Saeed Al-Niaimi, chairman of the Welfare Society for Marriage Assistance and Family Care that is organizing the event, made the announcement.
Al-Niaimi said the society not only grants young men soft loans and financial and material assistance, but also ensures that they get discounts on furniture. The society organizes awareness programs for them before and after marriage.
He said so far 24,750 young Saudi men benefited from the society's loans that amounted to more than SR149.5 million. The chairman also said 875 young Saudi men and women benefited from the society's awareness programs.
“We have distributed more than 180,000 publications on happy family life, 42 audio materials and held 127 orientation sessions which were attended by 4,406 young men and women,” he said.
He said the individual loans given by the society range from SR10,000 to SR15,000. The loans are cleared only after personal interviews between the beneficiaries and a social research committee at the society.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Al-Masada family consultancy center said about 39 percent of participants supported the idea of holding marriages in the summer and Eid holidays while 27 percent opposed the idea.
About 33 percent of the participants wanted an improvement in marriage ceremonies.
The survey also disclosed that 50 percent of participants believed that high Eid expenses would have a negative impact on husband-wife relations. About 23 percent of participants said most families do not make use of the summer vacation to improve family relations.
In Madinah, Abeer Hassan, a young Saudi university graduate, is using her business of hosting wedding parties as a means to help her compatriots and residents manage the costs of marriage.
She has set up a special establishment that organizes wedding parties, which can be paid for through installments.
The establishment was able to bring 26 young couples to the golden nest in 10 months, a local newspaper reported Saturday. It said Abeer has so far organized 51 wedding parties of which 13 party organizers opted for the installments option.
The newspaper quoted Abeer as saying that a prerequisite for availing the installments is that the number of men and women invitees should not exceed 300.
“Our installment financing does not differentiate between Saudis and foreigners. All we need is a guarantor,” she said.
Abeer said many of her customers ask for unnecessary arrangements.
She said she was negotiating with furniture and electric appliances companies to obtain good discounts for her clients.
