Increased Wedding Spending

Couples last year spent on average close to $66,000 on weddings, a level on par with pre-economic crisis spending levels.

The Sunwoo Corporation, a data-gathering firm, polled 150 newly married couples during a 3-week period (as of the 17th of January). Sunwoo released on February 16 their findings- bridegrooms spent $40,000 and brides $26,000 respectively.

The figure is similar to 1997 marriage spending levels which stood at $66,000. Compared to 1998 which stood at $54,000, this year's figure shows a jump of $11,300.

Broken down into categories, couples spent $36,000 (55.9 percent) on housing, $9,900 (13.3 percent) on household necessities, $4,100 (5.4 percent) on family gifts, and $2,130 (3.2 percent) on honeymoon expenses.

It was discovered that on average the groom's parents contributed $17,300 and the bride's parents $14,600 to the marriage expenses.

The money gifts given by wedding guests amounted on average to $11,400, each guest contributing about $34.