Jason proposed to Sally earlier this year and the big day is set for November. Time is running short and the couple is already planning the wedding ceremony and reception. Although November is a very auspicious month, according to feng shui principles, they are looking “for something simple and casual” and not too traditional.

In Macau, they can find everything they need, the couple tells Macau Business. “And it’s not very expensive,” one says.

Macau residents are not afraid of taking the plunge. Official figures show an upward trend in the number of marriages over recent years. Altogether, 3,103 marriages were registered last year, 3,035 in 2009 and 2,778 in 2008. In 1999, only 1,367 weddings were registered.

Not only locals get hitched in Macau. More and more tourists from Hong Kong, the mainland, Taiwan and other places are coming to Macau to get married or just to take the pre-ceremony photos.

Getting married in Macau is becoming more than a matter of exchanging vows and celebrating with family and friends. Weddings are turning into a true industry.

Although there are no official figures on the economic importance of the wedding industry, the general feeling among those involved is that business is expanding fast.

Jonathan Choy has been in the wedding dresses and photography businesses for 25 years. His company, Modern Classic, is based in Hong Kong, but has branches in Macau and Zhuhai. Mr Choy is expecting growth of 30 to 40 percent in his business this year. The Macau branch of his company is the most profitable.

Say cheese

The makeup and hairdressing industry is also eyeing double-digit growth in business derived from weddings this year. In’s Bio Beauty Centre manager Kelly Tong foresees a 20 to 30 percent increase in revenue. Clara Petula Chin, director of the CS Wedding specialist beauty centre, is hoping for 20 percent growth this year. “All brides are very concerned about how they look on the big day and spend much money,” she says.

In contrast, business is merely steady for companies that hire out cars for weddings. Vang Iek Rent-a-car Service Co general manager Nicholas Fong says weddings account for 20 percent of its revenue. “Weddings are seasonal,” he explains. “They’d rather get married at the beginning or at the end of the year.”

Photographers are also hoping for growth in revenue this year. With its East-meets-West character, Macau is becoming increasingly popular as a backdrop for wedding photos taken before the ceremony. In recent years the Macau Government Tourist Office has been promoting the city as a place for couples to pose for the camera. Its efforts seem to be paying off, with couples from Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong coming here for their photo shoots.

Raise your glasses

The tourist office describes Macau as “a natural and beautiful shooting site that impresses couples”. It believes the city is more competitive than other places when it comes to photo locations, costs and time spent travelling.

“Wedding photography thus attracts young visitors to Macau, which is also beneficial to the related sectors like hotels, spas, restaurants, retail shops and entertainment,” the office says. The government agency adds it will continue to take part in international wedding expos to promote Macau.

Jewellery retailer Maria Fatima is hoping wedding photographers will boost its business by getting the company to supply accessories for couples to wear during photo shoots. “We hope they can order big quantities,” says company representative Daniel Sousa.

Even wine merchants are elbowing their way in, in an effort to have Portuguese wines served at wedding banquets. NextV Wine is trying to approach couples directly, bypassing the hotels, which dominate the catering business. “We want to get in this market, but it’s difficult because hotels have their own wine suppliers. Thus it’s easier to target the couples directly, rather than the hotels,” says Ricardo Almeida of the company’s marketing department.

Jet-set nuptials

Hotels and resorts are luring more and more couples from abroad to get married here.

Indian weddings are known for their exotic customs. Traditionally, the groom shows up riding a white elephant. In Macau, Indian grooms are offered a white horse instead.

Hotels and resorts do their best to put on weddings that resemble as closely as possible what couples from abroad would expect in their own countries. Weddings abroad are the new trend in the global tourism industry and Macau is looking to grab a share of the market.

Most of the couples from abroad who get married here come from Hong Kong or Taiwan, but plenty of others are from India or Korea.

The Venetian Macao’s executive director of conference management, Gene Capuano, told Macau Business that 80 to 85 percent of the weddings the hotel puts on are for locals and the rest are for couples from abroad. The Venetian started betting big on the wedding business only last year, but it is already trying to expand.

Mr Capuano says one aspect of coming to Macau to get married is that couples usually want their families to attend. “People can basically organise a vacation around it, and that’s important for a couple. It’s getting more of a trip than a wedding.”

The Venetian is expecting growth of 30 percent in its wedding business this year. Mr Capuano says weddings already account for 10 percent of the hotel’s banquet revenue. “It’s a big number, and we want to get that to the 15 to 20 percent range.”

There is a similar picture at Wynn Macau. A company spokesperson says all the auspicious wedding dates for this year were booked one year in advance. “And even dates that are not auspicious have mostly been confirmed.”

The spokesperson says the hotel’s wedding business is expanding. “We see no drop in demand, and we think there’s plenty of room for business growth.”

Spice of life

India is a growing source of tourists for Macau generally, and a growing source of couples wishing to get married here.

“We see a good environment for business from India, and that’s why we created a wedding package specifically for this country. It’s a three-to-five-day [package] for the wedding and a very cultural type of event. They fly in with 50 to 300 members of their family and friends,” says the Venetian’s Mr Capuano.

But luring Indians to Macau is a big challenge, as it requires a lot of research and participation in trade shows. “We have regional sales representatives. Indian weddings require a lot of details. We do a lot of research, trade shows, and we reach out to their wedding planners to understand what we have to do,” Mr Capuano says.

