The reform of marriage customs is to "reduce the burden" of love, no betrothal gifts, small weddings have become mainstream, and the cost of marriage in Guangzhou has been reduced by half compared with three years ago
In April last year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs recognized Guangzhou as one of the national marriage customs reform experimental areas.
For more than a year, around the theme of the pilot reform of marriage customs, through a series of powerful measures such as the introduction of implementation plans, strengthening publicity and guidance, optimizing service quality, and innovating service content, what new changes have been made in each chain of the "sweet industry"?
In the past few days, the reporter's investigation found that with the spread of marriage customs reform measures, civilized and simple new weddings have become a new fashion.
The wedding company also said that compared with 3 years ago, the cost of marriage for newcomers in Guangzhou has dropped by half. Nowadays, it has become the mainstream for newcomers to get married without a betrothal gift or a betrothal gift of less than 50,000 yuan.
The hotel also said that small weddings with less than 10 tables have also become mainstream.
The reform of marriage customs is "reducing the burden" for love and "adding points" to happiness.
Urban youth:
Do not accept dowry as a new fashion, a new wedding only costs 40,000 yuan
Zhou Yan (pseudonym) is a girl born and raised in Guangzhou.
On February 22 this year, the 29-year-old registered her marriage with her boyfriend.
Then they held a simple wedding in a hotel in Guangzhou.
Zhou Yan and her boyfriend agreed from the beginning that the wedding should be as simple as possible.
Although they started planning half a year in advance, the two also found that getting married is not easy.
Zhou Yan told reporters that the necessary procedures for a wedding included a big ceremony, moving dowry, setting up a bed, welcoming relatives, serving tea, and a wedding banquet. The relatives of the other party have meals, betrothal, and dowry gifts are all omitted.
Zhou Yan's boyfriend is not from Cantonese, and the parents of both parties only met once before the marriage.
Before the wedding, the two were busy decorating the wedding room and had no more money to plan the wedding. The two agreed that they should hold the wedding moderately, live frugally, and strive for a simple wedding ceremony with a warm atmosphere.
When the two finally got married, the boyfriend did not give a penny of the dowry.
"He bought me a wedding ring, so let's take it as a dowry. Because my parents know that all our money was used to buy a house and decorate it." Zhou Yan said, in order to make the wedding as simple as possible without losing the solemnity, just ask The most important relatives of both parties were invited, and in the end less than 50 people attended the wedding, and only 5 tables were opened.
On the day of the wedding, Zhou Yan didn't even invite the wedding company or the emcee. Two of her best friends presided over the wedding, and a friend who liked outdoor photography was also the photographer.
After welcoming their relatives to their new home that day, relatives and friends first took photos with a couple at home. In the afternoon, relatives and friends came to the lawn to take photos with the bride and groom.
The biggest expense in this wedding came from the 1,888 yuan per table in a five-star hotel that day.
After the wedding, Zhou Yan posted photos of the wedding day on WeChat Moments to report the good news to relatives and friends; then she went to the office to distribute candy to her colleagues, announcing the success of the ceremony.
Zhou Yan calculated that her wedding only cost 40,000 yuan.
"I think the most important thing for two people to get married is love. Many people think that the more the bride price is, the more the man values the woman. But I think two people should not care about these external forms when they get married, and there is no need to embarrass me. Future parents-in-law." Zhou Yan said.
According to the reporter's understanding, newlyweds like Zhou Yan who do not receive dowry are now very common in Guangzhou.
Wedding company:
The cost of marriage is now halved compared to 3 years ago
Although she is only in her 40s this year, He Jiaxin, the owner of a wedding company, is already an "old man" in the industry. She has worked in the industry for more than 20 years, and there are at least 500 couples who organize weddings by her.
At the Guangzhou Wedding Expo at the end of October 2021, He Jiaxin specially distributed about 300 questionnaires to the newcomers who came to the venue. Each newcomer can get a gift after filling out the questionnaire.
"I mainly investigate the wedding budget of new people." According to the recovered questionnaires, in terms of wedding banquets, 80% of them chose 10-15 tables, and 80% of the wedding budgets were below 150,000 yuan.
"Judging from the more than 20 couples' weddings I planned last year, more than half of the bride's gifts were less than 50,000 yuan, and the other half of the brides did not receive a penny. In 2019, the wedding expenses of the newlyweds I arranged At around 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, now the customs have changed, and basically 100,000 to 150,000 yuan, including dowry gifts, can be done, and many even spend only 50,000 yuan to get married. The cost of marriage for newcomers has been reduced by half.” He Jiaxin He said that there are both reasons for the change in people's concept of marriage customs, as well as objective reasons, that is, people's consumption is more rational and cautious after the epidemic.
