Chen Wei-yih has posed for a set of photos in a flowing white dress, enlisted¹ a wedding planner and rented a banquet hall for a marriage celebration with 30 friends.

陈薇伊已经拍过了婚纱照，聘请了婚礼策划人员，还租了一个宴会厅来举行婚礼，将有30个朋友来参加婚礼。

Uninspired by the men she's met but facing social pressure to get married, 30-year-old Taipei office worker Chen Wei-yih is going to marry herself. She has posed for a set of photos in a flowing white dress, enlisted a wedding planner and rented a banquet hall for a marriage celebration with 30 friends.

But there is no groom³. Chen will marry herself.

Uninspired by the men she's met but facing social pressure to get married, the 30-year-old Taipei office worker will hold the reception next month in honor of just one person.

"Age thirty is a prime period for me. My work and experience are in good shape, but I haven't found a partner, so what can I do?" Chen said.

"It's not that I'm anti-marriage. I just hope that I can express a different idea within the bounds of a tradition."

Her T$50,000 ($5,675) wedding comes after online publicity⁴ that has netted 1,800 largely sympathetic（同情的） comments.

"I think there will be more and more girls like this," said "divagirl," who did not elaborate（精心制作） .

Women in Taiwan are marrying later and less often as their economic status advances, fuelling government concerns about a drop in the birth rate and its impact on productivity.

Only 40 percent of women surveyed earlier this year by the education ministry⁵ said they imagined married people could live better lives than singles, local media said.

"I was just hoping that more people would love themselves," said Chen, who will go on a solo honeymoon⁶ to Australia.

Chen said her mother had insisted on a groom at first but later jumped aboard the solo marriage plan.

But as Chen cannot officially register a marriage to herself, if she finds a man later she will wed² again.

"If I had a steady boyfriend, I wouldn't do this," Chen said. "it would be offensive to him, anyway."