Two students are due to celebrate the first anniversary of their lockdown wedding after spending six months together in their student flat in Edinburgh.
Ruolan and Shihao, two students from Nanjing in China, got married in Edinburgh in August 2020, the day before they flew back to be closer to their families. Their only wedding guests were their two witnesses – Emma, a team member from their student accommodation in Portsburgh Court, and their photographer.
After meeting in 2018 when they both studied at the University of Bath, the young couple were living 8 hours’ apart when the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic started to fall.
Ruolan, 25, was fulfilling her ambitions to complete her Masters in Art and Illustration at Edinburgh University’s College of Art, and living in Student Roost’s Portsburgh Court, in a studio flat overlooking Edinburgh Castle. Meanwhile, Shihao, 24, was still studying his Computer Systems Engineering degree in Bath.
Ruolan explains: “I loved living in Edinburgh. It’s such an inspiring city. Scotland has so much mystery, and as an artist I found it so inspiring seeing the castle, walking the alleys and learning about the history.
“I also loved my studio flat at Portsburgh Court. It was the best choice. It was right outside my college – I could see it from the window and even wave to my teachers! There were lots of little things that made it home, and Student Roost team were also so nice and helpful whenever I needed them.”
In February 2020, as the news from China worsened and the first cases were seen in Europe, the couple made a big decision.
Shihao said: “Not long after we got engaged and were living 400 miles apart, I saw a new illustration that Ruolan had drawn. I was so sad that we were separated, and I felt that if tomorrow was the end of the world, I wanted us to be together. Every time I went back to Edinburgh to see her, I felt that she was my moonlight who brightened my way home.”
Ruolan spoke to the team in Portsburgh Court, who were more than happy for Shihao to move into the studio with her for no extra charge as they were both students.
Like all students, Ruolan and Shihao found lockdown difficult, especially being thousands of miles away from friends and family.
Ruolan said: “It was stressful, but being together made things so much easier. It was the most perfect thing in an imperfect situation. Portsburgh Court had little things that felt like home. I was surrounded by things I loved. We were in a studio flat, not a grand house, but it had everything I wanted, and the team were always smiling.
“The view of the castle and my college, although it was closed, inspired me every day. Looking out from my window made me feel like I was part of something bigger, and I started researching the city, and drawing the castle and old buildings. Because we were in the city centre, we could go walking together in the streets of Edinburgh.”
Ruolan and Shihao loved the city so much they decided they wanted to get married there before returning to China, so they contacted the council and got a date to go to the registry office. The only available date was in August – the day before they were due to fly back to China.
Ruolan explained: “We were so busy, packing and getting ready to go home as well as preparing for our wedding. I didn’t know we needed to get witnesses, as it’s not necessary in China, but when I found out, I knew exactly who I would ask.
They asked Emma, one of the Customer Service Advisors at Portsburgh Court to be one of their witnesses.
Ruolan said: “The whole team at Portsburgh Court were like friends to us, but Emma helped us especially by always having a smile and time to talk. She can also speak Mandarin. I was really nervous to ask her and I think we surprised her as she didn’t know we were engaged, but she was so happy for us!
“After our wedding our photographer, who was our other witness, took us around Edinburgh and the beach. We had good weather and everything was perfect. It was a tiny wedding but we had everything we needed and we felt like VIPs.
“We got back to Portsburgh Court for our last night in the flat and our first as husband and wife. The Student Roost team had even got us champagne as a wedding gift – we were so surprised as it’s not common to get a gift from where you live. It made the day even more perfect and it felt like the team had blessed us!”
An intimate lockdown wedding wasn’t the couple’s first brush with romance. Even their first meeting in June 2018 was like something from a romantic film or novel. Artist Ruolan was preparing for her exhibition in Bath – Isles of Solitude. But one piece of art was particularly special to her, a pen and ink drawing of the Chinese character for island – “dao”.
Ruolan saw herself as a lonely island, and the character meant so much to her she had a tattoo on her forearm. This particular drawing was a one-off piece which she hadn’t made any copies of. Shihao fell in love with the piece and bought it, asking a mutual friend if he could meet the artist behind it and collect it in person.
Ruolan said: “I wouldn’t normally have agreed to meet someone buying my art, but that illustration meant so much to me. I was nervous, but I didn’t know I would be meeting the most important person in my life and my best friend.”
Six months after they met, Shihao got a matching tattoo to show Ruolan that she wasn’t a lonely island anymore, and a year later the young couple got engaged while living hundreds of miles apart. But even COVID-19 couldn’t keep them away from each other, and the lonely islands are now not so lonely.
Shihao and Ruolan are now living together in an apartment in Nanjing, China, as husband and wife. Ruolan is working as a fulltime artist and illustrator while Shihao studies remotely. When it’s possible, they hope to have a large wedding celebration with the friends and family they surprised with their news. They also want to return to Edinburgh and Portsburgh Court as soon as they can.
To see Portsburgh Court, and other Student Roost properties in Edinburgh, visit: www.studentroost.co.uk/edinburgh
Such a touching story! Lockdown has been so hard on so many people, but it has also brought out the best in some.
Yes, it’s good to read some good positive stories