Win a 65,000 wedding lunch box?… The bride in her 20s, at the end

A general view of the public wedding hall at the ‘North Seoul Dream Forest’ in Seoul. /Photo = Provided by the reader

“After going back and forth, I ended up choosing a private wedding hall I didn’t feel was significantly cheaper than what I had to give up.

Said Lee, a bride in her 20s who is going to get married next September, as she shared her review of a public wedding hall. Mr. Lee said, “When we found a good public wedding hall, the number of guests was not enough. The place that suited the conditions was not in the place that was needed, and the facilities were old.” He said, “It’s more reasonable to focus on the off-season at a private wedding hall “Yes,” he complained.

Due to the skyrocketing wedding costs following COVID-19 and the economic recession, the number of ‘thrifty’ couples trying to save on wedding costs is increasing. Accordingly, the ‘public wedding hall’ project that each local government is putting forward as a policy to alleviate the problems and burden of wedding hall accommodation costs for prospective couples is also attracting attention. This is a project to open up areas owned by all local governments at a low cost.

However, actual couples intending to use it indicated that the price advantages were not high compared to the limitations. It is explained that some public wedding halls have many restrictions, such as providing only box lunches for reception meals. Therefore, it is noted that it is necessary to add to the public marriage halls in order to be as competitive as private companies.

Lunch box meal cost 65,000 won… “It’s not cheap”

/Data = Seoul My Wedding Seoul is the region that is actively promoting the public wedding hall project. It operates 25 public wedding halls in the city and features regular price lists and real-time booking status through its ‘Seoul My Wedding’ website.

According to the standard price plan for public wedding halls in Seoul, the cost of a wedding based on 100 guests is at least 9.59 million to 13.21 million won. Prices vary depending on the details, such as whether the flower arrangement is artificial or fresh. If additional guests are added, an additional meal fee of 50,000 to 65,000 won per person must be paid. If you increase the number of guests to 200, it costs 5 more to 6.5 million won.

The official ‘rental fee’ for public wedding halls is free or around 500,000 won. According to the ‘Wedding Cost Report’ published in February this year by wedding information company Duo, the average cost of renting a wedding hall, excluding wedding expenses (studio, dress, makeup), for 1,000 newlyweds who married within the last two. year won 12.83 million. Since Seoul City is the most expensive among the cost of wedding halls nationwide, public wedding halls in Seoul seem to have reasonable prices, but criticism continues that they are not cheap compared to the population. – called ‘Free Rental Fees’.

Additionally, public wedding halls have restrictions compared to private wedding halls. Representative examples include a maximum guest capacity of around 100 and reception food in the form of lunch boxes. In the case of ‘North Seoul Dream Forest’, a popular wedding hall among public wedding halls in Seoul, this year, guests were able to choose buffet-style food service for the reception meal, but from next year, it will be able to change to just lunches in a box. This is because it is difficult to bring in food at first because it is kept inside a cultural building called ‘Seoulbeondong Changnyeong Wigungjaesa Temple’. However, even if you choose a full lunch, the price of the meal is the same, at 50,000 to 65,000 won. A Seoul city official explained, “There is no difference in the quality of food between buffet catering services and lunch boxes. “

Bride-to-be Jeong, who looked into the wedding hall and finally chose another one, said, “Even in private wedding halls in the metropolitan area, you can find places where food is priced buffet-style in the 60,000 won range,” and “If you can only provide full lunches, you can tie up with an outdoor restaurant.” He said, “I think the price to be low so you can give options or even prepare additional gifts in return.”

Instead of being cheap… “The application is complicated and resources are out of date”

Data picture of Uiwang City public wedding hall. / Photo = Gyeonggi-do Public Nuri Among prospective couples, they unanimously say, ‘At least in Seoul, reservations are convenient, there are many ceremony venues, and the bottom -a fully equipped structure.’ The explanation is that public wedding halls in other regions, except Seoul, have very old facilities and the booking process is difficult.

Currently, there are only 10 public marriage halls operating in Gyeonggi-do, and only one is in Goyang-si in northern Gyeonggi-do. Even in this case, the rental process is complicated, because to rent a place, you must apply for a public facility use permit, a public wedding hall use plan, and a safety management plan. There are no companies associated with rental equipment such as chairs or flower arrangements, so prospective couples will have to find their own. There are many places that don’t even have information on how to rent, let alone pictures of each wedding hall.

Reserved status at a public wedding hall in Seoul. There doesn’t seem to be a single reservation in the next month. /Photo=Seoul My Wedding Mr. Lee, who lives in Gyeonggi-do, pointed out the reserved conditions. He said, “Since this is an event where relatives come from all over the country, there are many prospective couples who want a Seoul wedding hall with convenient transportation even if they live in Gyeonggi -to Seoul’s public wedding halls website and saw that many wedding halls are empty for reservations, but it costs a little more He said, “It would be great if people who live in Gyeonggi Province to reserve a place, even if you have to pay.”

However, there are also positive voices saying that the problem, which has been identified as ‘surprise cost’ because the exact price is given only through a visit to the site or that there is a big difference in prices according to which the wedding season, which caused a severe information mismatch between business operators and consumers, was solved through a public wedding hall project. The study is that as public wedding venues open up their price lists completely, there is a self-cleansing effect among existing private businesses.

The number of use of public wedding halls in Seoul is also increasing. A total of 92 couples got married at public marriage halls in Seoul from last year to last month, and 130 couples are already booked for next year.

Kim Si-wol, a professor of consumer studies at Konkuk University, said, “Recently, there has been an increase in the trend to hold wedding ceremonies at wedding halls affiliated with one’s company. work, university alumni halls, etc. meaning that the demand for ‘cost-effective marriages’ is also increasing among prospective couples,” adding, “Local governments He suggested, “We need to strengthen the competitiveness of public marriage halls by to not only rent a place, but to cooperate with the existing private organizations. wedding companies to make them much cheaper than private companies.”

Kim Young-ri, Hankyung.com reporter [email protected]