The island’s officials, like their counterparts across Greece, have pursued Chinese investment during the country’s economic crisis, and appreciate the lucrative surge in Chinese visitors.

Luke Bellonias, an island official, said the Chinese had extended the tourist season deep into autumn when most Europeans and Americans have gone home. “They just love to take photos,” he said. “They don’t love the sun that much.”

Still, he acknowledged, “This gets a bit out of control.”

Foreign photographers, complete with makeup crews, large stocks of wedding dresses and stylists, live for months on the island but dodge taxes, he said. The financial police rarely enforce the law, giving free rein, he said, to people “holding wedding dresses above their heads and two or three bags and running from place to place.”

For many couples, fees running into the tens of thousands of euros are a small price to pay for an image that they say encapsulates both true romance and social mobility.

“It’s as important, if not more important, than the ring,” said Olivia Martin-McGuire, the director of “China Love,” a documentary about the industry.

And f or couples unable to afford the real thing, there are photo studios in Shanghai with Santorini sets .