Just like everything else here, purely for show.

I don't see how they have anything to do with the wedding at all, other than maybe they wear the wedding dress and suit.

It wasn't that bad
The mascara really brought out my eyes

Since I'm in Harbin I insisted we use St. Sophia. After all, if I'm going to get wedding pictures for 1000 bucks I want a damn church.

here in wuhan, they go to the upscale walking street and are more or less "in the way" of the passerby.  i find it a bit annoying, but TIC!

It's gaudy, fake as all get out, and narcissistic (so, yeah, very Chinese).

I don't care if people want to do it (as long as they're not taking up space in parks or college campuses), but it's not for me.

I refused to do the ridiculous spectable and she's still begging me 4 years later.

I remember having to do them when I got married. 15 bloody hours it took! During the last hour or so I couldn't be bothered with the fake smile anymore. I hated every second of it, and there were a lot of seconds!

I didnt do it. We discussed it of course, bit spent the money on a good photographer to capture the actual day. She was happy with that and still is.

We got married in a run down building in Shihezi in Xinjiang.  After the girl stopped talking she was kind enough to take a snap of us holding up our certificate under the sign on her side of the desk.

After that we went to the best  hotel in town and took some real pictures!

Chinese wedding photos are kind of a joke.  10,000 yuan, I'm told.

They're ridiculous!  My wife was trying to convince me they're tradition.  I asked, "How old is this tradition!"  Silence.  Anyway, to make her happy, we compromised on the cheapest package-about 2000RMB.  I did put my foot down;There was no way I was wearing tight yellow pants and a bright pink shirt like the rest of those fools.  Don't even mention the white horse on the beach!

What a mob of wingers
Im board
I looked silly
Its all fake
Well big deal , the girl you say you love asked for a bit of your time and consideration
I would do it again if my wife asked because it is something i could do for her

We did it. But it was on a secluded beach (yup, we found one in China, we did drive through a massive construction site to get there, so it is most likely f'ed up these days and full of litter) Just real nature as backdrop.

Back home, on a wedding day, it would be normal, between church and dinner, that the newly wed couple goes and have pictures taken. What happens in China is basically the same. Where it becomes tacky is that it has to be in front of crap reproductions of famous places, it is a show of piece, not a lasting memory. Back home, the couple have pictures taken in their wedding outfits that they wore in church, in China it seems the rented tux or whatever the photographer has lying around is what is used. 

For exactly same reasons, we (I) didn't make it. ridiculous and over priced, over photoshoped pictures. 

I've been into a few people's homes here. Older generation - only a couple of normal photos of themselves and the family...

Younger generation - OMG all those lovey-dovey 'not-really-at-the-weddiing-but-we-all-say-they-are" phtotos EVERYWHERE!!!! The HUGE prints up on the wall. I think it's part of the farce and face... "look at how so in love we are...".

I get what you're saying Phil... but if I was getting married (a - she swouldn't be like that ), and b - I'd suggest - no stupid fake photos - let's go get some REAL photos on our holiday... (you know, from the money we saved from not dressing up in stupid outfits - that, to prove the point, I wouldn't be seen dead in - and thus, I'm not going to be seen alive in...).

In that way - when we look at the photos, and when people come over, they'll look at them and go "Oh, wow! You went there! You're so lucky! You two look so happy!!!"

Yeah but you don't live with a narcissistic woman who owns the Loraina Bobbitt stake knife collection
Why do you think me and the kids call her Hong Tai Long ?

I wish they hadn't Photoshoped my wife so bad it doesn't look like her.