The wedding market first emerged in the 1920s in the United States. Current Western standards for most aspects of the wedding reception were set at that time, especially those regarding the wedding jewels, the gowns, and the catering. Standards and traditions of the American wedding have been broadly exported through cinema, television, and media coverage of celebrities’ weddings. Wedding market materialization results from economic development and cultural globalization.

For example, weddings became a substantial market in Japan in the 1970s and in China in the 1990s. The primary wedding market consists of all sectors providing products and services for the wedding ceremony itself, the wedding reception, and pre-wedding rituals such as bachelor and bachelorette parties and rehearsal dinners that many couples offer to their guests.

Wedding ceremonies ...