Weddings Beautiful China is a joint venture with Weddings by Ling - a firm that caters to high-end weddings by Chinese couples, expatriates and Chinese celebrities. The program established its flagship location in Beijing in 2011. Another location opened in Shanghai in 2012 and a branch was recently launched in Suzhou, a city known for its gardens and natural beauty.
Although smaller than Beijing and Shanghai, Vasquez says increasingly brides-to-be in Suzhou are requesting high-end wedding planning.
Weddings Beautiful China offers two classes: the certified wedding specialist course (CWS), which made up 90 percent of total enrollment, and the associate bridal consultant course (ABC).
CWS is taught in all of WBW's divisions around the world, which include Africa, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. The two-week course covers the fundamentals of wedding planning, business management, marketing and social media, team work, project management and other "soft" skills to jump-start a career in wedding planning.
"(ABC) is for those who just want to focus on the wedding part of the course and forego the business management part," Vasquez says about the second course offering. "This course is a perfect fit for those who cannot be out of town for more than a week, as students have to fly to our training facilities and stay for the entire duration of the course."
China issues yellow alert for S China rainstorms