HEFEI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- As the Spring Festival approaches and much of the country prepares to celebrate, 36-year-old bridal store owner Li Tao has been busy completing his last orders before the holiday.
"Many couples plan to hold their weddings during the Spring Festival holiday. Between December and January alone, we shipped more than 2,000 wedding dress packages from our online and physical shops," Li told Xinhua in his 300-square-meter wedding dress store in east China.
The gowns in Li's store are made at his nearby factory in Dingji Town, which is located in Lu'an City of Anhui Province and known as one of China's top destinations for wedding dresses. The town produces and sells nearly 5 million gowns each year, generating about 2.4 billion yuan (about 345 million U.S. dollars) in revenue. Its products are sold nationwide and exported to more than 30 countries and regions, including the United States, New Zealand and Spain.
With numbers of marriage registrations rebounding across multiple regions last year, the town's bridal industry is gaining momentum and branching out beyond traditional wedding gowns.
The rebound was partly attributed to reforms easing restrictions on where couples can register their marriages, alongside other supportive measures.
In Shanghai, marriage registrations rose 38.7 percent year on year to 125,102. Cities with large population inflows also recorded strong gains, with Shenzhen up 28.5 percent and Suzhou rising 33.5 percent. Nationwide, 5.15 million marriages were registered in the first nine months of 2025, which was up 8.5 percent from the year before.
The rebound has led to a clear pickup in related orders and production. "Our wedding dress shop had a nearly 20 percent year-on-year increase in sales in 2025, and our factory output rose more than 20 percent," Li said.
Xu Xiaolong, manager of a factory operated by Lu'an Zhongyuan Wedding Dress Co., Ltd., told Xinhua that the factory had struggled to keep up with orders during last year's peak season. "This year, we plan to add a new production line to boost capacity by nearly 30 percent," he said.
And recent changes go beyond numbers. In Xu's view, younger consumers are placing higher demands on both the quality and design of wedding dresses.
Many companies have established in-house design teams and developed their own brands, testing sample garments in brick-and-mortar stores before moving to mass production based on customer response.
The town is now home to more than 400 wedding dress brands, many of which are expanding their reach through e-commerce platforms. It has also established a bridal design and research center in collaboration with institutions such as the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.
Xu's factory has also expanded beyond traditional wedding gowns, producing other bridal outfits worn on the wedding day, including traditional Chinese dresses and formal attire for mothers.
"In the past, mothers often wore a simple red coat or traditional Qipao to weddings," Xu said. "Now, whether they are in big cities or small towns, mothers dress up for the occasion. Styles have become more varied, with fabrics and designs suited to the seasons -- light acetate for summer, warm wool for winter."
Xu noted that the factory also adjusts fabrics and designs to follow current trends, including the recent popularity of Chinese-style and vintage-inspired mothers' attire.
A recent survey by China Youth Daily, which polled 1,333 people, found that 62.4 percent of respondents would prioritize attire and makeup when planning their wedding -- the highest percentage among all factors surveyed, surpassing venue decoration and location.
In China, a wedding ceremony is traditionally more than a personal milestone for couples. It is a major event that brings together two extended families, symbolizing the joining of households as well as individuals.
While the bride's gown often draws the most attention, the mothers of both the bride and the groom also select their formal attire for the day carefully, with an increasing emphasis on quality and style.
One such mother surnamed Tang, 60, said she had started browsing and comparing formal dresses online nearly six months before her daughter's wedding, adding that she wanted an outfit "appropriate for her age, dignified, elegant, and comfortable."
Since shifting part of its production to mothers' attire in 2021, Xu said his factory now devotes 65 percent of its output to such garments. "We release new styles every month, with simple designs taking two to three days to make and more intricate pieces requiring over 10 days," he said.
Throughout this transition, local factories continue to innovate by combining traditional craftsmanship with mechanized production, introducing automated cutting beds and computerized embroidery machines to improve efficiency and consistency.
To support the town's wedding-related industry, the local government has rolled out a range of measures, such as the introduction of a three-year 50 percent rent subsidy. Skills training in dressmaking and e-commerce livestreaming is also being offered.
"In the new year, we will continue to promote industrial transformation, support companies in expanding their orders, and plan projects such as a wedding culture theme park to expand and upgrade the wedding dress industrial chain," said Chen Fei, head of the town. ■
