Weddings… at any cost?
Jan 17th, 2008 by Katie
Following hard on the heels of my post about searching for a simpler wedding, I came across these two tales of wedding excess.
Business Standard reports on the growth of designer weddings in Punjab where the average wedding lasts between 3 and 7 days and where budget is not a constraint for most, according to one wedding planner from Canada who recently launched his business in India to cater to the Punjabi market.
Another happy wedding planner, owner of Indian Wedding Planners, comments:
“In a recent wedding, we designed a set to depict the moon and the sun. The idea was to show the bride descending from the moon and the bridegroom from the sun. People in Punjab believe in ostentatious weddings and appreciate our efforts.”
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, The New York Times tells that weddings are one of the most important rituals, a signifier of a family’s social status, and a confirmation of their position in the ‘tribal network’.
Whereas under the Taliban showy weddings were banned, the wane of their power has brought the big wedding back with a vengeance plunging bridegrooms (traditionally it falls to the groom’s family to pay for the wedding celebrations) into mountains of debt as they try to fork out for a feast for 600 (modest) to 2000+ (towards the top end) guests.
Even poorer families will scrimp and save to afford a wedding costing several times their annual salary.
When did celebrating love become so expensive? Is it time for ethical and green weddings to go global to cut the costs?!