McWeddings
At first glance, I must admit, I was appalled by what I was about to read: the idea that McDonald’s, throughout Hong Kong, had gotten into the near $1.4 billion a year wedding game according to the New York Times (there are also McWeddings in mainland China). The slow foodie in me, the environmentalist, the lover of tradition…all cringed. Good Heavens, just what the world needs, unhealthy, fast-food weddings, complete with saturated fat, sodium and Styrofoam!
But then, after digging deeper, all my eco-ethnic-epicurean snobbery went out the window. The typical Chinese wedding – especially for the working class and the impoverished, is a pressure-laden and often financially crippling ordeal. According to the article, the average Hong Kong couple spends $29,200 on their wedding, a taxing sum given that the average monthly income in HK is only about $2,250. And then there are the traditions, viewed as so burdensome by many young Chinese that their wedding becomes a joyless, perfunctory, familial and societal obligation that leaves them with a hefty debt and little in the way of fond memories.
Enter McDonald’s! Who would have thought fast food would be the great social equalizer – for weddings!? (Actually, that’s exactly what the fast food companies are thinking.) For just under $1,300, a McWedding (a term coined by McDonald’s) includes food, drink and cake for 50 people, and, more interestingly, provides a service that falls so outside the cultural norm that it sidesteps many of the familial and societal pressures and obligations that swaddle a young couple with debt and resentment.
So culture maven, what think you? How does this further change the youth culture in China? Is this a solution to a problem, or, given the unhealthy nature and environmental impact of fast food, just creating a new problem altogether? Does it eschew the issue that for many cultures, the expensive, pressure-inducing modern wedding needs to be entirely re-examined?
Adam
Well, there is no denying that the proposition is more practical than a 29,000$ wedding, followed by at least a year of repayment of debt..
Culture Vs Practicality – I vote being practical and enjoying your wedding…
The wedding include priest? And the priest can be Catholic, Cristian, any religion permited? The priest costume is Ronald Macdonald, the red clown ? In Mexico when a wedding is realized, the couple gives personalized souvenirs with the couple names as little bells, or mirrors to the guests, is the same in China?
I believe that small tokens from the bridal party may be provided as well. One wedding that I attended included a bar of chocolate boxed in a cell phone with the couple’s photo on the “screen.” They love clever ideas such as that. The engaged couple photo sessions are legendary, as are the 3 + dresses that the bride dons during her day. The classic Chinese wedding is a huge deal!!
Though unhealthy food would be served/enjoyed during Mcweddings, the fact remains that it is indeed a very practical alternative as compared to the traditional expensive Chinese weddings. We would love to see the impact of Mcweddings in India which also faces the same issue – of having overtly expensive flamboyant weddings which are nothing but a sheer waste of money.
Any alternative which gives people an option to have a decent wedding (minimal expenses) with the cultural ethos intact would help a lot of single people actually look forward to getting married rather than dread the debt one would end up with post the wedding!
@Doug Waterman
Indeed, according to the NY Times article linked in the top paragraph, the package includes gifts for the guests, though it doesn’t specify what type of gift would be arranged at such a reasonably priced package.