Wedding Expenses by the Malay-Muslim Community: An Investigation into the Sources of Expenditure

Abstract

The contemporary Malay community is increasingly facing a wedding expenses issue following the existence of various pre-wedding preparations, including the demand of customary rites and current reception trends. In order to face this issue, preparing a source of expenditure is one of the elements that should be considered much earlier. Thus, by not prioritising matters related to the source of expenditure, it could have an effect on managing expenditure. Hence, this study explored the sources of wedding expenditure among the Malay-Muslim community. This study was qualitative in nature and involved 30 couples selected through the purposive method, who then participated in a semi-structured personal interview session. The recording of the interview was transcribed and analysed according to the thematic method as stipulated in this study. By using the ATLAS.ti version 7.5.6.software, the data were investigated and later coded and categorised based on the characteristics of the data in order to adduce the themes related to the phenomenon being studied. The findings showed that there were four sources of expenditure used by the respondents in the study, namely savings, contributions, loans and special funds. Out of the four, three are endorsed by Islam, except loans.