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S'pore men put off marriage plans to Vietnam brides

metalslug

Alfrescian
Loyal
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,179954,00.html?

Global financial turmoil
Men not in the mood for love
Hit by downturn, S'pore men put off marriage plans to Vietnam brides
By Hedy Khoo

October 14, 2008

NP_IMAGES_HKVIET-4FS.jpg

WHERE ARE THE MEN?: Hopeful Vietnam brides waiting outside a matchmaking agency at Golden Mile Tower.

HE was all set to marry a Vietnamese woman who was here looking for a husband.

He had proposed. And agreed to pay the deposit for the match-making package, which included marriage arrangements, last month.

Then came the stock market crash. A lot of his assets went down the drain - and so did his mood for matrimony.

Just one day before he was to hand the money over, he lost half his savings.

So he pulled the plug on his plans to get hitched.

He felt he was too broke to make a long-term commitment to the woman he had chosen from a host of prospective Vietnamese brides.

Said Mr Mark Lin, 46, who owns Vietnamese Brides International, a match-making agency: 'He called me and said he had no cash on hand to pay and cancelled the marriage plans.'

He is not alone in feeling this way. Singapore men's interest in matchmade brides from Vietnam seems to have fallen along with market sentiment in the global financial crisis.

Singapore men are now more concerned with tightening the belt than tying the knot, say matchmakers.

Match-making agencies which specialise in Vietnamese brides are reporting disastrous results.

'Business is very bad now. I made only one successful match last month,' said Mr Lin.

In good years, between 2003 and 2006, he enjoyed gross earnings of up to $70,000 a month.

'I have five Vietnamese women at my agency now on social visit passes to look for Singaporean husbands - but very few men coming to meet them.'

Another match-making agency which specialises in Vietnamese brides stopped flying in Vietnamese women to meet potential grooms earlier this year.

'The men are under stress now,' said Mr Janson Ong, 45, owner of Life Partner Matchmaker. 'How to be in the mood for love?

'It's very difficult for the girls when they cannot get a husband here and have to go back to Vietnam.

'I, too, feel pressured looking at their disappointed faces.'

Earlier, Mr Ong paid for the flight, food and accommodation for the Vietnamese women who signed up with his agency to come here in search of husbands.

Up to the middle of last year, he would bring in four to eight prospective brides every month to meet interested men.

Now, he offers only tour packages to prospective grooms to fly to Vietnam to meet the women there.

Each package costs $388, but should the man find a match and decide to get hitched, Mr Ong charges $10,000 to make the necessary arrangements for the marriage.

His business has slumped this year, with only one client every two months. In 2005, he used to have up to eight clients getting married every month.

'In 2006, every day we had at least three prospective clients visiting our office to meet the girls. Now, even phone enquiries, we get only one every two weeks,' he said.

Delay wedding plans

'We felt the pinch from August last year,' he said.

'Some of the men who were initially interested in getting married decided not to because they told me that property prices here had gone up so high, they could not afford a place of their own, and wanted to delay their marriage plans.'

But despite fewer men seeking to marry Vietnamese women, Mr Lin has no plans to stop bringing in Vietnamese women.

'These Vietnamese women who sign up with my agency may be from the countryside, but they are intelligent and educated and are not ignorant of the current economic situation,' said Mr Lin.

'Some still choose to take a chance and hope to find a husband here.

'It's not a difficult choice because they come from very poor backgrounds. Life back home for them is harder than waiting here for a groom.'

Mr Lin pays for their flight, takes care of their accommodation and gives them an allowance for food and transport.

One hopeful prospective bride here on his expense is Miss Bui Thi Tuoi, 21. She had visited earlier in June but failed to find herself a husband.

That did not deter her from trying her luck again. She flew here for a second visit at the end of August and extended her stay.

Said Miss Bui in halting Mandarin: 'I am aware that Singapore has been hit hard by the financial crisis, and it's more difficult to find a husband now, but I still want to try.'

Yet, it's not all gloom and doom for the bride and groom business.

