Wed& Insider Newsletter
What’s happening in weddings around the world | Issue #11 | January 2026
This Month’s Focus: How two stories this month — a marriage voided by AI and China’s biggest marriage rebound in a decade — are reshaping the business environment for vendors across Asia right now.
TL;DR
A Dutch couple’s marriage was annulled because their ceremony script, checked by AI, omitted the legally required declarations. It happened in the Netherlands, but the principle applies directly here: Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong all have specific statutory requirements for a valid solemnisation, and vendors who know them cold have a professional edge.
China’s marriage registrations rose 8.5% in the first nine months of 2025, with Shanghai up 38.7% year-on-year. The Year of the Horse sustains the tailwind into 2026 — if Chinese-background couples are not yet in your enquiry pipeline, now is the time to look at why.
The micro-wedding is maturing from a budget workaround into a deliberate lifestyle choice. Couples are not spending less overall (average wedding spend holds at USD $36,000); they are redirecting spend toward what matters to them. Vendors with a credible intentional-intimacy offer are better placed than those simply discounting standard packages.
A Singapore court case confirmed that a venue sales manager redirected SGD $510,000 in banquet payments from 63 couples into his own account. As this story circulates, transparent payment processes are becoming a trust signal, not just a hygiene factor.
NUMBERS THAT MATTER
8.5%
China’s marriage registrations rose 8.5% in the first nine months of 2025, according to Ministry of Civil Affairs data reported this month, with Shanghai up 38.7% year-on-year and Shenzhen up 28.5%. For vendors across Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, this is the most significant demand-side signal in years: Chinese-background couples represent a substantial share of the premium wedding market in our region, and a sustained rebound supported by structural policy changes — not just zodiac sentiment — is very likely to translate into enquiries.
51%
Zola’s 2026 First Look Report, the largest survey of engaged couples ever conducted by the platform (11,500+ couples), found that Gen Z now makes up 51% of couples planning weddings this year — surpassing Millennials for the first time. More than half of those couples are already using AI tools in the planning process, and more than half are drawing their inspiration from TikTok. The generation shaping your next wave of clients has different expectations, different communication habits, and, as one story this month illustrates, a different relationship with technology than any couple you have worked with before.
19%
Nearly 1 in 5 couples now enter full wedding planning mode before they are officially engaged, according to the same Zola report. The average engagement length remains 18 months, but the pre-proposal phase is expanding: couples are building mood boards, touring venues, and in some cases booking vendors before the ring is even purchased. If your enquiry pipeline only activates at engagement, you may be missing conversations that are already happening.
S$23.9 billion
Singapore’s tourism receipts reached S$23.9 billion in the first three quarters of 2025 alone, a 6.5% increase year-on-year and the highest recorded for that period, according to the Singapore Tourism Board. Mainland China was the single largest source market at 3.1 million arrivals. For vendors positioned at the premium end of the market, this trajectory matters: a city drawing record visitor spend from the same source market experiencing its biggest marriage rebound in a decade is a city where destination wedding enquiries should, in principle, be rising.
TRENDS THIS MONTH
The AI Vow Ruling: A Professional Duty of Care Story
What’s happening: We came across this DutchNews report on a court ruling issued earlier this month in which a Dutch couple’s marriage was declared legally invalid. Their one-day registrar — a close friend — had used AI to craft a personalised, light-hearted ceremony speech. The problem: the resulting text omitted the statutory declarations required under Dutch civil law for a marriage to be legally binding. A civil registry official discovered the missing language months later by reviewing an audio recording of the ceremony. The couple protested, the court refused to recognise the original date, and they subsequently had to remarry. Later reporting clarified that the registrar had used AI to check whether the speech was legally valid — not to write it from scratch — which, if anything, makes the story more instructive: the AI confirmed a legally deficient text as acceptable.
Why this caught our attention: Most coverage treated this as a novelty AI story. The professional angle is considerably more serious. Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong all require specific statutory declarations during solemnisation. If officiants, planners, or venue coordinators are using AI tools to draft, review, or verify ceremony scripts without understanding those legal requirements, the risk profile is real. Couples increasingly ask vendors and planners to help coordinate ceremony logistics and script review. Do you know, with confidence, exactly what the legal solemnisation requirements are in every market you operate in?
China’s Marriage Rebound: Supply, Demand, and a Year of the Horse Tailwind
What’s happening: Straits Times and Reuters both covered China’s marriage rebound story this month. The 8.5% national rise masks far sharper gains in major cities, with Shanghai registrations up 38.7% year-on-year. Manufacturers are responding: one Anhui-based wedding dress factory reported nearly 20% sales growth in 2025 and is adding production capacity of close to 30% for 2026. A May 2025 policy change allowing Chinese couples to register their marriage anywhere in the country — rather than in their place of residence — has also introduced a new class of domestic marriage tourism that has local governments competing to attract registration ceremonies at scenic spots, music festivals, and shopping malls.
