One Week Before the Wedding... Fair Trade Commission Leaves Key 'Guaranteed Number of Guests' to Industry Self-Regulation

Fair Trade Commission Negotiates Extension of No-Penalty Postponement from 3 to 6 Months
Reduction of Guaranteed Attendees by Key Vendors Remains 'Voluntary'
Some Wedding Halls Say "Cannot Reduce Guaranteed Attendees by More Than 20%"
Assuming Minimum Guarantee of 250 People, Loss of 100+a Attendees

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] "Wedding halls are parroting the same answers to newlyweds without any concrete plans on how to accommodate the guaranteed number of guests they proposed. The issue is not the postponement but the reduction of the guaranteed number of guests, so I question whether the 'voluntary' agreement between the government and wedding halls is effective." (From an open chat room related to Wedding Hall A)

On the morning of the 21st, 30-year-old bride-to-be Kim Sera (pseudonym) started her day by logging into an open KakaoTalk chat room where about 40 brides-to-be in similar situations gathered. After first hearing the news on the 15th that the guest limit was set to 50 indoors and 100 outdoors, she felt hopeless and sought out other brides getting married around the same time, but only found more confusion. Although the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the responsible district office issued detailed guidelines on the 19th, the problem is that these keep changing daily. Seoul announced that if weddings are postponed within three months, wedding halls cannot charge cancellation fees, but the Fair Trade Commission extended the postponement period to six months on the 21st. However, reducing the guaranteed number of guests remains practically impossible even if the wedding is postponed, leading to comments among brides and grooms that "it doesn't help much." Having already postponed once, Kim decided it would be difficult to postpone again until December and resolved to proceed in September, but she sighed deeply.

Kim originally dreamed of a May wedding but postponed it to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic last spring. Recently, COVID has caught up with her again. After the announcement of social distancing level 2, she had to spend an hour repeatedly calling the wedding hall and the responsible district office because detailed guidelines were not yet released. The wedding hall Kim contracted with said immediately after receiving the official notice, "Meals such as table service are completely prohibited, so all will be replaced with return gifts," but the Gangnam District Office staff said, "Single-item dishes served by staff, not buffet style, are allowed." Ultimately, they decided to provide meals.

In Kim’s case, since May is peak season, she signed a contract with a hall rental fee of 1.5 million KRW, meal cost of 50,000 KRW per person, and a minimum guaranteed number of 250 guests. When Seoul limited the number of guests to 50, the wedding hall stated that they could invite a total of 100 guests, including 50 in the wedding hall and 50 in the banquet hall. Some wedding halls said that staff should be included in the guest count, while others said they should not. Kim had to call the district office again to inquire. After a long wait, the district office staff informed her, "The number of people inside the hall can be counted excluding the wedding hall staff."

The most contentious issue is the conflict with the wedding hall over reducing the guaranteed number of guests. Although the Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Wedding Industry Association agreed to adjust the minimum guaranteed number, it is only a recommendation, and consumer disputes are likely to follow. Kim paid a deposit of 2 million KRW out of the total wedding cost of 14 million KRW, which includes the meal cost (50,000 KRW per person) for 250 guests. The wedding hall stated that they could not reduce the guaranteed number by more than 20% for September. 80% of 250 is 200 guests. Considering the maximum capacity of 100 guests at the wedding hall, Kim has to reluctantly pay for about 100 guests’ meals, amounting to 5 million KRW. Kim sighed, saying, "500 million KRW is a huge amount for newlyweds who are not financially well-off. It is unreasonable to have to pay for meals for people who won’t even be invited, so it seems like a wedding where we spend money and only get criticized."

Meanwhile, according to the Fair Trade Commission, the Korea Wedding Industry Association accepted the commission’s request to allow consumers to postpone their wedding without penalty for up to six months from the scheduled date or to reduce the minimum guaranteed number depending on individual member companies’ circumstances if proceeding as planned. The Fair Trade Commission strongly recommended that non-member wedding businesses also implement measures similar to those accepted by the Korea Wedding Industry Association. Among about 200 wedding businesses in the metropolitan area, about 150 are members of the association. The Fair Trade Commission plans to continue encouraging cooperation through meetings with non-member wedding businesses and to discover and introduce best practices. Some prospective newlyweds have even started preparing by creating separate secret chat rooms, stating they are willing to file class-action lawsuits against wedding halls. To join the chat room, they must provide proof such as wedding invitations and contract documents to verify they are genuine newlyweds and undergo identity verification. They intend to hold wedding halls accountable for issues such as the selection process of return gifts, reduction of guaranteed guests, and unfaithful responses from wedding halls.

Additionally, the Fair Trade Commission is discussing with related industries and stakeholders to establish standards for exemption and reduction of penalties related to infectious diseases for five sectors including weddings, dining, travel, airlines, and accommodations since the outbreak of COVID-19. The main point is to allow contract cancellations without penalties if a special disaster area is declared due to an infectious disease or if facility operation is suspended or closed, making contract fulfillment impossible. Furthermore, if the infectious disease alert level is severe or indoor capacity restrictions make contract fulfillment difficult, measures will be prepared to allow contract modifications without penalties or to reduce penalties upon cancellation. A Fair Trade Commission official said, "For the wedding industry, we are aiming to complete this by next month, considering related disputes and consultations with the industry."

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