Marriage is about love and commitment, but the wedding? Let’s be honest, that’s more about the dress, the cake and the beautiful photographs than anything else.
And that’s exactly why some women are opting for ‘single weddings’, which is, exactly as it sounds, a groom-free (or same-sex spouse-free) wedding a single bride can have for herself.
What seems to have started as a trend in Japan in 2014 has been steadily growing in popularity and being tried by women the world over.
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Most recently, an Italian woman who said if she hadn’t gotten married by her 40th birthday she’d marry herself, did just that in September this year.
Dressed in a white bridal gown, surrounded by dozens of her family and friends, Laura Mesi walked down the aisle solo.
Of course, nothing about her wedding ceremony was legally-binding, but that didn’t stop her from putting on an extravagant celebration, complete with a wedding cake with a tiny figure of her on top. The bride even went on a “honeymoon” to Egypt by herself, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
Far from being sad or desperate, her motivations and the take-home message of the event is one of empowerment.
“If one day I find a man with whom I can plan a future I’ll be happy, but my happiness does not depend on him,” she told the newspaper.
“I firmly believe that each of us must first of all love ourselves. You can have a fairytale even without the prince.
“This is my fairytale wedding – only without a Prince Charming.”
And while Mesi went the whole nine yards (of wedding dress train) with her big day, many other 'brides' are choosing a more low-key version of a solo wedding.
The package that seemingly started it all in Japan offered by company Cerca Travel was more about the photographs than anything else.
The two-day solo wedding package included choosing your own special gown, bouquet and hairstyle, a limousine service, a stay at a hotel and a commemorative photo album.
Founder Yukiko Inoue described it as "self-esteem" boosting experience that young women took up because they didn't know if or when they would be married, but wanted photographs of themselves looking young and beautiful to look back at.
Canadian photographer Naomi Harris was one more than a hundred brides to take the plunge and have a single wedding with the company in 2016.
In her piece for The Guardian she describes the strange feeling of getting ready knowing no one was waiting for her, and then her satisfaction with the end results.
"I pose for the customary wedding shots: bride looking away dreamily, bride gazing downwards chastely, bride looking virginal and blushing innocently," she wrote.
"There is no actual solo wedding ceremony, which is a shame, because I had imagined promising to love myself for richer, for poorer."
Later she added: "On my return home, I am surprised to find that I love showing off my wedding album."
That's certainly the appeal for women in South Korea who are carrying on the trend of single weddings.
Take, Kim Yi-seul, for instance, who explained to The Times exactly why she wanted to have a wedding without a groom.
"I’m not sure if I’ll get married or not, and if I do, whether it will happen soon, or much later," the 26-year old student said.
"But this is the time in my life when I’m going to look best in a wedding dress."
She's one of many women who doesn't want to wait until the average marrying age of 30 in South Korea to slip on a white gown. And it's in no way seen as something to be ashamed of. Two of the country's famous faces, actress Han Chae-ah and comedian Kim Sook, have even had single weddings.
And while some will point out that beautiful photographs are not what a wedding is supposed to be about, wedding photographer Jeong Kyu-jin has a different take.
"Perhaps it’s unconventional, but you only live once," he told The Times.
"Why not enjoy your own life and your own money? More and more people travel alone, for example. This is part of that freedom."