IPOH, MALAYSIA: Getting hitched on Christmas Day is already a double celebration – but it was extra significant for the Choo family when two of its members exchanged marriage vows on the same day.

Choo Lai Peng, 29, (pic: left) from Batu Gajah and her 24-year-old sister Jie Hooi (pic: right) married their respective sweethearts Ho Wei Yap and Chen Fun Yoong during a mass wedding ceremony held at the Ipoh Chinese Chin Woo Athletic Associa-tion.

Lai Peng said Christmas Day would now always be extra special as it would also be their wedding anniversary.

“We can now celebrate our anniversary and Christmas together,” she said, adding that it was also easier on the pocket for the family to have a double wedding.

For 27-year-old Ho, a cadet policeman, it was love at first sight when he saw Lai Peng, a hairstylist, 10 years ago.

“She left a deep impression when we met for the first time,” he said.

Lai Peng’s younger sister Jie Hooi, a beautician, married her childhood sweetheart Chen, a hairstylist whom she had known since her secondary schooldays.

The newlyweds were among 21 couples who exchanged vows before assistant registrar of marriages Datuk Ooi Fah Sing on Christmas Day.