"Why Spend Tens of Millions?" Surge in Popularity for 5 Million Won 'Cost-Effective' Weddings

Traditional Weddings Offer Individuality and Practicality
Cost Is Only a Quarter of Standard Ceremonies
A Shift Away from Multi-Million Won Wedding Culture

As a result of a survey conducted by the matchmaking company Gayun on 1,000 married men and women who got married within the last five years, the average wedding preparation cost, excluding housing prices, reached 62.98 million KRW. Getty Images

An increasing number of engaged couples are opting for traditional wedding ceremonies instead of standardized wedding hall events. This trend is becoming established as a new wedding culture, as it allows couples to reduce costs while expressing their individuality and Korean identity.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency as of May 2026, the national average cost of wedding services stood at 20.88 million KRW. For the second consecutive month, the average exceeded 20 million KRW, following April’s figure of 21.01 million KRW.

A survey conducted by the matchmaking company Gayun on 1,000 married men and women who got married within the last five years found that, excluding housing prices, the average wedding preparation cost reached 62.98 million KRW. The average cost for wedding packages—which include studio photography, dress, and makeup—was 4.79 million KRW, while the average expenditure for the ceremony itself, such as venue rental and catering, amounted to 9.9 million KRW.

In contrast, traditional weddings are known to cost around 4 to 5 million KRW on average, excluding catering expenses—just one-fourth the cost of a typical wedding. A traditional wedding program operated by a folk museum in Seoul is held three times a day, with reservations fully booked each week due to high demand.

Traditional Wedding Ceremony. National Heritage Promotion Institute Korean House Homepage

The appeal of traditional weddings is not limited to cost savings. Engaged couples are reinterpreting traditional ceremonies as "experiential weddings," where they and their guests can participate in activities such as tea ceremonies, traditional pattern decorations, and recreating a hanok (traditional Korean house) space.

Recently, so-called "K-Bridal Showers"—which feature hanbok and traditional accessories—have emerged, especially on social networking services (SNS). Unlike the standard white dress, participants wear traditional ceremonial outfits and enjoy a celebratory table with Korean desserts like japchae and tteok.

This trend reflects the reality that the financial burden of weddings is contributing to a reluctance to marry. In the Gayun survey, engaged couples cited "entrenched wedding procedures" (34.0%) and "traditional mindsets of both families" (31.7%) as the main reasons it is difficult to reduce unnecessary wedding preparations.

Analysts note that the growing demand for traditional weddings is driven by couples seeking to break away from the entrenched norm of expensive, multi-million won ceremonies.

Traditional weddings are drawing attention as the next stage after "small weddings," as they offer individuality, practicality, and Korean identity all at once. As social pressure over wedding costs increases, more engaged couples are expected to forgo formality in favor of meaningful ceremonies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.