Wedding boom around the corner as Turkey returns to normal

ISTANBUL

With Turkey gradually reopening and returning to normal after days of strict restrictions, hundreds of thousands of couples are hurrying to get married this year out of fear that the government might reclose facilities, increasing the number of weddings planned to be held across the country from 500,000 to 750,000.

Experiencing difficult times during the pandemic, representatives of the wedding-related sectors dealing in providing wedding halls, wedding dresses, furniture and household appliances said that 750,000 weddings would take place this summer, including the 250,000 weddings that could not be held last year.

“About 250,000 couples couldn’t have their wedding last year due to the pandemic even though they planned it. Maybe we will reach the highest number of weddings this summer,” said Emek Kırbıyık, founder of dugun.com, Turkey’s leading wedding and marriage planning platform.

Many wedding venues are unavailable during the summer, and probably two to three weddings will be held in one day, according to Kırbıyık.

Stressing that venue fee for weddings without food start from 10,000 Turkish Liras ($1,160), Kırbıyık said that expenses increased by 15 percent this year and prices per person start from 100 liras ($11.60) and go up to 400 liras ($46.40) for a wedding with food.

In some places, the price per person even reaches 500 Euros. However, in regions such as Istanbul’s Sarıyer district, an approximate cost for a wedding venue can be somewhere between 30,000 to 40,000 liras ($3,500-$4,600).

Noting that 160,000 weddings are being held in Istanbul alone, Kırbıyık emphasized that this number would increase even more now, but that the sector had enough resources to meet this demand comfortably.

Adem Sönmez, the chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Meeting and Wedding Halls Management (ISTDO), stated that the occupancy rate in the wedding halls was over 80 percent.

In line with Turkey’s reopening strategy, weddings will be held with limited participation and without catering service until June 15.

Ceremonies such as weddings, engagements and henna nights will be allowed after July 1 without participation limitations and catering service restrictions, as COVID-19 measures are expected to ease further in the coming weeks with the increase in Turkey’s vaccination rate.

Meanwhile, some 60 percent of Turks believe that the vaccination process is going slowly, according to a recent survey carried out by Ipsos.

The survey notes that nearly 22 percent of the people believe that vaccination is as fast as it should be, while only 4 percent believe that it is going fast.

The information given by the Health Ministry about the vaccination schedule is considered “sufficient” by 45 percent of the society, but the rate of those who are against this opinion is around 33 percent.