Harried..but finally married!
HYDERABAD: Finally! Three days of frantic but hugely enjoyable wedding functions and delicious dinners are over, just in time for the exhausted one's to relax this weekend.
For many, it had been a roller-coaster ride due to the serpentine traffic at different places in the city. For some unfortunate brides and grooms, everything didn't go as planned.
Two parties, whose names we cannot reveal, had to run in search of priests after coming late to the venue (for their own marriage!) by three hours!
If one were to assess the marriages, two things stood out. Their themes and expenditure. Of the thousands of marriages that took place __ over one lakh as per an estimate __ a good number qualify for the epithet, The Big Fat Telugu Wedding.
According to wedding planners, crores of rupees were splurged on decorations alone for these 'themed marriages'. Said Rakhi Kankaria, founder, Rachnoutsav Events, 'It is all about the auspicious Hindu muhurat. Hindus do not bother about Valentine's Day. Go traditional is the mantra this time.'
Her company had 13 wedding assignments. 'This time, we have taken up only mid-budget weddings, which cost about Rs 50 lakh or below.
Our reviews suggest people look forward to only traditional themes and we have not created any new concept just because Valentine's Day coincided with these muhurats,' explained the wedding planner, who conducts nearly 40-50 weddings a year.
Explaining about the cost involved in a middle-class wedding, Rupa Premkumar of Saikripa Wedding Planners, shared, 'We make all the arrangements from decoration of mandaps to photography etc depending on the customer's requirement. The cost is about Rs 5 lakh.' She had four high budget weddings this time.
So if a middle class wedding budget hovers around Rs 50 lakh for just the d'cor, how about the high-budget one's?
Priyanka Garewal of Weddings & More, who's been in the business for 12 years, said the sky is the limit. 'But right now, there aren't any big weddings happening as such.
The average pricing has been Rs 50 lakh. But, given the high demand and constrained supply, what would've cost between Rs 5 and Rs 10 lakh has gone up to Rs 10 -Rs 15 lakh,' she explained.
Another off shoot of the demand and supply economics is the 'break in tradition.' 'The reception is usually the gala after the wedding. But what we've seen pick up this year is the trend of hosting the reception ahead of the wedding!
This is because of various logistical factors like availability of venue. Families have become practical and don't mind having the reception before and a small-scale wedding either at home or at the family temple the next day,' she said.
But certain traditions defy economic principles. Despite the adverse sex ratio, men continue to demand and get paid handsome dowry.
V Sandhya, women's rights activist, Progressive Organisation of Women, said, 'Nobody is ready to leave out dowry.
Look at the amount of money they are spending in the name of marriages! Today, it is rare to find a simple marriage. People are spending in crores even if they cannot afford. It is adding to the pressure on the middle-class.'
Speaking about the commercialisation, she pointed out, 'These days, every moment in a person's private life is saleable and marriage is just one of the occasions. It has become mandatory to have such expensive weddings and it has become like a commercial exhibition.'
'Both parities today encourage dowry and ultimately, it is the women who suffer. If in some families, it is given in the form of cash, some others give it in kind like properties etc but the practice is there everywhere.
For some, it is a burden.. For others, it is about status,' she opined. Guess, how much money changed hands during the last three days? One bride's family, on condition of anonymity, admitted to have given a dowry of 15 tolas of gold. Needless to say, it's considered a pittance.
News Posted: 16 February, 2013
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