Setting the stage for 'I do'

From the planning to the honeymoon, a wedding is never as simple as the album pictures make it seem. Especially if that wedding is taking place in Romania, where this one-off event is expected to make fairytale weddings literally seem like children’s stories. The economic, and perhaps even social, context has however left its mark on this tradition, making it slowly lose ground in an ever more modern Romania. BR analyzed the phenomenon, speaking to the big players on the local wedding scene.

Corina Dumitrescu

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, fewer couples got married in 2010 than at any time since 1948. Slightly over 110,000 weddings were held last year, 17 percent down on 2009 and 37 percent down on 2008. Surprisingly enough, the divorce rate has also decreased, falling to 31,000, the lowest number in ten years. On average, one in 4.5 marriages in Romania has ended in divorce in the last 30 years.

Given these trends, how have those working in the wedding business adapted to the times and what do they think of the current situation? Suzanne Dobromir, managing partner at the magazine Ideal Mariaj (a guide for all those planning their wedding or who are simply interested in the subject), believes, “Marriage has remained an important institution and a wedding is the most important event in a couple’s life.”

In spite of this, Romanians seem to prefer the DIY option for their wedding and quite often future brides take upon themselves the role of a wedding organizer and his or her team. Dobromir explains: “Romanians continue to be skeptical about using the full services supplied by a wedding planner. Not because of trust issues, but because they would rather organize their wedding with their family and friends.” She adds, “Unlike weddings abroad, where a lot of money is invested, in our country, a lot of focus is put on gathering the family and friends together.”

But wedding planner Raluca Movila Regiulis, who works at Bon Mariage agency, says, “Romanians’ attitude to wedding organizers has changed significantly in the last five years and we, as the first such company, have felt this change even more keenly. Currently, our client profile is largely the successful young man, who has reached the top on his own and who is well aware of the true value of money, but who is trusting enough to hand over the organization of the entire event to a professional agency.” Regiulis sums up the benefits of hiring a wedding planner as “less stress and more time for them [the couple] to enjoy their truly unique event.”

Has the crisis affected the local wedding business? Regiulis thinks it has. “Indeed, economic reasons have in recent months made clients more careful with their budgets and choose the best price-quality offers, but the situation has not yet made couples miss out on their most cherished dream, their wedding, by limiting their budget or even canceling the event.” The Bon Mariage agency, Regiulis says, registered a turnover of EUR 1 million in 2010. It organized 250 events in 2009, a little over the estimated 200-220 in 2010.

Organizing a wedding may hold some of the glamour that Hollywood films have conferred on this kind of profession, but beyond all this there is the usual amount of toil that any events agency has to deal with. Sinziana Ginga is the events manager at La Noblesse, a full-service agency set up in 2008, with the aid of people who had worked in the field of private events for over six years. Why weddings? “Because you never get bored. Weddings are an expression of one’s personality and that makes us active all the time and helps us meet people, cultures, traditions and new challenges. The feeling of seeing the happy expressions on the couple’s faces at the end of their ceremony cannot be equaled.”

Going a bit further into the depths of organizing a wedding in Romania, Ginga recommends starting to organize the big day a year in advance, although some couples have turned up as late as one week prior to walking down the aisle. Planning a wedding has ten steps for Ginga: the concept, guest list, choice of wedding organizer, budget calculation, location, legal and religious marriage, the music, décor, the bachelor/bachelorette party and the final event planning, best done one week before the day itself.

Foreigners often note that traditions play a very important part in modern Romanian weddings and are often mixed with Western influences. The most beautiful and purest of local traditions are best observed in rural areas. In urban Romania, one of the most conspicuous and curious-to-the-foreign-eye tradition is perhaps the so-called “stealing” of the bride during the reception: this is a custom of unknown origins, whose purpose is to show that the groom should only have eyes for his bride. However, when he is not paying attention, the bride gets stolen and a ransom is demanded for her return, which most of the time consists of amusing challenges that the groom has to fulfill, not the actual payment of money.

The chief concern of a Romanian wedding, however, seems to be culinary, even more than the bride and groom’s attire. “Generally, the most important aspect here is the dinner. Outside Romania, there are two-three courses. Here it is a minimum of five, with every kind of drink. One can say that the event turns into a true spectacle that lasts until four or five in the morning, while abroad, the reception itself lasts no longer than four-five hours,” says Ginga.

To provide more information, wedding fairs are organized on a regular basis in Bucharest and across Romania. Expo Ideal Mariaj, organized by Ideal Mariaj magazine, is one such event that took place on February 25-27 at Sala Polivalenta. Initial estimations were of around 10,000 visitors over the fair’s three days, with the most popular stands being those exhibiting wedding dresses, says Dobromir. Another imminent wedding fair is being organized by Jukebox Venue on March 19-20 on Str. Turturelelor 11, in Bucharest. And E-Marriage Fest will take place in Piata Constitutiei, on March 25-27.

corina.dumitrescu@business-review.ro