Said Mr Ong: 'This is not an easy business to begin with. But my agency pulled through the period when Sars hit in 2003, and I am sure we can ride out this downturn. The men would still want to marry and settle down eventually. They have only delayed their marriage plans for now.'

Mr Lin added: 'The downturn cannot last forever. Also, not everyone is affected by the financial crisis.

'Some of my clients who are holding Government jobs are still going ahead with their plans to get married. I am confident there is still a demand for Vietnamese brides.'
 

metalslug

Alfrescian
Loyal
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong...

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,179956,00.html?

Not in the mood for big bash
Hit by downturn, HKcouples opt for no-frills wedding
October 14, 2008

NP_IMAGES_WED13.jpg

PICTURE: ORIENTAL DAILY
But due to the economic downturn, Hong Konger Mr Gao (with his girlfriend) is doing away with it.

EIGHT-COURSE dinners are often par for the course in traditional Chinese wedding banquets.

Instead, he has planned to tie the knot while overseas on his honeymoon.

He was among many couples hunting for bargains at the Hong Kong Wedding Expo on Saturday.

He's not alone.

Wedding planner Fang Weilin said many of her customers have cut their budget, reported Oriental Daily.

Since the financial meltdown hit Hong Kong in the past month, 60 per cent of her customers have requested to do away with traditional banquets.

Instead, they will hold just a reception for their guests after the solemnisation ceremony.

In the past, only three out of every 10 couples would do that, she added.

Now, many who have solemnised their wedding and were planning for a banquet have cancelled it.

Others would reduce the number of tables and cut down on the wedding album photos.

Euro Wedding, another wedding services company, is also hit by the drop in business.

Its manager Ms Li Liying told Oriental Daily: 'In the past, the design of the wedding gown would be the bride's top priority. Now, it's the cost.

'Then, most would target European countries for their honeymoon, now they are mostly looking at neighbouring South-east Asian countries.'

To counter the drop in business, wedding services providers are offering various cost-cutting packages, like an express 15-minute solemnisation ceremony, for half the usual HK$3,000 ($570) price tag.
 

tonychat

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
That is the real fact. If you have no money, there is no future, and no point planning. Sad indeed.
 

madmansg

Alfrescian
Loyal
yes. Since air ticket 300 dollar, can bargain down to 300 dollar for company to recover the air ticket.
 

vamjok

Alfrescian
Loyal
Re: Meanwhile, in Hong Kong...

come to think of it, he should request the display of nice pictures of vietnamese ladies under his flag instead of showing a gloomy black and white picture.

he just missed a free publicity for his business
 

angie II

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
lurvvvve... is a many splennnnndid thing... :rolleyes:
"look honey... love can wait, limpeh boh lwee liao" "boh lwee means boh kum cheng"
 

tonychat

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
i wonder how these agency works. A guy walks in , look at the girls and choose the one he wanted and then pay deposit????

What about getting to know each other better?
 

halsey02

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Got future lah...become monk or pastor.
1 step closer to GOD.

Bright future.

:biggrin: :p :biggrin:

Must be able to walk through ring of fire, slide down a tall building, immerse in ice, perform magic, do a hip hop dance or have 'peanuts' connection. If you do not have these talents, monk, pastor, will not do!.

These are divine talents...:biggrin: DT not LT or FT!:rolleyes:
 

SIFU

Alfrescian
Loyal
i wonder how these agency works. A guy walks in , look at the girls and choose the one he wanted and then pay deposit????

What about getting to know each other better?

in thailand also same way what.. its the SOP of all the 'goldfish tanks'..:biggrin:
 

travelbug

Alfrescian
Loyal
i wonder how these agency works. A guy walks in , look at the girls and choose the one he wanted and then pay deposit????

What about getting to know each other better?

The way it works is this: walk in, suka suka, sign up, pay deposit, fuck her till crazy liao, then marry! Simple.
 

Wobble

Alfrescian
Loyal
or be like that old man....walk in...choose....pay deposit (bounced cheque)...bring to hotel....whack like no business...then return to sender....
 
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