"According to my observation, many new couples now receive less than 100,000 yuan in dowry, and some women's families do not receive dowry, and even if they do receive dowry, the men give less than 50,000 yuan symbolically, and eventually the women's family will add a few more. The 10,000 yuan will be returned to the young couple together."
Wu Tao, the manager of another wedding company, also told reporters that in the past two years, the new wedding customs have indeed brought great changes to the wedding market. Apart from the "hardware" of the wedding room, the cost of marriage for new people has indeed dropped significantly.
One is that there are fewer or even no betrothal gifts; the second is that the scale of the banquet has been greatly reduced; the third is that the marriage process has been greatly reduced, and many people have not even invited wedding companies.
"A few years ago, many newlyweds would need thirty or forty tables for the banquet, and both men and women would have to set up wine; now most of the two parties set the wine together, and about 100,000 yuan can handle all the wedding expenses."
He Jiaxin said that there is a custom in Guangzhou weddings that the bride wears all the jewelry of her parents' dowry when she is married. This is actually the good intention of the woman's parents, but now, this custom is gradually being abolished.
She said that the bride was already wearing a wedding dress that day, and wearing so much gold jewelry would easily hurt her neck, and it was very inconvenient to salute and toast. At the same time, the concept of local parents in Guangzhou was also advancing with the times. , Now everyone pays more attention to the quality of the wedding banquet, and the "local style" is no longer favored.
Nowadays, at weddings, it is almost rare for the bride to wear dense gold jewelry on her body.
"Everyone now advocates simplicity and fashion. When I plan a wedding, I also tell brides that there is no need to wear so many golden bracelets and golden pigs. Just wear one. It is not expensive to be a glittering bride."
In planning weddings over the years, He Jiaxin clearly feels that the weddings of local newcomers in Guangzhou have become more frugal and pay more attention to style rather than pomp.
Nowadays, local newcomers in Guangzhou prefer small and exquisite wedding banquets with about 10 to 15 tables, which not only conforms to the current mainstream habits, but also avoids extravagance and waste.
hotel:
Small weddings become mainstream wedding banquet expenses "shrinked" to less than 20,000 yuan
In this regard, Miss Liu, the administrative manager of a star-rated hotel in Guangzhou, also feels the same.
Manager Liu said that in the past two years, although there are still many newlyweds holding weddings on some important festivals, the scale of weddings has been much smaller than in the past, and "small and beautiful" weddings have become the new fashion.
According to reports, the hotel can put up to 40 tables, but in the past two years, there has been no wedding banquet with more than 30 tables.
"Under normal circumstances, 80% of the 10-15 tables are, and many are even less than 10 tables, and there are only 40 or 50 guests, but the wedding banquet is still very warm and warm."
In recent years, in order to retain the relatively stable group of newly married couples, instead of increasing the price of wedding banquets, more “people-friendly” packages have been introduced.
"For example, in the past our wedding banquets started at 1,488 yuan, and now we have launched a 1,088-yuan wedding banquet, which is similar to the previous 1,488 yuan set menu. If the newlyweds have 15 tables, they can save 6,000 yuan."
Manager Liu remembers that at a wedding hosted by the hotel in February this year, although the newlyweds only invited more than 40 relatives and friends, the two newcomers were versatile and performed piano four-hands for the guests on the spot. Many of the details made into a beautiful documentary.
Manager Liu said that this "small and beautiful" personalized wedding has the same sense of ceremony and happiness as a large wedding.
Manager Liu said: "When many newcomers find us, they clearly say that the wedding should be small, beautiful and stylish, rather than pursuing pomp. Therefore, the reform of marriage customs is actually to reduce the burden of love and add points to happiness." Therefore, hotels are also adapting to this situation. Such changes, such as more attentive wedding site design, even small weddings can be solemn and lively.
In terms of dishes, today's new people have higher and higher requirements for wedding dishes.
For example, Cantonese wedding banquet dishes have some conventional dishes, such as roast suckling pig, sea cucumber and abalone, shark fin soup, etc. The higher-grade ones also include lobster and bird's nest soup.
Manager Liu told reporters that the wedding dishes should not only have good intentions, but also be exquisite, so that they have all the colors and flavors.
"Both the wedding scene and the wedding banquet reflect the young people's understanding of the new wedding customs - it doesn't have to be pompous, but it must be warm and delicate."
The manager of another star-rated hotel in Guangzhou also told reporters that small wedding banquets with more than ten tables have become a major trend in the industry, and most newcomers spend less than 20,000 yuan on wedding banquets.
