It was
a dream wedding, complete with picturesque outdoor setting, white lace gown and
a delectable cake. The perfect day for golden retrievers – Bree and Bond – to
tie the knot in front of their closest human and canine friends.
Pet
weddings are on the rise in China, where government policies have had little
success in encouraging more humans to wed in this fast-ageing society where the
population is declining and marriage and birth rates remain low.
The
popularity of pets and an increasing willingness to splurge on them are driving
the trend. Spending on furry companions in 2023 rose 3.2% to 279.3 billion yuan
($38.41 billion) from a year earlier, industry figures show.
“People
have weddings. Why can’t dogs have weddings?” Bree’s owner Rye Ling said after
escorting his female pet down the aisle, where she exchanged vows promising to
always share treats and play with her husband Bond.
As of
2023, there were more than 116 million cats and dogs in urban China, according
to figures by research firm Acuity Knowledge Partners. If distributed evenly
across China’s urban population, roughly one in eight Chinese people own a cat
or a dog, with a majority of owners under 40, according to the research firm.
Ling
and his girlfriend Gigi Chen, who said they’re in no rush to get married
themselves, meticulously planned the canine ceremony for months, arranging
professional photographers, designing wedding booklets and ordering a
custom-made, 800-yuan cake complete with toppers that resemble Bree and Bond.
Yang
Tao, whose Shanghai-based pet bakery prepared the cake, said she was initially
surprised that customers wanted wedding cakes for their dogs.
“I
think there will be more and more dog weddings,” Yang said, adding that she has
already catered several similar ceremonies since her bakery was launched in
2022.
“We
have already received an order for a few months from now … and that’s for a dog
wedding.”
Ling
said he hoped the ceremony would give Bree and Bond a “sense of ritual”. Ling,
who said he wanted only one child, also hopes to welcome puppies soon.
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