He and his fiancee, Nadia Sabzi, together since 2016, had settled on Nowruz 1405, the Iranian New Year, which falls on March 20 to 21. They had already started buying items for their future home, but then last year, prices started to climb. Political and social unrest followed, and then the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28.
Dashti’s family fled Tehran for the north of the country, and preparations for their wedding stalled. When the fighting paused, the families returned to Tehran and the couple tried to resume their plans. But a television Dashti had budgeted at 70 million tomans ($302) now cost closer to 100 million tomans ($432).
Despite earning about 100 million tomans a month ($432) – well above average for an Iranian worker – he concluded that marrying immediately no longer made sense. The minimum wage for an Iranian worker is about 16 million tomans per month, which is less than $68 at current open market rates, while the average monthly wage for workers is around 25 million tomans, or roughly $105. For Sabzi, 34, the maths are only part of the fear.
She has made peace with a smaller ceremony – a simpler dress, a modest hall. What she cannot make peace with is safety. A US strike in early September hit a house in Kuhestak, in southern Iran’s Sirik County, where a wedding celebration was taking place; Iranian authorities said several people were killed and dozens wounded, including women and children.
Their stalled wedding is one small sign of a larger crisis in Iran for young people. Across Iran, war, sanctions, inflation and shortages are shaping young couples’ marriage decisions amid a shifting focus on wedding costs, what a household requires and how far into the future anyone dares to plan. Simin Nouri, a bridal makeup artist in Tehranpars, said that during the summer’s peak wedding season, her salon once saw two or three brides a day.
Now it sees only two or three a week. Prices are now even higher, she said. In Tehran, a regular bridal package costs about 70 million tomans ($302), while a VIP package can reach 150 million tomans ($648).
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