Anyone who's seen Ang Lee's film The Wedding Banquet will remember the chaos that surrounded the bridal celebrations, particularly the fuss in the bridal chamber, all of which is iconic of modern Chinese wedding ceremonies. "I remember when I got married, I had to hold banquets in Taipei and Kaohsiung, four in all. Getting married is a wonderful thing, but from the moment you decide to tie the knot, the whole journey to the aisle is just one big headache," says 55-year-old Ms. Huang, half jokingly, recalling the rigmarole she went through.

The process of planning a wedding is complicated, and can be difficult for those who've never done it before to understand. There are at least 50 different things that need to be attended to, from consulting a fortune teller to figure out the most auspicious date, through getting the wedding photos, buying the cake and ceremonial items, choosing and setting up a venue, hiring cars, and sending out invitations, to the ceremony itself and everything that needs to be handled on the day.

Should the photos be taken inside or outside? Should the couple wear traditional Chinese outfits or a Western suit and wedding dress? Are flower girls and pageboys necessary? The myriad of decisions can be dizzying. "I remember wondering how on Earth a wedding could be so much hassle. For a while I just considered packing it in and becoming a 'runaway bridegroom,'" says Cheng Yung-an, who eventually went on to hire a wedding planner to handle it for him.

The Economist Intelligence Unit remarked in its 2006 report "Foresight 202: Economic, Industry, and Corporate Trends" that in this age of globalization and shrinking profit margins, the modularization of work can reduce costs and increase quality, while also fulfilling the customer's demand for a unique, personalized experience. The wedding planning industry is a textbook example of the benefits of this approach.

At most weddings, the bride throws the bouquet and leaves one person ecstatic at the expense of everyone else. Through a wedding planner's creativity and some streamers, now everyone has the chance to get a piece of the action, leaving every guest with a wonderful memory of the evening.

Every moment is the moment

Wedding planners are already well entrenched in Europe, America, Japan, and other nations around the world. In Taiwan, however, the industry only began in 1996, when Koo Chung-yu, daughter of Chinatrust Financial chairman Jeffrey Koo Sr., organized the wedding ceremonies for her three older brothers, and then went on to make a career of wedding planning, founding Confiance Wedding Consultants. This broke the long tradition of Taiwanese people taking the "do-it-yourself" approach to weddings, and elevated wedding planning to a profession. Now, after ten years, there are over 100 wedding consultancy firms nationwide. And with today's youth tending to delay marriage, the moment they decide they do want to tie the knot, they want everything to be as creative and romantic as possible, as befits the event of a lifetime. This is where wedding planners come in.

Amy, aged 23, is a perfect example of the people who make up that industry. In 2006, after graduating from university in Japan and returning to Taiwan, Amy decided to make wedding planning her first job.

"Wedding planning requires you to be considerate and always care about your customers; it's not just about making sure the superficial details are right. For example, at one couple's reception, I put on the first song they heard on their first date--the name of that song was just something I jotted down when I first started talking with them," says Amy. "The moment they heard that song, they both had a look of surprise and excitement on their faces," she recalls, "which made all the hard work and effort worth it."

"Doing this kind of work you can bring joy and happiness to new couples--why wouldn't you want to get involved in it?" says Amy, whose professional outfit does little to hide her youthful elegance.

In contrast to Amy, who got involved in the business after seeing the movie The Wedding Planner, Chen Wei-nung fell into it, having had experience working on large-scale outdoor events.

Anything can happen

"I got involved with wedding planning through my band work," says Chen Wei-nung, who works as both a marketing consultant and a bandleader. Chen originally majored in electronics at a vocational college, then tested into an orchestral theater during his military service. However, his interest in marketing saw him take up work with a well-known advertising firm, where he built up a solid network of contacts before striking out on his own and taking up invitations to put on musical performances at various big events.

"Since I'd performed at so many weddings, people started asking me for advice," says Chen, who then figured, "Why not broaden my services and help with wedding planning?" And with that, he dove into the business of wedding planning.

