Young people are getting married in a very practical way

Written by / Meng Huiyuan

Edited by / Li Ji

Typeset by / Annalee

Using AI to complete wedding preparations, taking wedding photos with AI, using AI to 'resurrect' guests to attend weddings, using AI to generate exclusive music for the newlyweds, and using AI to customize celebrity wedding blessings and record videos... During this wedding golden week, AI's participation in weddings may be unprecedented.

In terms of how to make getting married easier, AI has already shown signs of reshaping the perceptions of newlyweds, but wedding professionals need to handle carefully how to integrate the productivity innovations brought about by AI into practical product designs.

Are AI-dominated weddings surprising?

'No one can get through the entire wedding preparation process with a smile.' The closer the wedding day approached, the more physically and mentally exhausted the bride-to-be Wang Linlin felt. 'You never know what unexpected problems you might encounter next. It could be that the gold and jewelry dowry hasn't been negotiated, it could be that there's been a miscommunication with the wedding planner, or it could be that parents suddenly change their minds for the sake of face and add more demands. All of these things are eroding my vision of the wedding, and I'm starting to lose my desire to get married.'

While flipping through popular topics like 'Wedding Preparation Guide,' 'Wedding Preparation Battle,' and 'Wedding Preparation Checklist' to find strategies, Wang Linlin also discovered many other brides-to-be who, like her, were struggling with pre-wedding anxiety. 'Yes, everyone's original intention is to have a perfect wedding, but if you prepare according to this standard, the wedding date, wedding dress, venue, wedding planner, photography, makeup, banquet guests...it's like organizing a large-scale event. The entire process is not only numerous but also trivial. Making the wedding so complicated is really demotivating.'

At this point, Wang Linlin almost wanted to give up. 'So is there anyone who can take over the wedding process for me?' Of course, this was just a joke. As the protagonist of the wedding, like many other brides-to-be who regularly hold weddings during the National Day Golden Week, Wang Linlin ultimately gritted her teeth and completed this top priority in her life.

In fact, AI has already shown signs of reshaping the perceptions of newlyweds in terms of how to make getting married easier. Since the beginning of this year, the wave of artificial intelligence has continued to roll in, and within just a few months, almost every field has quickly embraced this technology and integrated it into practical applications in various industries, and the wedding industry is no exception.

'For example, in our wedding planning now, AI can quickly generate creative solutions based on the needs and preferences of the couple. In terms of wedding copywriting, it can quickly provide rich and relevant content, and it can even use AI to generate music for the wedding.' An industry insider said that the advent of the era of artificial intelligence may be revolutionary for the wedding industry. 'Of course, for now, AI cannot completely replace humans. It can only replace certain processes and procedures. Creative and strategic work still needs to be done by humans, while repetitive and trivial tasks can be delegated to AI, such as the purchase selection of wedding dresses and venues that require a lot of time and effort to research, as well as the practical demonstration of layout plans.'

If you want a unique and effortless wedding, AI is becoming the best tool. Taking AI-generated wedding music as an example, just enter a love story into GPT to generate a set of lyrics, then determine the musical style and instruments preferred by the couple, and copy both into an AI composition tool to generate a piece of exclusive wedding music for the couple. Although some AI tools may generate music with unclear pronunciation due to technical limitations, the flaws do not detract from the beauty of the music, and it is undoubtedly more memorable when the couple sings their own song at their wedding.

Of course, the ingenuity of AI does not stop there. Some wedding planners have even started making money by domesticating AI. 'Now I can create a chatbot that can take over my WeChat and handle conversations for me when I'm not available.' Not only that, but trained AI can also act as wedding hosts and wedding service trainers in subsequent wedding services.

'Flip-over' moments in the implementation of new technologies

From the perspective of the consumer side, those who currently use AI services such as Taobao Wenwen, JD.com Jingyan, Doubao, Tiangong, etc., to find wedding preparation strategies are likely to receive responses like this:

'Wow! Preparing for a wedding is a super important and happy task! First, set your wedding budget to help you better plan the entire wedding. Then, set a clear wedding date so you have a specific goal to work towards.'

'From determining the style of your wedding to selecting the right venue, to inviting friends and family to witness this sacred moment, every detail needs careful consideration. Here are some key steps and suggestions to help you plan a memorable wedding.'

'Preparing for a wedding is a complex process involving multiple aspects of planning and organization. Here are the wedding preparation steps compiled based on the latest information.'

