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A Hong Kong bride-to-be expects a big diamond in her engagement ring, and that’s just the start when it comes to wedding expenses. Photo: Instagram/ @alexfungphotography

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
Fashion

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.

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Spending on every wedding item increased. The costs of pre-wedding photography, rings and other jewellery, as well as honeymoons, rose by double digits.

Wedding banquet expenses rose by 3 per cent this year, to an average of HK$149,044 per couple, making them the biggest single outlay. Spending on rings and other jewellery increased 17 per cent, to an average of HK$108,988.

The survey focused mainly on spending behaviour, but it also examined the qualities men and women consider most when choosing a partner.

For men, the qualities were skin deep, with good looks (46 per cent) and good body shape (44 per cent) ranking the highest. Women, on the other hand, cared less about men’s appearance and figure: only 17 per cent chose “good-looking” and only 12 per cent “good body shape”.

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