Visa Options

Hi my partner and I had planned our wedding for March 08 and he has now been offered a secondment to HK leaving in August. We are from the UK and I am not planning to work in HK. He has a HK id card and we have three children and we thought I would not need a visa if I did not work. We thought we could just come back for the wedding in March and all would be ok. However found out today that I can only stay a certain amount of time without some sort of visa or being married. Is that 3 months or 6 ? Either way I could not leave it until March without any form of visa. What are our options? We are coming home in December and could move the wedding to then, or if we just came home for a holiday could I then return to HK and my 3/6 month time start again, in which case we could leave the wedding to March, or would the time continue from our arrival in August? Its all very confusing. Just wondered if anybody had any answers. Really don't want to rush to a registry office after planning such a nice wedding.

For UK tourist visa you get 180 days, but as mentioned above the children will not be able to attend school, etc. Getting married would be the best option with you all getting dependent visas allowing you to work and the kids to go to school.