Gu Xiaoyu, a 28-year-old reporter with a Beijing newspaper, won't get married until October. But already, all his parents want to talk about are the preparations for his once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

And that was even when he went home to Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, for the three-day May Day holidays.

Preparations, including booking the hotels for the receptions, began a year ago, but there is apparently still more to do.

Gu and his fiancee, Ju Zhen, plan to hold three ceremonies, one in each of their hometowns, as well as a simple one in Beijing for friends and colleagues.

Ju, a civil servant in Beijing, is from Shandong province.

"I even dream about wedding things at night," he said, adding that he's now beginning to feel pressure over the arrangements.

Although the post-'80s generation is often labeled as being more open, casual and diverse, they want their wedding ceremonies to be impressive and memorable, said Shi Kangning, director-general of the committee of China Wedding Service Industries.

And having three wedding ceremonies, typical for those building their careers in Beijing, is just one aspect that underlines that.

"Weddings for the post-'80s generation, most of whom would be an only child, is not only a big event for the bride and groom, but for their families, too, ," Shi told METRO. "So that's why it's common for them to have more than one wedding.

"Due to the economic situation then, most of their parents did not have a formal ceremony when they got married. Now they don't want their children to miss any of that."

A couple from Shandong province, at their traditional Chinese wedding ceremony

In Beijing, 200,000 couples were married last year, a report from the Beijing Business & Intelligence Consulting Co Ltd (BBIC) said. And most said they wanted a ceremony.

"Seventy-five percent of married couples we interviewed said they had wedding ceremonies," Lei Kai, from BBIC, told METRO.

"And 90 percent of unmarried interviewees said a wedding ceremony is on their agenda."

Today's young also want to be more involved in their wedding plans, instead of just following old routines and tradition, Lei said. "They want the weddings to reflect their ideas and tastes."

Sun Jian, a wedding planner who has been in the industry for five years, has seen a change in the style of wedding ceremonies.

"Old customs or routines are losing their appeal, and couples are looking for something unforgettable," he said.

For example, the practise of the couple eating a suspended apple in front of family weddings is now regarded as old fashioned, and is slowly disappearing.

Many couples now want romantic and stately candlelit dinners, as well as ballroom dancing, as part of the reception, Sun said. And more wedding ceremonies are being held on the beach, in churches, or in parks.

"Every time I plan a wedding, it is often the young couple, rather than their parents, who will want to discuss every detail of the event. And sometimes they also contribute very good ideas that even I feel amazed," he said.

BBIC's research shows the wedding service industry is growing rapidly. In 2008, almost 9 million yuan was spent on weddings, and the figure was estimated to go past 10 billion yuan last year.

Seventy-five percent of those who got married in the past three years said they used wedding planners. And 87 percent of those planning to get married said they would seek the services of a good wedding planner.

As for expenses, 20 percent of couples limited their budget to under 50,000 yuan, 42 percent 50,000 to 100,000 yuan, 33 percent 100,000 to 200,000, and only 5 percent said they would spend more than 200,000 yuan.

"The young generation nowadays is more rational," Shi said. "They don't necessarily want something expensive or extravagant.

"They want their weddings become special but at the same time affordable."

Although there are still a number of young people who would choose to get married without holding a ceremony, Shi thinks it is not at odds with today's people's attitude toward marriage.

"After all it is a once-in-a-lifetime-thing, they don't want the ceremony to be too casual, " he said.

Chen Yan, 26, and Wang Longfeng, 25, got married last December in Beijing but decided to postpone their ceremony. As they are living in a rented apartment in Haidian district, they want to save more money and hold their ceremony after buying their own apartment.

Chen is not disappointed with the delay because after buying their apartment, they will have a sense of settling down in the city, and it won't be too late then to hold the wedding.

"But I'm still dreaming of the day when I will be wearing the white wedding gown," she said.