Green weddings are on the rise

BEIJING - Though 2010 is considered the "widow year" in the Chinese calendar, it did not stop newlyweds and couples from flocking to the China International Wedding Expo, which opened on Friday in the Beijing Exhibition Center.

The expo, ending Monday, features wedding and honeymoon planning companies, photo agencies, flowers vendors, matchmaking websites, and jewelry makers. Staffers at all of these agreed that the "widow year" designation has not hurt their profits. Some of them predict that the Chinese wedding market would boom this year.

Huang Rui, 29, and his fiance, Liu Xiaoxia, 26, had already booked a service from Suse Wedding Photo Agency for 30,000 yuan. The couple, together with a professional team from the company, will fly to Sri Lanka to take their wedding photos at the beginning of May.