New Delhi: The wedding season has almost come to an end. It offers a chance to unwind, socialize and enjoy with family and friends, at an event that is even more celebratory than Diwali, Holi, Christmas or Eid. It could be your US-settled cousin getting married to his long-term Spanish girlfriend at a random Rajasthani haveli or your household help’s son getting ready for his big day at a wedding outside his home.
While marriage is seen as a rite of passage for every 20-something man and woman, exposure to celebrity trends and habits has reinvented the marriage market to a 400-billion-dollar opportunity waiting to be tapped.
For everyone looking to enjoy the festivities or those looking to serve them, the Great Indian Wedding offers them a once-in-a-year opportunity to show their true colours-both creatively and opportunistically, depending on whom you ask.
Let’s see how.
The Good
Event Management- Most event managers prepare the whole year for the hectic 3 month wedding season from November to January. Research on marriage trends suggests that the average family spends about Rs.12.5 lakh on a wedding, and about 8 million weddings are held annually. Busy parents increasingly hire managers to manage everything as a time-saving hack to make the event successful.
As this is more about managing multiple vendors, which requires more soft skills than anything else, this low investment-high returns business has skyrocketed in recent years, just as we’ve seen in the Bollywood hit Band Baaja Baaraat. After all, outsourcing marriage arrangements offers them peace of mind and the bonus of getting heaps of praise for the event.
Photography- Gone are the days when your grandparents explained the stories behind every photo from your parent’s wedding album. Now, couples want their nuptials to showcase their personality and fun side, even if it means shelling out six figures for a professional photographer to create everything from a pre-wedding shoot at an exotic location to candid videos showing how everyone enjoyed the wedding. The main intent here is to showcase the wedding experience to the world to get them a place in the limelight on Instagram.
Catering- Catering for events is a competitive business now. With increasing disposable incomes and exposure to global cuisines, every dish on the menu is carefully selected. Based on the guest list and venue, buffet-style dining has become the norm, with live counters serving everything from dosa to caviar. Sometimes, some couples even hire multiple caterers who serve some of their favourite dishes.
Designing- Save the date invites, digital invitations with knick knacks, outfit designers, venue decorations, and other designs have evolved to a level where professionals design everything to the last detail. The bragging rights are also involved if the bride wears a Manish Malhotra lehenga for her reception party or if a host of celebrities perform at the wedding, just like the much-publicised Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant wedding.
Holidays- The rituals and reception are to please society, but the couple actually look forward to the honeymoon, for some much needed privacy ;). While the venue is finalised, guest lists are prepared and other arrangements are taken care of; travel agents offer customised honeymoon packages for newlyweds. Travel spends are increasing every year, and couples are looking for an experience that they would cherish forever, even if it means catching a 24 hour flight to a remote Carribean island beach resort.
The Bad
‘The Holiday Syndrome’ Risk- What do you do when you have your best friend’s marriage between 3-5 January in Delhi and your UK-returned cousin’s nuptials scheduled in Jaipur for the 6th? The wedding season brings with it such dilemmas that are difficult to choose, especially if you have to get your leaves sanctioned. Even if you’ve succeeded in scheduling everything within that time, the overdose of rich food, alcohol and entertainment can be too much for some, resulting in missed flights, urgent doctor visits or worse, a night behind bars. Diabetes, Blood Pressure and other ailments are conveniently ignored for this annual indulgence with long-lost friends, with disastrous consequences for everyone concerned. Not to mention the unexpected costs to cough up for medical emergencies, traffic fines or consultation fees! The ‘holiday syndrome’ has seen hospitals deal with emergencies like heart attacks, stomach upsets and whatnot as people overindulge during the wedding.
More Wastage- The more opulent the wedding, the more chances of wastage of food, cloth and gifts that the hosts have to deal with. Though some local NGOs work overtime to distribute this wastage to the poor, they do not operate everywhere, resulting in the wasted food being chucked in the bin.
The Ugly
Drug misuse- A more dangerous effect of overindulgence is when people start consuming alcohol and party drugs during wedding festivities. Some elders even encourage their teenage relatives to try alcohol and other drugs, considering it a rite of passage. Drug peddlers find this a lucrative opportunity to sell their wares to easily influenced youth.
Prostitution- That people shed all their moral codes of conduct during the wedding season is well known. Some uncles pressure their relatives to let loose, visiting red-light areas and engaging in a night of merriment that they eventually regret. Not to mention the Western trend of bachelor parties before the Big Day, where even some grooms end up cheating on their to-be wives.
Cybercrime- Crooks misuse the marriage season to scam well-meaning people. Police across the country have reported cases of cyber criminals who send fake wedding invites on WhatsApp and eventually drain the unsuspecting victim’s hard earned money. With more than 4.8 million weddings scheduled this festive season, a phoney invite can be quite convincing for an unsuspecting retired man.
Dowry- Even though the practice is outlawed, it still persists, and every bride’s father is expected to give a hefty dowry to the groom and his family. Some fathers borrow heavily to fund their daughter’s wedding and her in-laws demands, however unreasonable they may be. Societal pressures force the bride’s family to oblige, or get ridiculed in the community. Every marriage season, dowry harassment cases, especially in North India are prominent in leading dailies, narrating tales of suicides and bankruptcy for the bride’s family.
What should change, and how is the change faring?
The concept of an extravagant wedding remains quite popular due to societal pressures and the glamour associated with a wedding. Couples are still enamoured with the glamour a fairy tale wedding brings, even if it means almost bankrupting their parents.
The concept of an elaborate wedding is not that strong in the West, where the wedding is seen as a small celebration with friends and family. The Indian wedding market remains the second largest in the world, a social event to bond with friends and family, many of whom meet only during such events. Even though the marriages are meant to celebrate the union of two people, parents consider it a matter of prestige when they host an elaborate wedding for their children. This annual festival showcases everything about Indian culture and how weddings offer a chance to experience it for everything it stands for and a respite from the daily worries at work.
