Sunday 26 December 2010

Fairytale romance

Wedding ring

Newlyweds Derrick Chen and Huang Yan and their 'Marry Me' video

Related stories

Staging a wedding in China isn't cheap.

In Shanghai the cost of your "big day" is almost as high as it is in the United States.

Even elsewhere in China, according to the state media, the cost of an urban wedding can be around 200,000 yuan (£19,400; $30,000).

The most obvious symbol of the big business that the wedding industry has become are the huge photo studios and wedding clothing rental shops you see on the high streets in big cities like Shanghai.

Every bride wants to look her best, and in China they shoot formal wedding portraits before the big day so every detail is perfect.

But for some couples that is not enough.

The latest fad for newly-weds in Shanghai, is to hire the team who promise to turn you into a star.

Li Liang is a young film director. He and his team are setting up equipment on the boardwalk beside the Huangpu river in the middle of the city.

Couple Derrick Chen and Yan Huang at their wedding in ShanghaiDerrick Chen and Yan Huang showed their film at their wedding, adding extra drama to the day

There is a lot of kit - this is a professional outfit. The actors though are amateurs, a bride and groom who are paying him to recreate their romance.

"Normally the clients tell us their story. Then we polish it up a bit," he says.

"Because it is their story, when they act it out for me, it's not difficult. I just need to guide them a little, tell them what kind of moves to make, what kind of expressions they should have."

On his command they run down the boardwalk.

It looks like schmaltz - lots of fake grins or wistful gazes into the middle distance, but schmaltz looks good on film the director says.

Li Liang has made dozens of short films like this, they are called "love music videos" in Chinese.

“Many clients like a story about travelling back in time. They want to show a previous life, as a person in Shanghai in the 1930s or 40s, and then intertwine that with their modern story”

Yang Dan Film producer

The bridegroom, Fang Yi Chun, says he is nervous. He's not used to acting in front of the camera.

"I'm not really in the right mood," he complains.

But he does what he is told - after all he is paying a lot for this.

It costs more than two and a half times the average monthly salary in Shanghai to make

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