similar interests that we are passionate about,' Koon-yiu said.
A month after they met, Koon-yiu asked Gigi out for a dinner and movie date, and the couple got on like a house on fire.
'We talked about our backgrounds and interests non-stop for hours even though the food we had was pretty dull,' he said.
But as soon as the movie started, Koon-yiu had an uneasy feeling.
'I realised that the movie was a bad choice for a first date,' he said. 'It was a Korean movie called A Frozen Flower, which turned out to be extraordinarily twisted and erotic.'
Fortunately, the film wasn't a problem. Nor was the fact that Koon-yiu got lost while driving Gigi home afterwards.
'Since I couldn't find the way, we ended up having another hour to chat on what would usually be a 15-minute journey,' he said.
After the date, Koon-yiu knew that Gigi was the girl of his dreams.
On Valentine's Day last year, he proposed when he took her out for dinner. When the coffee arrived, Gigi reached for the sugar pot, and among the sachets found a diamond ring.
Surprised, she then looked up to find Koon-yiu getting down on one knee, asking her to marry him.
The couple are flying to Mauritius for a two-week honeymoon.
