Brides at a mass Chinese wedding ceremony in Fengjing township in Jinshan district of Shanghai. (Photo provided to China Daily)
The craze for something unique has its root in the lack of religious elements in Chinese weddings. Religion, in the form of vows, plays an essential part in weddings in the West, said Yu. In China, however, stress is on ceremony and celebration.
"Without personalized or individual elements, weddings in China would tend to become a routine where guests show up, hand over their gift cash, eat and chat," she said.
So, wedding venues offer exclusivity and sport a character. Five years ago, five-star hotels or top restaurants were in demand. Now, people are interested in having weddings at private locations or clubs. "They dislike the idea of their wedding being held at the same time as three other weddings at the same hotel," said Yu.
"Wedding is no longer a lavish banquet to host even people you are not familiar with," she said. "Matrimony-bound couples and their families want to make sure true love could be shared with guests who matter."
New-age weddings have also spawned specialist services offered by photographers, fashion designers, interior designers－talents hitherto busy in the entertainment industry. "Their work gives wedding services a professional touch," said Yu.
So much so that many wedding planning agencies have been promoting the idea of night-time wedding in the Northern China market, dispelling a traditional belief that only second-timers wed post sunset. The custom of noon time weddings in North China is thus slowly giving way to the concept of a dreamy night wedding, thanks to the spin of wedding planners seeking to have extended business.
That trend is spreading. The small wedding of Xu Zhen and her man surprised their friends as it was held at night at a leading club in Beijing.
It even had a theme－of color clash. Purple, green and coffee collided, to reflect the newly-weds' clashing personalities: Xu the bubbly marketing whiz "clashing" with the stern-and-serious banker.
"We wanted our friends to relax through the day and come here at night just to enjoy a party," said Xu, 30. "The lighting and fireworks at night created a comforting and friendly environment. My husband and I first met at a friend's wedding. We wanted our wedding to offer similar opportunities to our single friends."
The wedding industry boom is expected to continue. According to CIConsulting, experts see the market to hit about 3 trillion yuan by 2020.
Yet, the industry could do with a higher number of notable service providers. "Most of the wedding industry participants are very regional oriented," said researcher Zhang.
Going forward, one-stop wedding services firms, online-to-offline platforms, country-wide chains and franchises could be the order of the day, helping expand the national market for wedding-related services, he said.
