Dreams and reality in contemporary Malay wedding ceremonies: A case study from suburban Kuala Lumpur

Marriage is the rites de passage for most people regardless of their social status. However, costly wedding ceremony has become a heated issue in the Malay contemporary society. This study examined how bridal wedding desires were heavily influenced by pricy consumption activities of marketed commodities and services in order to be fulfilled. Primary data were gathered from field observations of low-income families of Kampung Melayu Sri Wira Damai, Selangor and in-depth interviews with five participating brides. The study found that Malay brides were highly desirous of realizing their unique wedding dreams which were entrenched in heavy, overt consumption of commodities and services provided by the nodern wedding industry players . This means that the traditional wedding ceremony which used to be anchored in religion, customs and frugal attitudes is facing tremendous challenges due to the prevalence of the new market and consumption- driven wedding dream concept, and that this phenomenon is rendering contemporary Malay wedding ever more costly.