The Muftiate of Ingushetia together with the Ulama (Muslim clerics) Council has published a list of recommendations for the costs of weddings. The document has already been distributed throughout the republic.

According to the recommendations, all wedding-related expenses should be significantly reduced. The document laid out sums that the Kalym (money given by the family of the groom to the family of the bride), dowry, and other gifts should not exceed.

Under the new regulations, the maximum sum for the kalym, which often reaches around ₽200,000 ($3,500), was set at ₽40,000 ($700). Wedding dresses should cost no more than ₽20,000 ($350) it said. The recommendations also favour the complete abolishment of gifts that brides traditionally give to close relatives of their husbands in the first days of their marriage.

The recommendations advised holding weddings at home. ‘Celebrations in restaurants, that have recently become popular, do not correspond with the traditions of our nation, because both young people and adults sit at the same table’, the document reads.

The Muftiate and the Ulama Council explained the reason for their recommendations.

‘This material is aimed primarily at parents, young people, and girls, who by chasing after vanity and pride, and trying to outdo each other in this spectacle, creates problems not only for those who try to create families, but also strike a huge blow to newly created families, who go into great debt for many years because they don’t comply with the va’ad (instructions)’, the statement reads.