My girlfriend drew a picture of us saying ‘marry me’. “We invited our family and friends to the Zoom meeting and decorated our room together. “We just did it at home because in public, it’s illegal – so we couldn’t do it outside,” she said. Shin told the Guardian that she and her girlfriend learned from social media about Utah marriages, and that the process was pretty straightforward. He swung in his chair and grinned, asking the witnesses – two friends of the couple who had dialed into the ceremony from home – to give their support and assent to the marriage. “I cannot imagine a future without you, so that’s why I want to marry you and that’s why I’m here,” she said.Ībout 10,000km away in daylit Utah, an elderly celebrant in a shirt and tie with his phone peeking from his pocket sat in front of his screen. In the slightly lopsided marriage video, with animal emojis occasionally obscuring her face, Shin looked at her fiancee beside her.

In the predawn dark one June night in Xi’an, China, Shin and her girlfriend sat down in front of their laptop, the TV unit behind them adorned in silver and gold balloons.

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