By Kayla Olaya
Joyce Hon and Grant Kwan paid the same amount for a ceremony that many couples pay for a stock-standard, two-tier wedding cake: $479.
They had an hour-long ceremony on the waterfront in Pyrmont with 30 of their closest family and friends before heading to a Chinese restaurant in the city for lunch. The couple, who are Australian-born Chinese, said it was a “true-to-them” wedding.
Grant Kwan and Joyce Hon were married at Pyrmont registry. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
“Marriage is quite special to us. We’ve always wanted to have something more intimate where we invite people that are very near and dear to us, opposed to a traditional Chinese wedding where you’d have all these aunties and uncles – over 500 people at a venue,” said Hon.
Thousands of couples are choosing registry weddings each year, according to NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages, which recorded a 32 per cent uptick in couples getting married at the registry between 2023 and 2024.
Currently, the cheapest registry wedding in NSW is at Pyrmont, starting at $479. Each year, some lucky couples can score a slot for a Valentine’s Day ceremony at the Sydney Opera House, costing $1399.
Those getting married in NSW this year can expect to shell out $38,566 for an average wedding, according to Easy Weddings’ annual industry report. The average top-tier wedding costs upwards of $120,000, according to Wendy El-Khoury, director at global wedding platform Wedded Wonderland.
Joyce Hon and Grant Kwan say a quiet wedding suited their personality.
Many couples, such as Hon and Kwan, see that cost as money they could instead put towards travelling.
“We’d much rather save that money and spend it on a lavish holiday or a great honeymoon, rather than that one day of drinking and celebrating with friends and family,” said Hon.
Macquarie University marketing professor Jana Bowden said that with rent affordability and food insecurity at record lows, it “doesn’t leave much discretionary income to spend on lavish weddings for families living on the brink”.
“It’s a budget-conscious option for those wanting to scrap the months of arduous planning, cut the costs of hosting guests, while conveniently combining the wedding with a honeymoon ... The average consumer isn’t thinking about spending tens of thousands on a luxe wedding,” Bowden said.
Couples are now frequenting registries as a matter of convenience, to have an intimate moment with one another or to balance their budgetary priorities, El-Khoury said.
“When it comes to destination weddings, a lot of couples are having local registry weddings and then going overseas and having the reception somewhere else,” said El-Khoury, adding that some couples prefer a registry wedding to put the money towards a honeymoon, or a reception rather than a ceremony.
For Hon and Kwan, the registry wedding complemented their simplistic approach to life.
“We’re a bit more quiet, a bit more simple. That’s sort of our style, our personality,” said Hon.
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