Wedding Preparations: How Do Indonesian Couples Prepare Their Wedding?

Being married is a tough commitment and may be the biggest decision people make in their lives. However, when the times come, we finally meet the one and with all considerations decide to marry, then we jump to another rush before the “I do”. There are things to do and to be prepared for the marriage as well as the wedding. For some people, the wedding even becomes part of their fairy dreams. As the wedding is the first day and first step of couples’ marriage life, they want it to be as perfect as they want it to be. Therefore, most couples would be super busy yet excitedly prepare their wedding during their busy daily schedule. This condition then attracts wedding vendors who offer their service to support couples’ wedding preparation. Concerning this phenomenon, we conducted a survey toward Indonesian wedding preparation habit. By asking our 202 soon-to-be married respondents, we would like to discover their habit in preparing the wedding. As we surveyed them in nationwide, we provide several data regarding the considered ideally average price of wedding vendor service in provinces.

All the joy may ease the tense and tired, but to be honest preparing the wedding in general requires much effort, energy, attention, and detail. For some people, preparing the wedding may be time consuming and people start to make preparation in various time. However, our survey result found that 59% couple start to prepare their wedding in less than 6 months before the D-day. It may be a short time, but most respondents considered it as the most probable and effective duration. As preparing the wedding requires much attention, couple tend to seek help from their closest person. Their soon-to-be husband or wife, as well as their family become the most important person in preparing the wedding.

Other people who were considered as the important one in order to support wedding preparation were friends. 26% of respondents said that their friends were ready to help them preparing the wedding. However, the rising trend of wedding organizer also been captivated by this survey. Though the numbers was low, but the growing interest toward wedding organizer service was remaining high. Only 18% of our respondents use wedding organizer service, as they consider it was more practical and modern. Moreover, regarding the service fee of wedding organizer, most couple in nationwide were more likely to spend less than IDR 5 to 15 million.

Every day is a good day, but some couples believe particular date as the best day to be wed. To make it even more interesting, some other couples also try to find the long holiday to celebrate the wedding. Therefore, booking wedding venue becomes a tough challenge as couples may want to be wed in the same day in the same venue. We asked our respondents when they start booking wedding venue. Various answers were gathered. Most couples book the venue in less than 6 months before the wedding day. Other couples book the venue in 6-12 months prior. However, fewer couples even start to book the venue more than 12 months before the date.

Some couples may love to celebrate their wedding in ballroom, while some others have different wishes to celebrate it outdoor. Despite all the perfect wishes of wedding venue, there were several considerations on choosing wedding venue. Location, date availability, capacity, facilities, and booking price were mentioned as the considerable factors.

To fully understand couples’ insights of booking wedding venue, we asked about their average budget for venue. In Java, couples were more likely to spend about IDR 5-25 millions. In other hand, couples in different islands such as Sumatera, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi were more likely to allocate IDR 5-15 millions.

In their wedding day, the couples may want to be the one-day king and queen. They supposed to looks as the prettiest, loveliest, and most charming one. Wedding gown then becomes an essential part of the wedding. Regarding the time to sewing the wedding gown, most couples start it in less than 6 months. Fewer couples book wedding gown in 6-12 months before, while the least one start to sew more than 12 months before it.

We then asked them where they went to find the wedding gown. Two main answers were gathered. Couples were more likely to rent the dress or visit their nearby tailor/dressmaker to have their wedding gown sewed. Using the first rent was also chosen by 15% couples, while only 9% of the couples visited fashion designer. Concerning their budget allocations, most couples were averagely spent less than IDR 5-15 million for the wedding gown.

As wedding was the one in a lifetime moment, couples would like to remember it forever. They want it to be everlasting by making beautiful documentations both pre-wedding and the wedding. We asked them about their preference of pre-wedding and wedding documentation. Interestingly, most couples were more likely to hire famous professional photographer or seek the help of their friends who love photography. Moreover, regarding the budget allocations, most couples were averagely spent less than IDR 5-15 million for documentation.

Another essential for the wedding was the invitation. 74% couple start to order their wedding invitation less than 6 months before the wedding day. Interestingly, couples in different places were more likely spending various amounts for the invitation. In Java, couples were more likely to spend about less than IDR 5-15K/piece. In Sumatera, couples were more likely to spend less than IDR 5-10K/piece. In Sulawesi, they were more likely spend less than IDR 5K/piece, while in Kalimantan they were more likely to spend IDR 5-10K/piece.

Besides invitation, wedding souvenir also becomes another essential. Similar with the wedding invitation, couples in different place allocated different budget for souvenir. In Java, couples were more likely to spend less than IDR 5-15K/piece. However, in Sumatera, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi couples were more likely to spend about IDR 5-10K/piece.

All essential equipment maybe done, but the rush was not over. To be seems as the most beautiful one on the wedding day, bride and groom needs to have some treatments. Interestingly, the older the couple, the more likely they were to have body and hair treatments. However, compare to the bride, the groom were less likely to have neither body nor hair treatments.

After all the tense of wedding preparation, the couples would like to refresh and have some quality times as husband and wife. We asked them about their honeymoon planning. Interestingly, different ages of the couples preferred different moment to honeymoon. The 20-25 years old were more likely to have their honeymoon few weeks after the wedding day. In other hand, the 26-29 years old were more likely to have their honeymoon few days after the wedding. Concerning their most destinations for honeymoon, couples were more likely to prefer domestic destination. Bali and Lombok were mentioned as the most desirable destinations. Moreover, regarding their honeymoon budget allocation, most couples averagely allocated less than IDR 5-15 million for honeymoon expense.

For more detail you can download XLS report at the button below (bahasa). JAKPAT report consists of 3 parts which are 1) Respondent Profile, 2) Crosstabulation for each question and 3) Raw Data. Respondent profile shows you demographic profiles ( gender,age range, location by province, and monthly spending). Cross tabulation enables you to define different demographic segment preference on each answer.