This file photo shows a wedding ceremony held in the country’s southwestern city of Gwangju on July 4, 2020, with empty tables. Organizers reduced the number of seats down to 49 to comply with the city’s social distancing guidelines at the time. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Couples who postponed their wedding last spring following the coronavirus outbreak have been dealt a cruel hand with the onset of a second wave of infections.
Many couples postponed their wedding hoping that the coronavirus would eventually die off in the summer, a dream that is going up in smoke after the recent surge in the number of coronavirus infections.
With the level 2 social distancing measures in place, couples are being asked to refrain from inviting guests and family members.
What’s more, many wedding halls are refusing to accept cancellations, forcing many couples to pay for food prepared for guests who failed to show up at the wedding.
Wedding halls keep a minimum number of guests that the couples have to pay for catering and other services even if fewer people show up.
Even if the couples choose to accept 50 or less guests, they will still have to pay for food for 200 to 400 people since the wedding halls refuse to change the minimum number of guests.
Last Friday on the presidential website, a petition was posted asking the wedding halls to annul reservations if level 2 social distancing measures are imposed.
“With level 2 social distancing measures in place, we are required to invite less than 50 people to our wedding. If we exclude the staff, we are only able to invite only 40 people,” said the petitioner and a soon-to-be bride.
“We’ll be forced to pay 10 million won (US$8,500) to invite 40 guests.”
In light of growing complaints, the Fair Trade Commission, the country’s anti-trust watch dog, has asked the Association of Wedding Industry to allow customers to reschedule weddings to later dates without penalties.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