Why this matters: Two practical implications for vendors in our markets. First, if you source bridal gowns, accessories, or floral materials from mainland Chinese suppliers, the production squeeze is real and lead times may lengthen as domestic demand absorbs capacity. Second, China’s registration policy change means Chinese couples now have far more flexibility when considering destination weddings and pre-wedding shoots abroad. Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are established favourites. The Year of the Horse — considered auspicious — sustains the demand tailwind into 2026.
The Anti-Grand-Wedding Aesthetic: Intentional, Personalised, and Still Spending
What’s happening: Yahoo Lifestyle and Courier Journal covered the micro-wedding surge as a cost-of-living response, and that framing is only part of the story. In Singapore, this month produced a cluster of stories that together tell a richer one: a couple whose pre-wedding shoot at Saizeriya (a budget family restaurant chain) went viral on Mothership, another couple who marched to live recorder music at their HDB solemnisation, and a banquet featuring Maggi instant noodles as a live station. These are not budget failures. They are deliberate, proudly personal choices that generated enormous positive engagement precisely because they broke convention.
Why this is significant: The Zola data adds important context: average wedding spend in 2026 is holding steady at USD $36,000 for the second year in a row, and 85% of couples say their wedding will be worth every penny. Couples are not spending less overall; they are redirecting spend toward the things that genuinely matter to them. For vendors, the strategic question is not “how do I build a smaller, cheaper package?” but “what does an elevated, intentional experience look like at any scale, and can I deliver it?”
Singapore Banquet Fraud: 63 Couples, SGD $510,000, and a Trust Conversation
What’s happening: Mothership reported this month that a 34-year-old food and beverage sales manager pleaded guilty in a Singapore court to charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust. He had allegedly redirected wedding banquet payments from 63 couples — totalling close to SGD $510,000 — into his personal account over three years, forging payment documents to cover his tracks. The venue was The Legends Fort Canning Park. Sentencing was adjourned to March 2026.
Why this is worth watching: For most couples, a five-star hotel or established venue is the “safe” choice precisely because the institutional brand appears to guarantee accountability. This case is a reminder that payment fraud can exist within reputable organisations, not just fly-by-night operators. As the story circulates in the market, couples in your pipeline are more likely to ask questions about how payments are processed and verified. Vendors and venues with clean, transparent payment trails — bank-to-company-account only, automated receipt confirmation, clear paper trails — have a genuine trust advantage right now.
Southeast Asia as a Wedding Destination: The Infrastructure Is Ready, the Marketing Is Not
What’s happening: The Times of India and Burda Luxury both ran substantial features this month on Southeast Asia’s emergence as a premium destination wedding market. Phuket, Bali, coastal Vietnam, and Singapore were cited as locations where multi-day wedding itineraries — welcome dinners, beach ceremonies, after-parties, post-wedding brunches — are now well supported by resort infrastructure. This is not a new observation for vendors based here, but the volume and reach of international editorial coverage aimed at high-spending outbound couples from India, Australia, and the UK signals that inbound enquiry is likely to increase. Singapore’s Tourism Board formalised this positioning as far back as 2023, when it partnered with WeddingSutra to promote Singapore as a premium destination for Indian couples specifically.
Why this is worth watching: The China marriage rebound and the destination wedding surge are not separate stories. The policy change allowing Chinese couples to register their marriage anywhere in China has created a generation more comfortable with the concept of celebrating across borders. Combine that with rising outbound interest from Indian and Australian markets, and the structural demand for destination weddings in our region is building from multiple directions simultaneously. Vendors, venues, and planners who have not yet articulated a clear destination-couple proposition — including how they handle cross-border logistics, guest accommodation coordination, and multi-day event design — are likely to find themselves underprepared as this segment grows.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
Solemnisation Literacy = Professional Differentiation
Planners and coordinators who deeply understand solemnisation legal requirements in the markets they serve — and can advise clients accordingly — are better placed than those who leave ceremony logistics entirely to the couple and their chosen officiant. The Dutch AI vow case is now widely reported in Singapore and Malaysian media. Clients who have read about it will have questions. Knowing the specific statutory requirements for a legally valid marriage in Singapore (under the Women’s Charter), Malaysia, and Hong Kong, and being able to brief clients and officiants clearly, is a straightforward way to demonstrate professional depth that most vendors do not offer.
The opportunity: Build a simple solemnisation briefing document for clients, covering legal requirements by market. It costs nothing, protects your clients, and positions you as the expert in the room.
China Rebound Means Your Pre-Wedding Offering Needs to Be Ready
Chinese-background couples — whether mainland visitors, Singapore PRs, or Hong Kong residents — are returning to the market in significant numbers. The policy change allowing marriage registration anywhere in China has also introduced a generation of couples who are more comfortable with the idea of celebrating across borders. Pre-wedding shoots, destination solemnisations, and honeymoon planning are all areas where vendors with clear, accessible offerings for this cohort stand to gain.
