Added value

Personal perceptions toward spending on weddings are being influenced by the hot wedding market. "The individualized wedding is becoming very popular among couples in China's urban areas," said Shi.

This emphasis on the "individualized wedding" is, according to one industry insider, evidence that young couples strive for a high quality wedding experience at the most reasonable price possible; they are determined to optimize their wedding budget.

When Huang Weiwei was deciding where to print the photos taken at her wedding, she chose X-Man, a Chinese wedding photo studio that began tapping into the Beijing market in 2008. Huang and her partner had their wedding photos taken by another studio, but decided to have four albums made at X-Man. They paid less than 2,000 yuan ($293) for the four albums, whereas most big photography agencies charge as much as 5,000 yuan ($732) or simply cannot be bothered with such a small job.

As one of the most lucrative wedding industries, wedding photography accounts for about 15 percent, or 90 billion yuan ($13.1 billion), of total spending on weddings by urban residents, according to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The Ministry of Commerce said there are now more than 450,000 wedding photo studios of various sizes all over the country. Apart from several big name companies with high profits, the bulk of this lucrative business cake is divided among numerous small, low profile wedding photo studios.

As a new comer, X-Man is catching up with the changing demands of consumers. The company's sales administrator Juan Zi told ChinAfrica that their products are relatively cheap compared with some big counterparts such as Swarov and Paris Spring, but they only take pictures for two couples per day to ensure they dedicate enough time to meet the client's personal demands.

Honeymoon boom

Shi believes that whereas young couples' attitudes toward their wedding were once more materialistic and based on maintaining the status quo, they are now searching for a more personal, even spiritual, form of satisfaction.

Many young couples are inclined to spend their money on a honeymoon rather than a wedding banquet. Zhang Di and her husband had planned on taking up this new trend themselves, but the idea did not go down well with their families.

"We succumbed to our parents," Zhang told ChinAfrica. "Holding a feast for us was their wish and a matter of great pride, but it is a waste of money. It was the honeymoon that gave us real enjoyment."

Che Yan, Manager of the Sales Department at China Space Travel (CST), a Beijing-based travel agency, told ChinAfrica that their honeymoon service has seen a 10-20 percent increase compared with two years ago.

According to Che, a typical honeymoon group organized by CST consists of at least five couples. Young couples tend to follow this path rather than going by themselves because of budget and language issues.

Another important reason for couples choosing the group-travel option is the expansion of destinations and tailor-made activities.

Observers of China's honeymoon traveling sector notice that Europe has been the most popular destination for honeymooners in the past two years, but Japan, Maldives, Phuket, Bali and Turkey have also ascended to the list of young couples' favorite destinations.

Adapting quickly to the market, CST has launched some activities of a more exotic flavor, such as arranging for couples to stay in a castle and showing them around local wedding ceremonies. "Couples joining in our honeymoon group pursue mental relaxation in an exotic culture," explained Che.

For CST, the honeymoon group-travel sector is a profit growth point. Che said the next project for CST, to be launched in June or July this year, is a Hawaii group wedding ceremony featuring a church and the seaside as the main wedding ceremony sites. "Due to the cultural clash, we need more time to promote it, but it is a resource of great potential," Che said.