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Marriages on May Day all the rage
By Li Dapeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-03 08:45 Holding weddings during the May Day holiday is
very popular for couples in love.
Many Chinese couples, who are always busy during work time, are deciding to
hold their weddings and honeymoons during the week-long holiday.
Zhao Jinhong, manager of a wedding celebration company in Beijing, says her
company will host more than 50 weddings on May 6, a traditionally auspicious day
and, on average, 25 further weddings on each of the other days during the
holiday.
"Our peak season is coming," she said.
Since wedding celebration companies have mushroomed in China during the late
1990s, more and more young couples are using their services.
Newly-weds, who want their marriages to be the most precious and romantic
memory of their lives, are strongly attracted to the various services offered by
wedding service companies.
These include planning of the event, the provision of a master of ceremonies,
videography and photography, and the supply of wedding gowns and suits, as well
as catering and limousine services.
Of the 90,000 or so Beijing couples that plan to tie the knot during this
holiday time, about 20,000 entrust the preparation and hosting of the ceremony
to professional wedding service companies, according to Ministry of Civil
Affairs statistics.
Speaking of trends in popular wedding styles, Zhao Jinhong said many couples
were showing a preference to combine traditional Chinese and Western features in
their nuptials. This reflected the spread of Western culture in China in recent
years.
The hot new fashion for some couples, particularly nature lovers, is having
an open air wedding.
"Most couples are satisfied with the services provided by the wedding
companies. But there was still some trickery in advertisements and unqualified
services in the industry," said Shi Kangning, secretary -general of the nation's
wedding industry committee.
A detailed standard code of practice, aimed at improving the wedding service
industry in Beijing and ensuring that newly-weds have a satisfactory wedding by
prescribing a minimum price for each service provided by the celebration
companies, is being promulgated.
"The standards will effectively prevent trickery and malicious competition in
the industry," Shi said.
The committee is also going to organize training for professionals in wedding
services.
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