At least a 1-carat diamond ring for her, good looks and body shape for him: what Hong Kong brides-to-be and grooms look for from a partner
- Don’t have a ring? Most brides will say no to your proposal. And if you do buy one, the rock had better be big. But the spending doesn’t stop there
- Photos, banquet, dresses and make-up, as well as betrothal money pushed the average cost of a wedding in the city in 2022 to over US$49,000
When it comes to diamond engagement rings, size matters. Hong Kong brides-to-be want a rock that’s at least one carat.
That is one of the findings of e-commerce website ESDlife’s survey that asked 1,226 people, with marriage plans between 2022 and 2024, about their wedding spending.
If you don’t have a ring when you propose, prepare for the worst: more than half of the brides-to-be (56 per cent) said they would reject a proposal if it didn’t come with a ring.
But the findings were mostly good news for the city’s loved-up couples, with the number of marriages in 2022 estimated to be 29,320, up 9 per cent from last year, when Covid-19 slammed the brakes on the wedding plans of many.
This year also saw the average budget for wedding expenses rebound by nine per cent to HK$384,366 (US$49,440) after two years of decline because of pandemic-related restrictions and social-distancing measures that limited the scope of celebrations.
The average amount of betrothal money – the giving of a cash gift (pin jin) by the groom to the bride’s family as a symbol of his gratitude to them for raising her – hit a record of HK$68,000. This compares with HK$50,000 in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and HK$60,000 last year.