Last year, Ms Angeline Tan and her thenfiance Mark Lim found themselves stranded without a venue to hold their wedding dinner when arrangements at another location fell through.

Ms Tan, 30, a corporate secretarial assistant at a law firm, recalls: 'But we were quite open to ideas and our friends recommended having a wedding lunch instead, especially since we were not inviting many guests.'

So she and Mr Lim, 31, a creative director of a public relations firm, held a wedding buffet luncheon for 130 guests at the Four Seasons Hotel in January last year.

It did not disappoint. It was an international buffet with dishes such as scallop and jumbo shrimp skewers, pepper encrusted beef with onion confit and green peppercorn cream sauce, and a dark chocolate fountain to boot.

'Since it was a buffet, we got to mingle with our guests to make it a more casual and intimate affair,' says Ms Tan, who paid about $80 a person for the lunch.

The satisfied couple are part of a growing trend of Singaporeans who are celebrating their nuptials over lunches instead of traditional dinner banquets.

They include national table tennis player Li Jia Wei and her Chinese businessman husband Li Chao, who held a wedding buffet luncheon at Marina Mandarin hotel two weeks ago. They had their first celebration in Beijing in April this year.

They hosted 80 guests for the luncheon, including Deputy Prime Minister and Singapore National Olympic Council president Teo Chee Hean.

'I made the decision to have a wedding lunch since my husband had to leave for China that night. It was definitely much more convenient,' says Li, 28, who also celebrated her son's one-month birthday during the lunch.

Major hotels in town, including The Fullerton Hotel, St Regis, Parkroyal Hotel Kitchener Road, Capella, Marriott Hotel, Grand Hyatt and Meritus Mandarin, all report increased bookings for wedding lunches in recent years.

Ms Lim Ee Jin, assistant vice-president of marketing communications and public relations for Meritus Hotels & Resorts, used to see an average of two wedding lunches every two to three months.

'Now, we see at least three wedding lunches every month. Last month, we had six bookings,' she says.

Convenience is the main draw, since couples can have more time to rest after the lunch or choose to conduct their Chinese tea ceremony after the feast.

Price is another key factor. Across the board, wedding lunches at hotels cost at least 20 per cent less than wedding dinners, say hotel spokesmen.

At Meritus Mandarin hotel, wedding lunch packages are priced at $588++ and $688++ a table, which is considerably less than wedding dinner packages that start from $788++ and go up to $1,188++ a table.

Meritus Hotels' Ms Lim explains: 'The dinner menus use more expensive ingredients as dinners tend to be heavier and more elaborate. For instance, at a wedding lunch, we would serve braised mushrooms instead of braised abalone.'

Wedding consultant Esta Giam of wedding planning company Truly Harmony says that couples in their 20s and 30s also prefer the casual and less traditional vibe offered by wedding lunches.

'Young couples do not want the hassle of a full-day affair and just want to keep things simple,' she adds.

Yet, couples who choose to can still stage elaborate affairs over lunch. For example, 38- year-old engineer Fu Jong Sin and his bride held an eight-course Chinese wedding lunch at The Fullerton in July. The menu included braised shark's fin with crab meat in superior broth, crispy roasted chicken with five spices and strawberry pudding.

The couple paid more than $800 a table, at least $500 less a table compared to holding a wedding dinner.

Cost-savvy couples would be happy to know that wedding lunches do not necessarily translate to less takings in hongbao, or red packets.

Both Ms Tan and Mr Fu received enough hongbao to break even on their expenses.

Mr Fu says: 'The amount of money people give is based on the location and not so much on whether it's a lunch or dinner.'

Systems analyst Frank Lee, whose friend is planning to hold a wedding lunch next year, agrees. 'If my friend decides to have a wedding lunch at a posh hotel, I'm not going to shortchange him just because of the timing,' he says.

This article was first published in The Sunday Times.