[Anchor]
Wedding industry businesses are exploiting the sentiment that "weddings happen only once in a lifetime." One company that had been demanding penalty fees more than double the amount recommended by the Fair Trade Commission changed its stance once we began our investigation.
Morning Zoom-in, reporter Im Jihyeon has the story.
[Reporter]
In April, a person identified as A had to call off their wedding due to personal reasons while preparing for the ceremony.
When they notified the wedding venue of the contract cancellation, the company's demand was absurd.
The company demanded a total of 7 million won, which included the 2 million won deposit plus a 5 million won penalty fee, equivalent to 30% of the total wedding cost of 16.5 million won.
A separate 300,000 won fee was also charged for the cancellation consultation.
This amounted to 44% of the total cost, more than double the 20% recommended by the Fair Trade Commission.
[A: It feels like they just tacked on costs because it is a once-in-a-lifetime event. I am not the only one who signed this kind of contract; everyone else is doing it too.]
The number of consumer complaints related to wedding services rose from 905 in 2024 to 1,076 last year, an increase of nearly 20%. The vast majority, 82.4%, were disputes related to contract termination and penalty fees.
The opaque contract structure, which fails to clearly state penalty standards, refund conditions, and additional costs, is cited as a major cause.
[Jung Joon-hyun/Lawyer: The demands made by the wedding venue could be seen as excessive under the Act on the Regulation of Terms and Conditions or the Framework Act on Consumers.]
When our reporting team asked the wedding company about the facts and their position regarding A's case, they initially refused to comment and indicated they would resolve the matter legally.
[Representative of the wedding company contracted by A: We will only proceed through litigation, so there is nothing else to say. Do we really have to tell you anything?]
However, two days after SBS began its investigation, the company sent an email to A stating that, in accordance with Fair Trade Commission standards, they would only need to pay a penalty fee of 1.1 million won, excluding the 2 million won deposit.
Reported by Kang Si-woo | Video by Ahn Yeo-jin | Graphics by Park Tae-young | Produced by SBS Digital News
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