The Covid-19 pandemic has been spared no sector in its destructive trail. With government-imposed restrictions, the service industry has suffered big losses running into billions of Kenya shillings. The Kenyan social routine has been interrupted in a way not witnessed before. One of the celebrated social events that has not been spared is the weddings festivities. While many are stressed by the cancellation of planned weddings, others took this as an opportunity to have low key and low budget weddings. The ‘family only’ weddings became the trend in 2020, saving new couples a fortune. But how much really does a wedding cost in Kenya? In 2019, MaReSol Consulting Limitedconducted an online surveyon wedding expenses in Kenya. The survey targeted individuals that had conducted formal wedding ceremonies in Kenya. It explored the expenses incurred during weddings, the sources of financing, the key influencers of wedding decisions, and what would change if they could have their weddings again. Respondents were identified purposively through social networks and religious groups. The survey was taken by 131 respondents, 33% being male and 67% female. 91.5% of the respondents got married between 2005 and 2020 across 20 counties in Kenya.
The survey revealed that wedding expenditure ranged from Kes. 100,000 to over 5 million. 41% of the respondents had spent between Kes. 500,00 – 1 million. 11.5% had spent between Kes. 100,000-200,000 another 11.5% had spent between Kes. 1 – 2 million.
To finance the wedding extravaganza, a majority of the respondents (87.8%) had financed their wedding through personal savings. In addition, 45.8% received further financing from well wishers, 42% from wedding committees, 40.5% from parents’ support, and 7.6% from bank or sacco loans.
The change of weddings from festivities to family affair has been a relief to some, and an anti-climax for other. The survey revealed that the bride had the greatest influence on wedding decisions (48.7%). Other influencers were the groom at 32.8%, parents at 7.8% while friends influenced 3.3% of the time. Ironically, the Church had great influence among only 1.6% of the respondents.
A majority (45.8%) of the survey respondents indicated they would spend the same amount if they could have their weddings again. 41% indicated they would spend less than before. When asked what else they would do differently, the responses were as follows:
- Have a small intimate ceremony that is personalised and attended by close family and friends only.
- Reduce the expenses exponentially, especially on food, hired cars, and bridal party.
- Have both wedding and reception at the same venue, or avoid having a reception altogether.
- Have a simple wedding with fewer activities and less wastage e.g. an evening wedding, an AG wedding or a cultural wedding.
- Avoid being picked from the village but instead from any other place near the wedding venue, including a hotel.
- Change the venue, the day of the week to a weekday, and the period/month.
- Clarify expectations to service providers.
- Avoid using friends as service providers.
- Hire a gown instead of buying one that ends up in the closet.
- Spend less on the wedding day and more on the honeymoon.
- Use Air B&B instead of hotels for the honeymoon.
- Save up more to reduce dependence on well-wishers.
- Avoid exhausting personal savings.
- Dance more, drink more, and care less what everyone thinks.
In retrospect, married couples felt they had the wedding their families wanted rather than what was best for them. The financial and emotional demands of planning the ‘perfect’ wedding can leave a couple as well as their family and friends overwhelmed. This survey provides insights on pitfalls to avoid when planning a wedding.
Helen Kangiri
Organisation Development Consultant
MaReSol Consulting Limited
hkangiri@maresolconsulting.com