Wedding Photography Shop:
Low-priced packages are more popular, making industry prices return to rationality
In a wedding dress shop in Haizhu District, Sister Mei, who has been in the wedding dress industry for 20 years, told reporters that in terms of wedding dresses, new people have become more and more "thrifty" in recent years.
She told reporters that in the past, many brides would choose to make wedding dresses. In addition to wearing them on the wedding day, brides would also collect wedding dresses as a testimony of happiness. The price of customized wedding dresses is relatively high, basically more than 5,000 yuan. Expensive even more than 20,000 yuan.
However, in the past two years, with the reform of wedding customs in Guangzhou, the concept of wedding dresses has also changed. .
Now in Sister Mei's shop, only 20% of the newlyweds order wedding dresses, and 80% of the newlyweds choose to rent wedding dresses.
Similarly, wedding photography shops have clearly felt the changes of new people.
In a wedding photography shop in Yuexiu District, Ms. Su, the store manager, told reporters that nowadays, simplifying wedding customs and simple wedding events have become a new choice for many newcomers.
The price of the "Extreme Package" launched by the company in the first two years was 26,888 yuan, but very few newcomers chose this package in the past year.
"From 2021 to now, the number of newlyweds who come to us to take wedding photos has dropped by more than 30% compared with 2019. Now it seems that everyone's consumption habits have really changed. According to our statistics, the number of wedding photography shops in Guangzhou has increased by at least two years in the past two years. 40% less."
Ms. Su said that considering the changes in wedding photography consumption brought about by new marriage customs, wedding photography shops have also adjusted the package price.
Today, the most expensive package in the store is only 12,888 yuan, and the cheapest is only 4,888 yuan. The overall price has been reduced by nearly half compared with two years ago.
Every year, the store will hold many promotional activities. For the newlyweds who shoot wedding dresses in the store, they will also give the groom a suit, a pair of leather shoes, and a princess dress for the bride.
Ms. Su said that it is the general trend of society to reduce the cost of marriage through the reform of marriage customs.
"In the past, the cost of marriage was indeed relatively large. It is also a good thing to make the price of the wedding photography industry return to rationality and squeeze out the 'moisture'."
rural youth:
Big speakers publicize the custom of marriage
Not only in cities, but now in rural areas, the changes brought about by the reform of marriage customs are also immediate.
Li Chengdang, secretary of the Party branch of a village in Conghua District, told reporters that in the past, marriages in rural areas did involve a lot of extravagance and extravagance.
"In the past, many villagers felt that wedding banquets were about face, so even if the burden was heavy, they held on." But in fact, most of the expenses of rural youths getting married and preparing wedding banquets were paid by their parents, and some villagers themselves did not have high incomes. After the child is married, the quality of life of the old couple may decline a lot for a period of time.
Secretary Li said that in the past, young people who went out to work spent a lot of money on marriage, and if the woman asked, the man would also give a certain amount of dowry, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan.
In the past year or so, the town and the village committee have promoted the new wedding customs to the villagers by distributing leaflets, proposals, hanging banners, loudspeaker broadcasts or door-to-door publicity, advocating villagers to hold weddings frugally.
As for the bride price, it will be determined according to the man's economic conditions, and it is generally limited to 50,000 yuan. The money for participating in the wedding banquet has also been greatly simplified. Now the villagers participate in the wedding banquet, and the money is generally controlled at 100 yuan. Within, many give 50 yuan.
With the new and simple wedding ceremony becoming a new fashion, many villagers have gradually become accustomed to this new wedding custom.
In particular, the party members in the village took the lead in practicing the custom of newlyweds.
"The wedding burden is lighter, and the annual expenditure on wedding wine is less, and everyone feels good." Secretary Li said.
Li Wenbin (pseudonym), another village cadre in Guangzhou, also told reporters that for a long time in the past, sky-high betrothal gifts had become a burden for young men and women to get married.
After these years of promoting the reform of marriage customs, the town and the village will preach the reform of marriage customs to the villagers every year, advocating a new trend of civilized marriage customs, and putting an end to sky-high betrothal gifts and luxurious wedding banquets.
Through the reform of marriage customs, the village's marriage customs has a new look.
"We have a customary rule on the amount of money for the wedding banquet, the number of tables for the wedding banquet, and the bride price. When the newlyweds are ready to invite everyone to a wedding wine, they will be reminded when necessary." He said that the new wedding custom is not only economical It saved the expenses and put an end to comparisons, and received extensive support from the villagers.
Text/Guangzhou Daily All Media Reporter Xiao Huanhuan