Subhan Dashti had already picked a date for his wedding. 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 begun buying items for their future home.
Then prices started to climb. Political and social unrest followed, and on February 28 the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran. Dashti's family fled Tehran for the north of the country, and wedding preparations 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 — roughly $302 — now cost closer to 100 million tomans, or $432.
Despite earning about 100 million tomans a month, well above the Iranian average, he concluded that marrying immediately no longer made sense.
"We decided to postpone the wedding for at least a few more months," Dashti, 35, said.
The minimum wage for an Iranian worker stands at about 16 million tomans per month — less than $68 at current open market rates. The average monthly wage is around 25 million tomans, or roughly $105.
For Sabzi, 34, the financial calculations are only part of the fear. She has made peace with a smaller ceremony — a simpler dress, a modest hall. Safety is harder to accept.
A 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.
"For the past two weeks, I have been asking Subhan at night: what if the war starts again when we are getting married?" Sabzi said.
Their stalled wedding is one small sign of a larger crisis. Across Iran, war, sanctions, inflation and shortages are shaping young couples' decisions about marriage, reshaping expectations around wedding costs, household needs 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 received two or three brides a day. Now it sees only two or three a week.
Prices have risen sharply. In Tehran, a regular bridal package costs about 70 million tomans ($302), while a VIP package can reach 150 million tomans ($648). In lower-income parts of the city, prices are usually around 50 million tomans ($216).
Clients have not abandoned services entirely — they downgrade them. They skip skincare and hair extensions, booking only makeup and hairstyling for the wedding night itself.
"They still want to do these things," Nouri said, "but they go for the less expensive option."
She noted that two of her own friends postponed their weddings outright. One declined Nouri's offer of free makeup to be paid later.
"Because the makeup was never the real obstacle — the wedding itself was," she said.
The financial pressure does not ease after the ceremony. Pejman and Sanaz, who met while studying electronic engineering and asked that their surnames and university be withheld, married in July, just after last year's 12-day war.
Their rent tells the story. A deposit and monthly rent that together totalled roughly 34 million tomans ($144) a year ago now cost about 58 million tomans ($246) — a 71 percent rise for the same Tehran apartment.
The previous arrangement included a 300 million-toman ($1,296) deposit and 25 million tomans ($106) in monthly rent, plus 1.5 to 2 million tomans in building charges. A new landlord now demands a 400 million-toman ($1,728) deposit and 46 million tomans a month ($198).
Pejman, 30, earns 56 million tomans a month ($242). The new rent alone would consume approximately 82 percent of his income.
"Last year, just to cover the costs of starting our life together, we had to sell 13 grams of my wife's gold," he said.
