Yesterday morning, a mass wedding for 120 low-income couples was held in Ho Chi Minh City’s downtown areas by HCMC Youth Union’s Youths and Workers Assistance Center.

Paying only VND 1 million (US$ 48), each couple enjoyed free marital services, including bridal gowns and suits, rings, make-up, bouquets and cars.

The brides and grooms are disadvantaged, needy workers and youths coming from many provinces in the country.

At the wedding ceremony, city officials handed the marriage certificates and gifts to the blissful couples.

Each couple received a VND 2 million bank account and had a party table reserved for their relatives and guests.

In addition to a pair of nuptial rings, 10 special couples including physically-challenged ones were gifted with a pair of diamond rings worth VND 8 mil (US$ 387) each.

On Dec 14 and 15, the 120 pairs will take part in a picnic and skills training program in the suburban district of Can Gio.

According to Huynh Ngo Tinh, director of the city’s Youths and Workers Assistance Center, this group wedding is an effort to assist underprivileged couples who can’t afford a big party on their own.

“This is the fifth consecutive year the center has held the event for youths and workers residing in HCMC and other provinces, with the scale growing increasingly larger,” Tinh added.

From 2008 on, 222 such couples have become husband and wife in similar group weddings.

Chau Thi Hoang Oanh, director of Grand Palace Wedding and Convention Organizing Center, which sponsored the entire event, promised that her company would hold similar collective weddings for more needy people in the future.

A fairy tale like wedding

Until now, 22-year-old Quach Thi Be and her new husband Nguyen Dinh Thang, 28, couldn’t believe they finally had their special day marked with such a large-scale, high-profile ceremony.

“Low-income workers like us didn’t even dare to dream of a wedding,” said Be.

The couple had been working hard and saving, and didn’t expect to afford a small wedding until late next year.

After four years being in love, 26-year-old Ngoc An, a Khmer ethnic minority man from southern Tra Vinh province and Tuyet Thuong, 29, still couldn’t afford a wedding.

Upon learning that a group wedding would be held, An couldn’t sleep the following days as the couple didn’t have VND 1 million requirement and had to borrow the sum from a friend.

“We finally had a wedding like any other couple,” the couple cried on getting accepted for the event, though they didn’t have money for An’s parents to pay for a coach ride to their son’s wedding.

Nguyen Cam Tu, 32 and Phan Thi Quy, 37, who are both deaf and mute workers, shuttle between HCMC and southern Long An province every day for their daytime and night jobs.

Quy, who had never worn ao dai before, couldn’t wait to don a bridal gown at the ceremony.

The blissful couple was gifted with a pair of diamond rings, which now replace the lovers’ silver-plated rings they had been wearing for the past three years.

Among the 120 couples participating in this event, some are in their forties.

Other poor couples who wish to hold a wedding at minimal cost can have a 20-30% deduction or more in service fees by the HCMC’s Youths and Workers Assistance Center.