Chen Wei-yih 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.

Uninspired by the men she's met but facing social pressure to get married, the 30-year-old office worker from Taipei will hold the reception next month. "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 £3,600 wedding comes after online publicity campaign. Taiwanese women are marrying later and less often as their economic status advances, amid government concerns about a drop in the birth rate and its impact on productivity.

Only two fifths of women surveyed earlier this year by the education ministry said they imagined married people could live better than singles, local media said.

"I was just hoping that more people would love themselves," said Miss Chen, who will go on a solo honeymoon to Australia. She said her mother had insisted on a groom at first but later jumped aboard the solo marriage plan. But as Miss Chen cannot officially register a marriage to herself, if she finds a man later she will wed again.