Gillian Chung reveals why she refused to pay for her wedding

Weddings are all about the celebration of love and union — until it comes to footing the bill.

While some couples prefer to go Dutch and others adhere to the tradition of the bride's family picking up the tab, Hong Kong singer-actress Gillian Chung firmly believes that the husband should pay.

In a recent appearance on the Youku variety show Truth Everything (花花万物), Gillian, 38, revealed why she had insisted that her husband, Taiwanese doctor Michael Lai, pay for their glitzy Los Angeles wedding banquet last May.

The lavish banquet was held at luxury hotel Millennium Biltmore, where Gillian walked down the aisle in an elegant Jenny Packham dress.

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"My basic requirement was that I didn't want to marry myself off using my own money," Gillian explained.

"I think that was reasonable," Michael added, "but I was under a lot of pressure at the time."

Expecting to have a small shindig, Michael had only invited 10 guests to the banquet. To his surprise, Gillian had invited a whopping 80 guests, including Twins bandmate Charlene Choi and singer Joey Yung.

"I had to take a few deep breaths," Michael, 30, laughed as he recounted his reaction to Gillian's guest list.

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At the time, he did not have much savings even though he had a comfortable income as he would splurge on watches and clothes, he said.

"I'm okay now, but at the time I was wondering whether it was possible to almost go bankrupt from a wedding," Michael joked.

Fortunately for Michael, he did not have to worry about the cost of their second wedding banquet which they held in Hong Kong last December.

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Gillian's boss, Hong Kong magnate and Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) chairman Albert Yeung, reportedly paid for the bash and gifted her with an apartment in Shanghai worth six million yuan (S$1.16 million).

kimberlylim@asiaone.com