Start-up’s online wedding platform to make arranging marriage celebrations in Hong Kong easier
- Our Big Day will provide information about venues and service providers to help couples plan their wedding and brush up on Chinese marriage traditions
- Guests will be able to give lai see through the platform, which will be free to use but will take a cut from bookings; the city hosts 50,000 weddings a year
When Jerome Tam Chung-lam was planning his wedding celebrations in Britain and Hong Kong, he was surprised by the discrepancy between the two places in terms of online platforms to organise nuptials.
In Britain, there are a number of websites to which to refer. That made it easy for him and his British fiancée Jenni to plan their big day there – in July 2017 – from Hong Kong.
When it came to putting together a banquet in his hometown the following April, however, there was a dearth of online information to help them find venues, wedding outfits and even information about Chinese traditions.
Tam says Our Big Day is aimed at the Hong Kong market, which hosts 50,000 weddings per year.
“The amount of money generated from giving lai see to the bride and groom is HK$19 billion [US$2.4 billion] a year,” Tam says.
That figure is based on the average reception having 250 guests, and the going rate for lai see is about HK$1,000 per person.