Chen chose to specialize in outdoor weddings. The idea was simple: outdoor weddings involve more variables, including the weather, and always need a plan B, all while giving more room for creativity. In the end, despite the higher costs (an outdoor wedding can cost as much as five times more than an indoor one), these bombastic, vibrant ceremonies helped Chen carve out a niche in the market, and today he takes on 40 to 60 cases a year, with a monthly turnover of approximately NT$200,000, getting as high as NT$400,000 in June and at year's end, which are the peak seasons for weddings.

What kind of person can succeed as a wedding planner? Cherry Wu, general manager of Chelsea Party and Wedding Design, says that the threshold for entry to the industry is actually fairly low: no particular experience is necessary, although if you've worked in a bridal goods company before, that's a definite bonus. Attention to detail, amiability, and patience are must-haves, as are communication skills and organizational ability. Planning a wedding can take as long as six months, and a wedding planner has to be psychologically prepared to pay close attention to every detail throughout every stage of the process, while also having to field enquiries from couples well into the depths of the night.

An unforgiving job

Hana, who's worked as a wedding planner for almost a year now, gives the example of one particular bride who caught a serious case of cold feet. After a romantic proposal by her better half, who worked at Neihu Technology Park, this 23 year old was all set to walk down the aisle. What no-one expected, though, was that after six months of planning, one week before the wedding that same young woman would begin to have second thoughts, as if a black cloud had suddenly descended upon her.

"I'm going to be a wreck! What do I do? What if his Mom doesn't like me? What if I don't get on with his brother and sister? I don't want to get married!" Hana remembers having to answer calls from the young bride at all hours of the day, and all she could do was fight off the urge to sleep and try her best to console her.

Making sure a wedding runs smoothly, Hana says, is no simple thing. There are a whole range of details, from who enters the ceremony when, through how the greetings proceed, when the guests are welcomed, to when the parents of the couple are formally thanked, amongst other things, all of which are crucial to a successful wedding.

"For the couple, this is the most important moment of their lives, and nothing, nothing, can go wrong. To a wedding planner, the day itself is a constant battle, going for a good ten hours without a break, always afraid something is going to go awry and ruin the couple's memories of the day. The stress is immense, so it's no surprise so many wedding planners get stomach ulcers," says Hana. During one wedding, for example, her colleague made a mistake with the order the participants were to enter, leaving the audience bemused and resulting in the firm's website and phone lines being bombarded with complaints the next day.

To make sure everything goes right, not only does everyone need a rehearsal before the event, on the day itself the wedding planner has to be ready to react calmly to any and all unforeseen circumstances.

"I remember emceeing one particular wedding where both the bride and groom had invited a huge number of relatives and colleagues, all of whom were big shots, so they all wanted to step up and say a few words of congratulation to the couple. In the rush, I grabbed one VIP's name card and called him up to speak, and he proceeded to complain long and loud to the crowd, saying, 'Not only did this young woman mispronounce my name, she also got my job title wrong! Honestly, how professional is that?' He continued to complain for another ten minutes, and if it hadn't been for my colleagues keeping me up there, I'd have ran off stage and burst into tears," recalls Amy of her first wedding hosting drama, still showing traces of the feelings from that day.

Driven by joy

The Japanese drama Wedding Planner, adapted from a manga by Masane Kamoi, tells of life behind the scenes of a wedding planning agency, with a wedding planner much like Amy, standing along with the pressures and problems amidst glorious weddings, with everyone so wrapped up in their own feelings that they give no concern to her. Nevertheless, she pushes onward, dedicating herself to the joy of others.

After planning countless weddings and dealing with all of the hassles of the organizing of the ceremonies and the couples themselves, surely these young women in the industry would be put right off marriage! However, "seeing a successful wedding and looking at the sheer joy on the faces of the newlyweds is a tremendous reward, and drives me to carry on with my work!" say both Hana and Amy.