“Don’t swallow the ring!”
Michael Cheung was sitting at White Rock’s Pearl on the Rock Restaurant opposite his girlfriend Sharon Tsang, trying to send a silent message. Sharon was drinking from a tall glass of water into which Michael just slipped her engagement ring. Toby McGuire had attempted a similar proposal in Spiderman 3, and Michael had thought it a clever idea. Although initially amused that Sharon didn’t see the ring, Michael become anxious as she kept drinking. She didn’t notice the ring until the very last sip. Then she saw Michael suddenly on one knee, a wedding proposal on his lips.

The two had dated for five years, after being introduced by a friend at UBC. Part of their mutual attraction was how each encourages the other to be a better person. “Sharon challenges me in a good way,” says Michael. “She is so good at whatever she does.” For her part, Sharon loves Michael’s “humour, ambition, and drive. That really motivates me.”

Michael was so sure of his intentions for her that he bought an engagement ring and held onto it for a full year. In June 2007, just before leaving Vancouver for graduate school in Chicago, he determined the time was right. “Since I was going away, I wanted to give her certainty and a promise before I left,” he says.

The following year of long distance wedding planning proved stressful for the couple. Initially they had wanted an outdoor wedding, but quickly realized that a big Chinese wedding was meant to be. Sharon and Michael are the eldest siblings in their respective families and their parents wanted a traditional wedding of their first born.

The couple was happy to go with the flow, but personalized the details. They chose Kirin Starlight Restaurant in New Westminster for its contemporary décor, selecting a traditional 12-course Chinese banquet for their 500 guests but omitting the shark’s fin soup, a prestigious but environmentally unfriendly dish. Sharon enthusiastically embraced the Hong Kong wedding custom of changing outfits over the course of the reception, selecting five dresses for her wedding day.

When the day dawned and Michael arrived at Sharon’s family home, her friends stopped him at the gate. Michael had to prove—with the help of his groomsmen—that he was worthy of marrying her. “According to our custom, you have to pay your dues before you pick up the bride,” explains Sharon. So while she remained cloistered away, her friends and family put the groom’s entourage through a series of tasks, including doing push-ups and reciting a cheesy love poem. Michael’s friends had to answer trivia questions about the bride, an indicator of how much Michael talked about his relationship. If they answered incorrectly, they had to pick a card indicating a body part—an arm, leg, chest—and have it waxed. Pain aside, it was all in good fun and Michael passed the test. The couple proceeded to serve tea to their elders and accept their advice for a happy marriage.

A photo session at Richmond’s Iona Beach took place before the 2:30 p.m. ceremony at Bethany Baptist Church, where Sharon’s musical cousins entertained the guests.

For Michael, the day’s defining moment was when Sharon walked down the aisle. “I’m a very emotional guy,” he says, admitting that he cried through a good part of the ceremony. “He cried at the dress rehearsal when the music came on!” Sharon adds.

Like Spiderman, Michael clearly has a romantic side. And although in the movie the superhero’s creative way of popping the question ended poorly, Michael’s proposal was destined for a happy ending. “It didn’t end up working out for Toby McGuire, but it worked out for me,” he says.