Weddings drop amid Covid

The number of weddings dropped 40 percent year-on-year to 17,117 between January and September this year, as a record one-tenth of couples plan to skip banquets, a survey has found.

Online lifestyle platform ESDlife interviewed between August and September this year 1,009 citizens who planned to get married between 2020 and 2022 and have already paid for the weddings.

"This year was supposed to be a 'lucky year' for weddings, but Covid-19 and social distancing rules have stopped many couples We believe that the number of weddings will rise again drastically after the pandemic," ESDlife said in its survey report.

Based on survey results and government statistics, the platform estimated that the total wedding expenditure would amount to HK$8.8 billion this year, a 46 percent drop from last year.

The biggest drop in couples' budgeted spending would be honeymoon trips, decreasing by 59 percent to an average HK$30,000.

Nearly 71 percent of the interviewees have postponed their trips. Another 7 percent have canceled them altogether - six out of ten were forced to do so due to flight cancellations and border restrictions.

With frequent changes in the number of guests allowed at weddings and banquets, 12 percent of respondents said they would not hold wedding banquets - a record high since the survey started in 2006.

Couples still spent the most money on the banquets - an average of HK$180,000 per couple.

However, an increasing proportion went for day time banquets - from 15 percent last year to 21 percent. Daytime parties tend to be more cost-effective, researchers said.

Those surveyed paid an average of HK$16,000 on filming, 2 percent higher than last year, as many hired staff to film weddings for guests who could not attend.

The survey also found that couples tend to buy more wedding jewelry.

Researchers said as gold prices have reached a nine-year-high, couples are more likely to invest in value-keeping jewelry rather than on dresses and photos. The respondents' spending on jewelry increased by seven percent, reaching nearly HK$77,000 for each couple.

moon.lam@singtaonewscorp.com