Yao Ming marrying girlfriend in family-only ceremony in Shanghai

BEIJING (AP) - NBA star Yao Ming is getting married at an upmarket Shanghai hotel Monday in front of 100 relatives, with an equal number of security guards expected to work the event, media reported.

The wedding banquet at the five-star Shangri-La Hotel cost more than 1 million yuan (US$130,000), the Titan sports newspaper reported.

After the ceremony and dinner, the newlyweds and their guests will cruise the Huangpo River in a luxury houseboat, the paper said.

No teammates, coaches or basketball officials would be at the wedding, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

The 2.26-meter (7-foot-6) Houston Rockets center and his bride, Ye Li, received their official marriage certificate on Aug. 3. Widely-circulated photographs showed the couple in tuxedo and off-the-shoulder gown having their wedding portraits made at a scenic resort in eastern China last week.

Ye, who is 1.9 meters tall (6-foot-2), is a player on China's national women's basketball team.