'I'm glad to help you plan your wedding. It's a grand and important day, and we want your wedding to be exactly what you envision. Let's start with the budget.'

Judging from the search results, based on AI's current level of intelligence, it is actually difficult for it to fully replace humans in coordinating the many variables of an entire wedding, as many people might imagine. Instead, it largely serves as an information filtering tool, and some AI tools will even directly tell users which reference materials the data comes from.

'In fact, AI just filters information based on certain conditions, and then further determines the scope of information based on human responses, ultimately achieving the effect of improving information accuracy. Moreover, during the AI service process on some shopping platforms, while giving wedding preparation advice, it will also include links to related wedding service products. This can make people feel that its primary purpose is not to solve your problem but to promote its own product services. The key is that after making decisions with AI assistance, the actual executor of everything is still the human being itself.' Said one user.

Besides the basic functions of searching for strategies, filtering information, and demonstrating effects, what other functions have already been implemented?

A while ago, there was a news story about a couple who used AI digital life technology to 'resurrect' a loved one to attend their wedding. At that time, because the bride had collected a large number of photos, videos, and audio recordings of the groom's mother during her lifetime, she used them as material for AI model training, striving to visually and auditorily reproduce her mother-in-law's appearance, demeanor, and voice to the greatest extent possible. With the help of AI technology, the deceased mother-in-law appeared on the big screen in video form, smiling and blessing the couple, sharing her expectations and love for her son in a familiar tone.

Although AI is just a tool in cases like this couple's choice, the question of whether using AI technology to model digital traces to reproduce the voices and faces of loved ones brings emotional comfort or new emotional shock has been a source of ongoing moral controversy.

In addition, the AI service industry, which has initially formed an industrial chain, also includes AI-customized wedding blessing videos featuring celebrities, priced from a few yuan to hundreds of yuan. Regarding such services, some users wrote in product reviews, 'The production speed is fast, and the effect is very realistic,' while some merchants commented in customer Q&A, 'Any celebrity can be done.'

However, when it comes to the potential legal risks of such products, some lawyers believe that the act of synthesizing celebrity blessing videos infringes upon intellectual property rights, copyright, and the celebrities' right of portraiture. When the illegal income reaches a certain amount or there are other serious circumstances, it may also constitute the criminal offense of 'copyright infringement.'

'Three-None Weddings' Become an Opportunity for AI Entry

As the 'post-95s' and 'post-00s' become the new main force of marriage, their weddings not only need to calculate the cost-effectiveness of consumption but also demonstrate their unique lifestyle attitudes. According to the '2024 China Wedding Industry Development Report,' small and beautiful wedding scenes, excellent and refined personalized experiences, and high-end customized services are becoming the consumption demands of young people.

Topics such as 'Young people are getting married in a very practical way,' 'Post-00s start to favor 'three-none weddings,'' 'Three-none weddings are simple yet sophisticated,' and 'Young people are getting wilder about getting married' have been gaining popularity, indicating that young people are increasingly focused on their inner feelings when it comes to weddings. As the expectations of the younger generation for weddings gradually exceed traditional frameworks, personalized, diversified, lightweight, and refined creative weddings have become a noticeable new trend.

The new concepts and phenomena related to weddings among young people are driving the development of the new wedding market. In this process, wedding-related products and models are gradually changing, and creativity and quality will become the core competitiveness of businesses. This unavoidable future trend will also be an opportunity for 'AI+wedding' related businesses and prompt the wedding industry to re-examine its service content, gradually adopt 'new scripts' and move towards a more efficient and precise direction to better adapt to and meet the needs of young consumers.

'From a market demand perspective, the 'post-80s' wedding trend required grand wedding scenes, the 'post-90s' wedding trend required wedding settings, while the 'post-00s' require weddings that are not affected, not artificial, and have emotional value. The underlying logic of wedding demands has undergone significant changes.' In the view of Wang Xin, Deputy Dean of the Wedding Industry Research Institute, from an industry competition perspective, the industry is currently in a period of adjustment with the survival of the fittest, and wedding products that truly cater to the needs of young people are the key to success. Future wedding products need to have emotional value attributes.

Judging from the current situation, the integration of AI into the wedding industry is accelerating, but in the process of commercializing AI technology, some technical defects and potential moral and legal risks are inevitably emerging, which are issues that relevant practitioners need to carefully address.

To put it more bluntly, using AI tools may seem like a simple proposition, but for wedding professionals, the real challenge lies in how to integrate the productivity innovations brought about by AI into practical product designs.