COVID Causing Surge in Demand for Small Wedding Ceremonies

This is actually a positive that has come out of the COVID pandemic because I have personally seen some Koreans spend outrageous amounts of money on weddings. COVID now gives them an excuse to not invite so many people and thus save money:

A 29-year-old man recently got married in a five-star hotel wedding hall. Because of the government’s social distancing guidelines, he couldn’t invite more than 50 guests.    
   
According to the man, he hadn’t ever thought of having a wedding ceremony at a hotel due to the cost. Then he realized it only costs about 5 million won ($4,400) to have a wedding in a hotel with about 40 guests—which is the same price as a wedding hall ceremony with the usual number of guests.    
   
“I never thought about having a wedding ceremony at a hotel, but ever since I did it, I’ve been recommending it to others,” he said.      
   
Koreans who are forced to cut back on ceremonies and overseas honeymoons due to the pandemic are splurging in other ways.    
   
As small weddings—which host about 100 guests or fewer—become popular among Koreans, luxury hotels have been enjoying strong demand for their wedding halls.    
   
According to Statistics Korea, some 126,367 couples tied the knot between January and July. While the figure is the lowest number of marriages for any January-to-July period since the statistics agency started compiling data in 1981, the number of marriages held at five-star hotels has increased dramatically.  
   
Lotte Hotel Seoul said the number of weddings it held in its wedding hall jumped 20 percent between January to September compared to the same period a year earlier. The number of small weddings spiked more than 100 percent.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

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