"Wedding Costs at Least 100 Million Won... Fully Booked Until Next Year" Luxury Hotel Weddings in High Demand

Prospective Couples Open Wallets Despite Costs in Hundreds of Millions
Closure of Small Wedding Halls and Increased Demand for Venues After COVID-19

Demand for wedding venues has exploded, making the first step of wedding preparation?booking the venue?highly competitive. The prolonged COVID-19 period led to the closure of small and medium-sized wedding halls, and the polarization of the wedding market favoring luxury wedding halls is cited as the cause of the booking difficulties.

According to the hotel industry on the 24th, major wedding venues in the Seoul area are almost fully booked not only for this year but also for next year. Especially during peak seasons, it is difficult to find available slots during the "golden hours" such as Saturday lunch, dinner, and Sunday lunch.

Wedding stock photo. [Photo by Pixabay]

For wedding venues at Lotte Hotel Seoul and Signiel Seoul, located in central Seoul, weekend lunch bookings for May this year are reported to be nearly fully booked. For May next year, except for the first week during the holiday period, all golden time slots are fully booked.

A Lotte Hotel representative told Maeil Business Newspaper, "Except for some off-peak time slots this year or rare cancellations, all wedding bookings on preferred dates are fully booked," adding, "Except for a few off-peak time slots in January and February next year, all popular weekend time slots up to May are fully booked."

At Westin Chosun Seoul, wedding venue bookings are also fully booked through December this year. They are currently accepting reservations for April to June next year, and popular weekend time slots are filling up quickly.

The situation is similar at other hotels. Glad Hotel Yeouido is conducting promotions for remaining time slots as bookings for the peak season (April to May) in the first half of next year are nearly complete, and Kensington Hotel Yeouido has a weekend time slot booking rate of 70-80% this year. Except for some off-peak time slots, bookings for major time slots are almost fully booked.

With fewer options for prospective couples, the activation of social media has increased demand for premium weddings, causing a concentration of bookings at certain vendors.

When getting married at a major 5-star hotel in Seoul, the expected cost for 400 guests is known to approach at least 100 million KRW. A Shilla Hotel representative stated, "If you choose the most basic options, it starts from the mid-90 million KRW range," adding, "Depending on various options such as floral decorations and meals, the cost can rise up to 250 million KRW."

The hotel industry is expanding wedding products such as banquet halls in response to the increased demand for luxury weddings. The wedding venue industry believes that hotel weddings are preferred by many because they guarantee guest accessibility and meal quality, and the wedding duration is generously over three hours.

The increase in premium demand, the slight narrowing of the gap between luxury weddings and general wedding halls due to high inflation, and the convenience of large hotels in terms of service use and accessibility are all estimated to have influenced this trend.