Top 5 Planners in China
China is a country where a wedding can start in one century and finish in another. In Hong Kong the skyline rises straight out of Victoria Harbour, and in Shanghai the old buildings of the Bund face the skyscrapers of Pudong across the Huangpu. The old ways are very much still with us in the more traditional parts of the country: red of course as the colour of luck and happiness, the tea ceremony in which the couple serve tea to their parents and elders, and the banquet where family and friends all sit down together at round tables.
This is both an asset and a real test. The planner has to be mindful of family tradition, manage a very large guest list and still deliver a modern day. Alison Chow of AF Atelier describes a very specific problem: "In Hong Kong, most weddings take place in hotel ballrooms, and guests attend many of them. Over time, they start to feel familiar: the same room, the same layout, the same evening." Many couples are also looking beyond the city, and the planners on this list have worked in Tuscany, Kyoto, Bhutan, Morocco, Deauville and Mont Saint-Michel. One of them actually ran a five-day wedding in Shanghai.
The five planners below work in very different ways. Three are based in Hong Kong, one in Shanghai and one was founded in Singapore. Their volumes range from around six to around 20 weddings a year and their experience from eight years up to more than 20. Some only do destination weddings, some are most at home in the city's hotels and some will go right down to the renderings. Here's how they describe their work.
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AF Atelier
AF Atelier is a Hong Kong wedding design studio run by Alison Chow, who has been in the industry for eight years. Prior to that she spent a decade in sales on a bank's trading floor, which, in her words, "taught me precision and how to look after people." She did her degree in Economics at the University of Chicago, spent a term in Vienna and took up Chinese calligraphy for some years. AF Atelier started with her own wedding at Lake Como: "While planning it, I noticed many weddings looked beautiful but said nothing about the couple. I wanted every detail to mean something."
The studio has two services, Design and Full service, and does not split the design. "We design from the very beginning to the final detail, because a wedding concept only feels whole when every element grows from the same story. That's why we don't offer design in parts." The number is kept small on purpose: "Around 6. We keep the number small by choice, so every couple has my full attention from the first conversation to the final detail on the day."
The ideas come from the couple. "A couple's road trips across Australia became stone-relief panels in a Rosewood ballroom." Other ballrooms have become "an immersive crimson jungle and a whimsical Hundred Acre Wood." Her most memorable wedding was at Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco in Tuscany (a picnic-style ceremony in the vineyard, dinner in the wine cellar). The dream is the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. Her piece of advice to couples is: "Start with your story, not with Pinterest."
Nicole Please Weddings
At Nicole Please Weddings, the measure of a celebration is not simply how it looks, but how deeply it is felt. Based in Hong Kong, Nicole Please Weddings creates immersive, multi-day destination weddings for international couples, with a particular passion for bringing cultures together.
Born in Switzerland with Swiss and Chinese roots, founder and creative director Nicole Froelich grew up navigating different traditions. After building her career in luxury hospitality and events, she found in weddings the perfect intersection of creativity, human connection and complex logistics. "Extraordinary weddings are not created by simply following trends. They are created by understanding couples and designing an event as unique as they are."
That belief shapes every project. Rather than offering standard packages, Nicole Please Weddings provides fully tailored planning and design, from the first conversation to the final guest departure. Nicole leads the creative vision, while her business partner, Benoit Lavaud, oversees operations, budgets and logistics, balancing imagination with precision.
An example of their planning philosophy came to life in Shanghai, where they created a stunning five-day wedding for Katie and Peter. Each day had its own atmosphere and identity, drawing guests into one cohesive journey of celebrations. It was not simply a series of events, but an experience designed to build emotion and lasting memories across several days.
For Nicole, luxury is not about excess. It lives in thoughtful details, exceptional hospitality and effortless execution. The goal is simple: to create weddings that could belong to no one else, where traditions feel respected, the couple feels understood, and every guest leaves with something worth remembering.
The Wedding Company
The Wedding Company Hong Kong was founded in Hong Kong in 2003 by Michele Li, and it began with an unexpected inspiration: a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings. Michele and a close friend recognised a gap between the magazine's beautifully curated celebrations and Hong Kong's wedding market. Her partner eventually moved on, while Michele continued building the business, now with 23 years of experience and over 600 weddings in its portfolio.
Fittingly, their first client had the surname Husband. "We took it as a sign," Michele recalls. When torrential rain disrupted the country-club lawn celebration, the team swiftly relocated everything indoors, which was an early lesson in remaining composed under pressure and learning that however beautiful the vision, it must always be supported by meticulous preparation and the ability to respond calmly to the unexpected.
Today, The Wedding Company accepts just 10 to 15 weddings annually, offering a highly personalized service with bespoke pricing tailored to the scale and scope of the wedding. Its Hong Kong venues include luxury properties such as Rosewood Hong Kong and Cloud 39 at The Henderson.
