It was a dream wedding, with a picturesque outdoor setting, a white lace dress and a delicious 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 not had much success in encouraging more people to marry in a rapidly aging and shrinking society where marriage and birth rates remain low.
The trend is gaining momentum thanks to the popularity of pets and the increasing willingness to spend for them. Spending on furry friends in 2023 rose 3.2 percent to $38.41 billion from a year earlier, the data showed.
People have weddings, why shouldn’t dogs?” said Bree’s owner Rye Ling, after his pet 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 research firm Acuity Knowledge Partners. Evenly distributed across China’s urban population, about one in eight Chinese owns a cat or dog, and most owners are under the age of 40, according to the research firm.
Ling and his girlfriend Gigi Chen, who said they were in no rush to get married, spent months meticulously planning the dog ceremony, arranging professional photographers, designing wedding booklets and ordering a $110 custom-made cake featuring Bree and Bond figurines.
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 opened in 2022.
“We’ve already got an order in a few months… for another dog wedding,” she said.
Ling said he hopes the ceremony will give Bree and Bond “a sense of ritual” and hopes to welcome puppies soon, Hina writes.