China News Service, Beijing, February 4th: Reshaping romance: Young Chinese couples are keen on simple weddings
China News Service reporter Li Meng
With no wedding reception, no emcee, and no best man or bridesmaid, Song Meihui, a "post-95s" bride from Inner Mongolia, just completed her carefully planned "three-no wedding". Different from the traditional host of ceremonies, the hosts of this wedding were Song Meihui and her lover.
Song Meihui told reporters that when she was preparing to enter the venue that day, the place where people were laughing and chatting suddenly fell silent. This made her realize her omission, and she quickly raised the microphone to relieve the embarrassment: "Not very skilled, it seems we forgot to prepare the entrance music." Everyone burst into laughter in the lobby, and the distance between the couple and the guests was instantly shortened. Song Meihui and her husband walked hand in hand to the hosting position on the stage amid everyone's laughter.
On January 28, "post-95" bride Song Meihui and her husband Chen Youzhi co-hosted their wedding ceremony. (Photo provided by interviewee)
At present, the "post-95s" and "post-00s" are becoming the "new main force" in marriage. Data from the "New Insights on the Wedding Industry in 2023" released by Meituan shows that ceremonial and personalized lightweight services are increasingly favored by young newlyweds today.
Reduce some wedding links, add some fresh ideas, focus on efficiency, and be more pragmatic. Faced with major events in their lives, young Chinese people are thinking about how to add and subtract appropriately for their weddings.
Leaving more time for herself and telling the love story in her own way was Song Meihui's original intention in planning the wedding. She recalled that the entire wedding process was relatively short, but compared to being the same as before, being in charge of the entire process by herself allowed her to speak out her innermost thoughts.
"At first, my family and friends thought it was outrageous. The man's relatives thought it would appear that he didn't value the woman too much. My friends also advised me to do this once-in-a-lifetime event. What if I regret it in the future." Song Meihui said frankly that after the wedding, the feedback from relatives and friends was overwhelming. It's better. "My colleagues said I was amazing and said I was the first bride they knew who could sleep until after 8 o'clock on her wedding day."
For the wedding process, we did not choose the one-stop service of a wedding company. The scene decoration, makeup artist, photography, etc. were also carefully selected by Song Meihui as "cost-effective items". She posted her wedding on the social media platform Xiaohongshu, and soon netizens sent blessings and messages for advice in the comment area.
Looking at social media platforms, on Xiaohongshu and Douyin alone, the total popularity of the topic entries of "minimalist wedding" and "simple wedding" has exceeded 100 million times. Compared with the original weddings that were all about pomp and process, young people like Song Meihui put their eyes and minds on creative planning with a sense of spiritual gain.
"Currently, more than half of the weddings handled by the studio do not include wedding reception, door blocking, etc." A wedding planner who often receives orders from young couples told reporters that optimizing the process is not a reduction in quality. On the contrary, couples who prefer simple weddings may have more requirements for details and creativity. Every wedding detail needs to be carefully polished, communicated and planned.
Scan QR codes with your mobile phone to make interactive games, use virtual reality technology to tell love stories, use online conference software to broadcast live... Many young people share their wedding ideas on social media.
Song Meihui, who enjoys simple weddings, also put a lot of thought into her wedding. She prepared two scratch-off tickets for each guest. "We talked about it on the top, and everyone scratched the lottery tickets below. This little idea that means 'spreading good luck' made the atmosphere particularly joyful."
"Young people tend to live separately from their older parents, or even in different cities, so they are less influenced and pressured by their parents." Chen Youhua, a professor at the School of Sociology at Nanjing University, believes that wedding styles reflect changes in intergenerational relationships. The decision-making power of marriage is gradually transferred from parents to children.
Chen Youhua told reporters that weddings often played a role in maintaining interpersonal relationships in the past, but now young people's social patterns have changed, and interpersonal communication is more important on daily basis. The trend of minimalist weddings is also related to the pursuit of efficiency by young people in modern society.
Walking into a hotel in Beijing that hosts weddings, the couple's wedding room and wedding banquet hall are in two buildings next to each other, only more than 20 meters apart. Relatives and friends who help with accounting and taking photos are constantly passing between them.
The 26-year-old groom Zuo Yiran, who had just completed his wedding here, checked into the hotel's wedding room. He told reporters that the wedding was very efficient. Taking into account the fact that guests came from out of town and worked overtime, there was no wedding car or pick-up link, and all processes were completed in the hotel. "We follow individual creativity, environmental protection and simplicity, and we don't want to cause a burden to others. The wedding must be held appropriately and we must not wrong the guests."
"For a long period of time, the marriage and love market will still be in a state where various forms of weddings coexist." Chen Youhua said that simple weddings are the future trend and will gradually become the mainstream. Competition in wedding companies, hotels and other fields will also become more intense. (over)