Orphaned Chinese woman marries American at SOS village

Nathan and his groomsman pose before the gate of Yantai SOS Children's Village in Yantai city, East China's Shandong province, on Sept 8, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

A woman decided to celebrate her big day by showing gratitude to a place that supported her when she had nobody.

Wang Liyuan married an American called Nathan in traditional Chinese style at Yantai SOS Children's Village in East China's Shandong province.

The couple chose the village to hold their ceremony, because Wang Liyuan was taken care of in the village after she became an orphan when she was 13. Thanks to the care and support from the village, Wang went on to study in Norway and the US, where she met and fell in love with Nathan.

Yantai SOS Children's Village is a child welfare institute established by International Children's Village and Yantai municipal government in 1984.

The village, one of the first two SOS Children's Villages in China, has taken care of more than 300 orphans from East China's Shandong province, Central China's Henan province and Northeast China's Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces, since it began to accept orphans in October 1986.