Across China: Destination weddings gaining popularity with newlyweds

A couple poses for a photo with the snow-capped mountains in the background during the destination wedding in Lijiang, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, April 7, 2024. (Xinhua)
KUNMING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — As the Qixi Festival, also known Chinese Valentine’s Day, approaches, Shi Najun, who is in charge of a wedding company in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, is busy planning weddings for couples from across the country.
Shi’s company is based in Lijiang, a popular tourist destination famous for its breathtaking landscapes, including snow-capped mountains and ancient towns rich in ethnic culture.
In recent years, the city has become a sought-after wedding location.
“On Qixi Festival (Aug. 10), there will be eight weddings, and an average of five weddings per day over the three days before and after,” said Shi, adding that the company has already received bookings for wedding ceremonies on Sept. 9, a date synonymous with “everlasting” love in Chinese, as well as for next year’s Valentine’s Day and May 20, which is pronounced like “I Love You” in Chinese.
Xiao Yu, 28, held her wedding in Lijiang last year.
On her wedding day, Xiao invited only her parents and close friends. After a simple ceremony in the morning, they went on a trip in the afternoon. The six-day destination wedding cost less than 40,000 yuan (about 5,600 U.S. dollars).
“We work in a first-tier city and are too busy to hold a lengthy and complicated traditional wedding back in our hometown. We don’t want that kind of wedding, nor do we want to place such a burden on our parents and relatives,” Xiao said, noting that a destination wedding saved a significant amount of money.
Destination weddings have become increasingly popular. Unlike traditional weddings, which are often held in the couple’s hometown with the presence of distant relatives and friends, destination weddings allow couples to tie the knot in a scenic location of their choosing.
In the city of Tengchong, Yunnan, 24 young couples will hold destination weddings at Qixi Festival.
Wei Huantian and her husband recently held their wedding there and embarked on a bicycle tour after a short and simple ceremony.
“Traditional weddings are always the same and quite complicated. Since we both enjoy traveling and had great experiences in Yunnan before, we decided to have our destination wedding here,” Wei said.
In Dali, one of Yunnan’s most popular tourist destinations known for its natural scenery, historical and cultural heritage, more than 4,400 destination weddings were held last year. About 90 percent of the couples came from outside the province.
Wang Sihan, a partner at a destination wedding planning company in Dali, has witnessed the rapid growth of the industry.
Wang recalled that in 2017, only two or three couples held weddings each month, but now the average is one wedding a day. On special holidays, three or four weddings might be happening simultaneously.
“Since 2019, business has noticeably improved. Many traditional wedding companies have expanded into the destination wedding market,” she added.
Wang also noted that an increasing number of clients prefer to blend traditional local ethnic culture and historical elements into their weddings. They choose local specialty foods and intangible cultural heritage crafts as gifts to share with friends and family. “The deep integration of destination weddings with local culture and tourism is expected to be a new trend for the future development of the industry.”
On the social platform Xiaohongshu, destination weddings have also become a hot topic with more than 380,000 posts sharing tips, costs and advice for organizing such weddings. Besides Yunnan, Xinjiang, Sichuan and Hainan are among the popular wedding destinations.
This phenomenon reflects a shift in the attitude of young people toward weddings, said Chen Kunting, from Yunnan University of Finance and Economics.
The fast pace of modern society is prompting many young people to opt for the simplicity and efficiency of destination weddings. Compared to older generations, today’s young people place greater emphasis on their own feelings and emotional experience from the wedding, Chen added. ■

A couple poses for a photo during the destination wedding in Baoshan, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Aug. 10, 2024. (Photo by Zhang Hongke/Xinhua)