Shanghai Bridal Fashion Showroom bets on value-driven brides as wedding boom cools

The organisers of next month’s Shanghai Bridal Fashion Showroom are leaning on breadth, price segmentation and a dose of soft power to keep China at the centre of the global bridal trade. The fair, which runs 16-18 July at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, will bring more than 200 labels from 14 countries and regions and preview some 2,000 products, according to Shanghai International Exhibition Management.

Domestic names such as Wangfeng Bridal, Lafine and St White will headline the 2025 edition, reflecting Beijing’s wider push to elevate home-grown design. International drawcards range from Spain’s Pronovias Group to Ukraine’s Lietta, which makes its mainland debut. The line-up forms one of the most geographically diverse bridal showcases yet seen on Chinese soil.

The timing is delicate. China’s narrow wedding market, covering ceremony and banquet spending, fell to Rmb2.8 trn (357 bn euros) in 2024, its lowest level since 2018, as couples pared back budgets amid economic uncertainty, according to data from Statista. Earlier this year Beijing urged families to adopt “frugal weddings”, highlighting the financial burden of lavish banquets and the link between high costs and record-low birth rates, reported Reuters.

Showroom organisers say the fair’s brand mix is calibrated for tougher conditions: local designers offer shorter lead times and keener prices, while European houses bring cachet but increasingly flexible entry-level lines. “Value-for-money has become the core decision factor,” the management noted in pre-show material.

That consumer pragmatism dovetails with broader industry trends. Global bridal-wear sales are forecast to reach 83.5 bn dollars by 2030, growing at 4.1 per cent annually, but China’s share is expected to expand at closer to six per cent as spending shifts from opulent gowns to differentiated, mid-priced offerings.

Beyond dresses, the Shanghai fair is adding zones for beauty and accessories, and will stage a three-day runway programme and an Asia-Pacific make-up competition, moves designed to keep the event relevant even as weddings themselves scale down.

For foreign brands, the question is whether China’s market can support both top-tier couture and the new appetite for rational spending. For local designers, the challenge will be translating cultural cachet into exportable product. Either way, the fair’s organisers are betting that a broad portfolio, rather than a head-line luxury act, now offers the safest path up the aisle.