Apart from India, the Venetian is also looking for wedding business from the mainland, Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

MGM Macau is aiming for the same markets. In July 2008 it put on a large, one-of-a-kind traditional Indian wedding that made the news. Some 500 guests and a service staff of around 200 came from abroad, most on specially chartered flights from Mumbai. The traditional Marwari Hindu wedding was prepared by a team of professional planners, decorators and chefs, who worked for months in India and in Macau before the event and who had authentic Indian materials and food shipped over.

Contacted by Macau Business, MGM would not say what its plans for the wedding business are. It said only that patronage has been increasing since the hotel opened in 2007.

Beats the beach

Wynn Macau and the Westin Resort Macau welcome couples from abroad, but local couples account for most of their wedding business.

“Our local guests are very important to us, as weddings are important events for the Macau community. However, in line with our overall approach, we will also continue to attract elite international guests from across the world,” says
a spokesperson for Wynn. “Our weddings are ideal for sophisticated consumers who require the highest standards in luxury and service, especially from key regional markets such as the mainland, Taiwan, and around Asia.”

The Westin Resort is targeting the Philippine and US markets, betting on Western-style weddings. “Approximately 70 percent of the clients are from Macau, and 30 percent are from overseas, such as Hong Kong, the mainland, the United States and the Philippines,” says the hotel’s marketing communications manager, Ada Chan.

Each hotel or resort tries to offer its own special wedding packages, industry insiders say. This gives Macau a competitive advantage.

“You can’t get that in Thailand or some other resort destination. There you get only a resort on the beach and that’s your selection: a beach wedding. Here you can do different themes. There’s a lot of different areas where you can do a wedding”, the Venetian’s Mr Capuano says.

Cutting the cake

The Venetian offers a one-stop shop. “We have an in-house florist. They actually do all the décor for weddings. We are extending it to do more in-house business, as opposed to having it outsourced,” he says.

The Westin Resort Macau’s position by the sea has proved to be a selling point. “In 2007 we set up a unique outdoor marquee, and our wedding business has continued to increase ever since. Most of our clients prefer to do their wedding at our hotel because of our outdoor venue, where they have more flexibility to create their once-in-a-lifetime memorable wedding,” Ms Chan says.

Every big hotel has a wedding planning department that oversees both the venue and the banquet. But competition seems not to bother them. There is room in the market for everyone, Mr Capuano says.

“If you look at each one of the hotels, we are a little bit different from each other. Six to eight weddings per month for us would be probably our maximum, because we utilise our meeting space for corporate events during the week,” he says. “The smaller hotels like Wynn and MGM won’t be necessarily looking for destination weddings like we are, because they want to use their rooms for casino guests.”

Wanted: value for money

The wedding industry is racing ahead, but faces some hurdles.

Higher quality across the full range of services is needed to improve Macau’s wedding industry, says Hong Kong wedding planner Jacco Yeung Kit Lung.

Mr Yeung believes that not only hotels but also professional photographers, gown designers and wedding planners have to enhance the quality of their services so they can compete with Hong Kong and the mainland. “This comprehensive, full service is where other cities, like Hong Kong, are stronger than Macau at the moment,” he says.

To meet this need, the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre has been promoting its Wedding Gown and Bridal Image course for more than five years. The centre’s senior manager, Victoria Alexa Kuan, says quite a lot of people have taken the course, with intakes of around 15 each time. Ms Kuan is not bothered by the question of whether the wedding industry has sufficient skilled workers, stressing instead the importance of dress design to the fashion industry.

Mr Yeung says there is increasing price competition in the wedding industry, with mainland cities leading the way. Some local couples are already looking at the other side of the border as a place to wed.

Johnny and Andy are planning to get married at the end of the year, but they are worried about the cost of the wedding. “Prices are rising and that means pressure for young couples,” one says. “We can see a five to 10 percent price rise for all things related to weddings, especially food and beverage and photography.”

The director of the CS Wedding beauty centre, Clara Petula Chin, says local couples are willing to spend more on their weddings, and that the industry is taking advantage of this and strong demand. “In the past two years, the Macau economy developed a lot, and people spend extra on makeup and hairstyling for the big day,” she says.

Even with the need to improve quality and the increasing competition, Mr Yeung is sure that the wedding industry will continue to grow in Macau as the purchasing power of locals increases. This means business opportunities, he says, pointing out that Macau has a few freelance wedding planners, but no company that fully integrates all the elements of a putting on a good wedding.

Go East, young man and wife

Traditionally, red is the colour of Chinese weddings. The bride’s wedding gown is often red, as are the wedding invitations, wedding gift boxes or lai si envelopes for cash gifts.

Usually, only the couple’s close relatives and friends attend the wedding ceremony. Just after that and before the wedding reception and banquet, the bride will serve tea to her in-laws.

Before the big day, the couple will usually go to a professional studio for wedding pictures. Chinese wedding photo albums do not contain pictures of the ceremony, but photographers are usually hired to record it anyway.

The reception is very elaborate. After a speech delivered by a specially hired master of ceremonies, there is the ritual of cutting the cake. Cakes have many layers, symbolising a ladder to success that the couple will climb. That is why couples cut the cake from the bottom and work their way up.

The banquet that follows may consist of a nine-course or 10-course meal and musical entertainment. Some brides change their outfits at least three times during the reception.

Chinese weddings are still very traditional. But they are becoming more Western.

“More and more you see modern-style weddings, because people are influenced by different cultures,” says industry insider Jonathan Choy.