A generation ago, wedding photographs were rather spartan and stiff: black and white images of the couple standing side by side

Walk into the bedroom of almost any young, well-to-do couple in China and you will see, looming large on one wall, a giant life-size wedding portrait of the bride and groom; the bride resplendent in perfect dress and make-up, the groom suitably posed in adoration. The process of taking those photos most likely took an entire day of the couple standing smiling on a hillside or beachfront or indoor studio, with attendant hair and make-up artists hovering nearby. The whole production can cost from $450 to more than $15,000, a huge expense in a country where the average per capita income is roughly $3,000 (about $10,000 in Beijing). But it's increasingly seen as a must-have for China's image-conscious middle class, now some 430-million strong.

A generation ago, wedding photographs were rather spartan and stiff: black and white images of the couple standing side by side, staring forward, often unsmiling. But modern wedding photography is a business that has taken off over the last 20 years in China, taking inspiration from international fashions and glossy magazines. Over the course of the photo shoot, many brides will don multiple dresses, not all of them white. As one college student from Beijing put it, "The bride doesn't want to look like herself. She wants to look like a fashion magazine cover model."