Among Michele's most memorable celebrations was the wedding of supermodel Ming Xi and Mario Ho, featuring the first-ever wedding ceremony inside the historic Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Celebrations continued in Deauville, with an international creative team including photographer Jose Villa and floral designer Kiana Underwood from Tulipina, followed by a grand reception in Macau a few months later.
For Michele, true luxury is peace of mind: "Knowing that every aspect of their celebration is being handled with professionalism, care and precision." She also advocates careful budgeting and contingency planning, particularly for destination weddings, advising couples to establish clear priorities while allowing sufficient flexibility for the unexpected. "I also strongly recommend allowing a contingency buffer, particularly for destination weddings."
Looking ahead, Michele is particularly excited about creating more destination weddings across Europe for an international clientele, including couples from Hong Kong, Mainland China and beyond. She sees growing opportunities to bring together Europe's extraordinary historic venues, world-class creative talent and highly personalised celebrations that reflect each couple's individual story and cultural heritage.
Her ultimate advice to couples is simple: "Ultimately, you should be experiencing your wedding, not managing it."
Chic & Co
Chic & Co is a Shanghai-based planning and design company run by Cyrielle Mohara, who has lived in China for 16 years, speaks fluent French, English and Mandarin and describes herself as "the only foreign wedding planner based in China." The company was set up 10 years ago, and she has planned luxury events for 15. Weddings came about by chance: "I started my career doing corporate events and one day one of our clients was getting married and asked us to plan it." That was the moment she realised the value of the work: "I felt that doing weddings was so much more meaningful & special to be part of someone's biggest milestone."
Cyrielle is most at ease with a blank page. "We do a lot of outdoor weddings and we love to start with a blank space which we can completely transform into a unique experience." The company only does bespoke work, and design is absolutely part of the offering: "We do create one of a kind designs (graphic design & renderings) so couples can envision what their wedding will look like."
It does around 20 weddings a year and has worked "in Aman properties around the world." The list of locations is extensive: "We did weddings in Bhutan, Morocco, all over Europe and China. Each has different vibes, different stories, different memories." The main difficulty is logistics, "as we do lots of weddings overseas and all around China, we deal with complex logistics and big production." Amangiri is the dream venue, and her piece of advice to couples is: "I would say to really enjoy the process and that's what I say to my couples."
The Wedding Atelier
The Wedding Atelier describes itself as "a globally renowned luxury wedding and events management company, specializing in creating bespoke and immersive experiences around the world." It was established in Singapore: "our journey began 12 years ago with a focus on exquisite weddings and private celebrations before expanding to encompass an array of exceptional events." Its closing line is "The Magic Starts Here." It belongs to The Atelier & Co, a Singapore group that also runs a floral studio, The Floral Atelier, and it has a presence in Hong Kong.
Behind it is Lelian Chew, who has been orchestrating celebrations across Asia, Europe and the Americas for over a decade. She is a former Goldman Sachs financier and the subject of her own BBC documentary, Million Dollar Wedding Planner. Her take on the job is very simple: "Our work is not to impose a vision, but to uncover the one that already belongs to you."
The company positions itself as "a global luxury wedding and event maison, creating celebrations that feel deeply personal, visually poetic and flawlessly orchestrated." For the client it means attention to every detail: "As a trusted advisor to discerning clients, we ensure that every detail, regardless of scale, is thoughtfully curated and refined to manifest your vision of unrivaled grandeur."
There is no wrong choice among these five, only a different fit. Each brings something of its own: AF Atelier builds a wedding from the couple's own story, Nicole Please Weddings is at home with cross-cultural destination weddings, The Wedding Company brings more than two decades of calm experience, Chic & Co has a gift for turning a blank space into a world, and The Wedding Atelier works with a polished, poetic eye. So the first question is not who is best, but what you would like around your wedding. A small calendar, such as around six weddings a year at AF Atelier or up to 10 at Nicole Please Weddings, suggests close personal attention. A larger one, such as 10 to 15 at The Wedding Company or about 20 at Chic & Co, suggests more hands and more experience of scale. Both are strengths, and it is worth asking who will actually be with you on the day.
The second question is where your wedding belongs. In Hong Kong and Shanghai, it might be a hotel ballroom made to feel like your own world, as AF Atelier describes, or a blank outdoor space transformed, as Chic & Co does. Overseas, the questions are the guests, the vendors, the weather and the travel days across several countries. Ask each planner to share a real example of the sort of wedding you are imagining and how they approached it. If your families have traditions that you want to celebrate, such as a tea ceremony or a banquet, ask how they would weave them into the day.
Then talk about money early, and openly. Four of the planners here say the same thing in different words: work out your priorities so you know where to spend and where to save. Michele Li adds a contingency buffer, particularly for destination weddings. China rewards couples who are ambitious and who also have a calm plan, and these five are well placed to help with both. When you're ready to compare more planners, you can continue your search for wedding planners in China on Wezoree.
