Nov. 10, 2005 — Their wedding cake had three tiers decorated with dragons, but the wedding couple was only interested in eating bamboo.

Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai pulled out the stops to throw a traditional Chinese wedding for two giant pandas on loan from China, with the hope that they will consummate their marriage and make some babies soon, local media reported Thursday.

Five-year-old Chuang Chuang and his four-year-old bride Lin Hui had a cake in their pen but never left the zoo.

The pandas were married Wednesday by proxy with a couple in panda costumes parading through the city and going through the traditions of a Chinese wedding ceremony.

Chiang Mai MP Payap Shinawatra oversaw the services, in which the two panda mascots were paraded through the city in a procession with 500 people in costumes.

The mascots, wearing red and white headdresses for the services, also offered tea to the elderly, a Chinese wedding tradition.

"Start making children soon. Don't let me down," Chinese Consul Peng Ren told the couple, according to the Bangkok Post.

The pandas, which are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, arrived in Chiang Mai in 2003 on a 10-year loan from China.

Conservatives forced the zoo to remove the word "marriage" from the name of the event, calling it instead "The Happiness and Fun Fair," after complaining that holding a wedding for animals was undignified, the Post reported.