Marriage hall rentals go up to QR150,000 per night
This being the marriage season for Qataris, the issue being hotly debated in their community these days is how expensive it is to rent wedding halls.
Marriage hall rents have gone up to QR150,000 a night, and since one must book not one but two halls — one for men, the other for women — one must spend QR300,000 on marriage venue alone.
Hall rentals come in packages as decoration and light refreshments are included.
Food for banquets is supplied by caterers and they must be paid separately.
Tents that are erected in open grounds with permission from the municipality concerned were a better option earlier as they worked out to be less expensive, said another national, Hadi Al Marri.
But that option is out now since one needs about QR180,000 to hold marriage parties in tents, he added.
In some GCC countries, people have begun holding simple marriage parties early in the evening and serve only tea, coffee and refreshments to guests to cut costs, he said. “We should emulate such examples and economise,” said Al Marri.
“Exorbitant marriage costs are to blame for many young men and women remaining unmarried until late.”
Yet another Qatari, Nasser Al Abdullah, said the government is building many wedding halls across the country and they could be used by nationals at nominal rent.
“The government should hasten up and build the halls as soon as possible,” said Al Abdullah.
It is foolish to spend QR300,000 (as rent for halls) for just a few hours, said Naji Al Nuaimi, a citizen.
Psychologist Dr Batool Khalifa said escalating marriage costs were responsible for late marriages in the community.
People take loans from banks and are unable to repay. This causes social and psychological problems for them in the long run.
Source: The Peninsula | Photo: Jammer in the QL Flickr Group
SubhanAllah! That's really sad what you are saying fubar, and to know that the mother's of the believers would get married with an iron ring, handful of dates.....and they were the most pious, generous, kind, praiseworthy, beautiful women to ever exist. People are falling into haram things for show off. SubhanaAllah our Prophet made the marriage such an easy thing because he wanted people to remain pious and chaste, and he wanted young people to enter the sanctity of marriage with ease.
That's rubbish about tents costing 180,000.
Tent weddings can be as cheap as about 30,000. The price would be 180 if you want crystal chandeliers inside (I've seen some!) and hotel catering and professional film crews to record the event, and live bands and 1,000 guests...
This is the real problem with the costs of weddings. Everyone agrees that they are too expensive and unaffordable, but people keep paying anyway because they can't be seen to be "too poor" not to be able to afford a fancy event. Even middle class people find themselves pressured to spend 200,000 just on the flowers for the women's wedding, even though they really can't afford it. But to not have a wedding as fancy as their cousin's will bring some sort of 'shame' and embarrassment by admitting you can't afford it.