Many Chinese citizens will ring in the New Year with wedding bells, as nuptials hit their peak season.

According to tradition, some people believe the next lunar year, beginning February 9, is unsuitable for weddings. The upcoming Year of the Rooster does not contain the day signalling the beginning of spring, which some believe may bring misfortune to newly-weds, so many young people are rushing to get married before the threshold.

Laughter animated the faces of many wedding service agencies, despite their feeling breathless due to busy schedules.

The professional wedding planning segment is not the only beneficiary, dozens of sectors such as hair salons, jewellery and gifts, photographic studios, real estate development, furniture and home appliances, hotels and tourism also get a boost from the race to the alter.

"China's wedding service sector has become a promising industry and has grown by leaps and bounds," Shi Kangning, general secretary with the Wedding Industry Committee of the China Social Work Association, told China Daily.

A survey conducted by Horizon & Horizonkey, a market consulting company, shows that approximately 10 million couples register to marry annually in China, and have spent a total of around 250 billion yuan (US$30 billion) on weddings in this century.

The expenditure for the average marriage in the year 2000 was 46 times the cost in the 1970s. Before the 1970s, nearly 70 per cent of newly-weds spent less than 1,000 yuan (US$120) on their nuptials. By the year 2000, more than 60 per cent of marrying couples spent more than 30,000 yuan (US$3,614) on their celebration.

Wang Xiao and Pan Xinxin are busy preparing for their upcoming wedding on January 2 and find there are many things to do including having a wedding photo sitting, buying a gown and accessories, bridal chamber improvements, purchasing wedding rings and arranging the ceremony.

Wang told China Daily the expense for the wedding felt "natural and understandable."

"The wedding ceremony is one of the most crucial moments in our lives and will be cherished forever, I believe it is priceless," the groom-to-be said.

But is it really priceless?

Wang and his bride-to-be have booked a 20-table dining hall in the four-star Friendship Hotel to hold their ceremony and a luxury apartment to spend the night before the wedding.

A professional wedding ceremony host and a dresser were also invited to polish the event. The couple's wedding photos and rings are already prepared for the big day.

Including the bridal apartment improvements and furnishings, the combined expenditure is calculated at nearly 100,000 yuan (US$12,048).

For their matrimony, Happiness and Union - a professional wedding service agency - played an important and active role, arranging the ceremony and providing comprehensive services for the couple, with a 10,800 yuan (US$1,301) price tag.

The same survey indicates that since 2000, professional wedding companies stand at the leading position in the wedding market, and grab 29.6 per cent of the market share.

Happiness and Union was established in 1998 and has witnessed great development and benefited from the quickly booming sector.

Chang Yue, manager of Happiness and Union, told China Daily the company provided only hosts, dressers and videos for wedding festivities in its primary stage.

"Now we offer diversified services, even organizing special wedding ceremonies, including hot-air balloons, underwater nuptials, bungee jumping and traditional Chinese ceremonies for our clients," Chang said.

The manager said their business climbed 30 per cent year-on-year, but competition has intensified, as more businesses tap the sector eyeing the huge market potential.

As wedding expenditures rise, the content of contemporary marriages has also become richer and more colourful. Weddings have become more diverse than ever as creativity and originality reign.

"The trend may offer enormous opportunities for wedding service agencies and further prompt the expansion of the industry," Shi said.

On the other hand, Shi pointed out that China's wedding industry was still at a relatively low operating level.

The committee received about 100 complaints from newly-weds reporting unfulfilled contracts.

To date, there are no widely recognized brand products and most companies offer similar products and services.

"Meanwhile, the absence of a national industrial standards should be formulated to enhance the overall quality of the sector and protect the consumers' interest," Shi said.

Along with the development of the professional wedding planning sector, "the overflow effect has boosted the development of a string of related segments," Shi said.

Tourism agencies for honeymoons outweigh other businesses, including hair salons, photography studios, hotels and restaurants to chalk up 22.6 per cent of the wedding market as a whole.

Han Ping, a manager of China International Travel Service, told China Daily that honeymoon tourism has peaked sharply in recent years, in terms of both the number of travellers and destinations.

"New couples prefer trips abroad over domestic trips, and some romantic sites including Hawaii and the Maldives are becoming more and more popular," Han said.

According to the same survey, about 40 per cent of today's singles plan to invest more than 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) on their future weddings, 2.4 times the average level in 2000.

Some sociologists stress the lavish wedding expenditures are irrational. They also warn that many people unrealistically compare their wedding budget with others, which may greatly exceed their own economic condition.

(China Daily December 31, 2004)