The opportunity: Review your enquiry materials, social media presence, and package descriptions through the lens of a mainland Chinese couple discovering you for the first time. Is the information easy to find in Mandarin? Are your most popular packages clearly described? Do your pre-wedding portfolios reflect the aesthetic sensibilities of this market?
Destination Couples Are Looking for Vendors Who Speak Their Language
International editorial coverage of Southeast Asia as a destination wedding hub is reaching exactly the audience you want: high-budget couples from India, Australia, China, and the UK who are actively researching where to marry. The challenge is that most of this coverage directs couples to resorts and hotels, not to the local vendor ecosystem. Florists, photographers, stylists, and planners who want to capture this market need to be visible at the point couples are making discovery decisions, which increasingly means international wedding publications, Pinterest boards curated for destination couples, and a portfolio that reads clearly across cultural contexts.
The opportunity: Identify one international wedding publication or platform that features Southeast Asia destination weddings and explore what editorial submission or advertising looks like. Your best destination wedding work, properly captioned and tagged for discoverability, is doing more for your international pipeline than almost anything else you could produce this month.
Payment Transparency Is Becoming Standard
The Fort Canning banquet fraud case, combined with couples’ growing awareness of financial risk, means transparent payment processes are shifting from a hygiene factor to a genuine point of differentiation. Couples who have read about the fraud will ask how your payments are processed.
The reality check: Can you walk a client through your payment process in under two minutes and show them exactly where their money goes at every stage? If not, it is worth reviewing — not because something is necessarily wrong, but because confidence and clarity at this stage of the relationship sets the tone for everything that follows.
WHAT TO DO THIS MONTH
This Month’s Action Steps
Audit your destination couple proposition: Look at your website and portfolio through the eyes of a couple based in Mumbai, Sydney, or Beijing who has never heard of you and is researching vendors for a Singapore or Bali wedding. Is it immediately clear that you work with destination couples? Do you have at least one piece of content — a real wedding, a planning guide, a testimonial — that speaks directly to the logistics and experience of working with you from abroad?
Check your solemnisation knowledge: Look up the exact statutory requirements for a legally valid marriage ceremony in every market you work in. If you cannot state them confidently from memory, write them down and brief your team. This is the kind of professional knowledge that should not require Googling in front of a client.
Build your China-ready enquiry experience: Audit one client-facing touchpoint — your website enquiry page, your Instagram bio, your standard first-response email — and ask whether it would make immediate sense to a Chinese-speaking couple discovering you for the first time. Identify one concrete improvement you can make this month.
Test your payment paper trail: Run through your current payment process as if you were the client. Note every point where the process relies on trust rather than verification. Identify one step where you can add a layer of automated confirmation or transparency.
Questions Worth Asking Yourself
About destination weddings and international visibility:
Does my portfolio, website, and social presence make it clear to a couple planning from overseas that I work with destination clients, and does it explain how the process works across borders?
Have I submitted any work to an international wedding publication in the past 12 months, and if not, what is the specific barrier?
About AI and ceremony integrity:
Do I know, precisely, what the legal solemnisation requirements are for a valid marriage in each market I serve, and do I brief officiants and clients accordingly?
Have I reviewed any AI-generated content (scripts, vows, ceremony run sheets) that passes through my workflow, and do I have a process for legal accuracy checks?
About the China market rebound:
Are Chinese-background couples currently represented in my enquiry pipeline, and if not, is there a specific gap in my visibility or materials that explains it?
If I source from mainland Chinese suppliers, have I checked lead times for peak season orders given increased domestic demand?
About payment and trust:
Do my payment processes create a clear, verifiable paper trail that I could walk a sceptical client through in two minutes?
Is there any step in my current process where payment confirmation relies solely on a verbal or informal acknowledgement rather than a written or automated record?
Skills Worth Developing
Destination couple communication: Cross-border wedding enquiries have a different rhythm from local ones — longer lead times, more email-heavy communication, greater need for clear process documentation. Developing a structured onboarding process specifically for destination couples, including a clear overview of how you handle international payments, remote consultations, and local logistics, reduces friction and builds confidence at the earliest stage of the relationship.
Legal literacy across markets: Understanding the regulatory environment for solemnisations, contracts, and vendor liability in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong is increasingly part of what it means to operate professionally in this region. Consider a conversation with a family law solicitor in your primary market.
Mandarin-language client communication: Even a basic ability to communicate key information in written Mandarin — or a reliable translation partnership — is a competitive advantage as the China market rebound brings new enquiries.
Payment systems design: Clean, transparent, automated payment processes protect both you and your clients. If your current setup relies heavily on manual invoicing and informal confirmation, this is a good month to review it.
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Wed& Insider is published monthly for wedding professionals across Asia.