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Couples’ wedding pictures go global
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On a summer’s day on London’s Westminster Bridge, Lin Jiachun poses in a flowing white lace gown and windtossed veil with her fiance Song Da.
For Chinese couples, wedding photos are not simply about having a photographer show up on the big day.
They can be elaborate affairs involving costumes, make-up artists, camera assistants and trips overseas, sometimes even underwater, and take up as much as a quarter of the wedding budget.
“You can go to a studio to have pre-wedding pictures taken and you can pretend to be anywhere, they have so many backdrops,” said Song, 28, who will be tying the knot with his 24-year-old bride in Harbin, a city in northeast China.
Of course, it’s better if you can actually go there, said Song, whose photoshoot with UK Wedding set him back 1,000 pounds (US$1,303). UK Wedding is one of several London-based companies catering to clients from China.
“I went to university in Newcastle, so England has always been very important to me. I want to show my family and friends what it means to me,” Song said.
Living in a globally connected world and given rising incomes, young Chinese are increasingly looking to impress with lavish weddings that mix traditional elements and Western trends, complete with a walk down the aisle, bridesmaids, ushers and even a wedding planner.
Revenue for China’s wedding services industry was estimated to have reached US$24.6 billion in 2016, data provider IBISWorld said in a report.
That covered car rentals, restaurant decorations, photography and videography, among others.
The list of popular photoshoot destinations stretches from Indonesia’s resort island of Bali to London, Paris and picturesque blue-and-white Santorini in Greece.
For those who cannot travel, vast hangar-like Chinese studios bring the world to them, offering the chance to pose in front of a fake Greek village, a Chinese temple or the bedroom of French king Louis XIV — all in a single appointment.
Golden Ladies, one of Beijing’s 24x7 wedding photo studios, fills up with as many as 75 couples on a busy day.
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