Big, fat recessionista wedding

If you had the slightest doubt over whether fairy tale weddings with all the trappings of rich décor, fancy food and other fare are dormant due to the existing economic downturn, think again. When it comes to the ‘big Indian wedding’ there’s no such thing.

“What recession?” laughs Aditya Motwane, of Percept D’Mark, wedding organisers. “The (wedding) industry is about Rs 35,000 crores today and it increases by 25 per cent each year so it’s a given that people still want the grandest wedding. For one client, we had a 110 piece orchestra that played Indian tunes flown down from London and for a diamond merchant’s wedding, we had 22 chefs flown in from all around the world to prepare 92 cuisines!”

It’s about showing off your power and contacts, he explains. “At one recent ‘Palaces of the World’ wedding in Hyderabad, we had seven looks for seven palaces and one in Mumbai with an ‘Enchanted Forest’ that had a banquet room with fragrant wood and twigs.” Are there any hot trends?  “Geisha girls and flying acrobats from Macau — most sought after!”

With such a mélange, the norm here seems to be ‘more is less’. Agrees theatre actor Lillete Dubey: “People spend inordinate amounts on sangeets, from flying down singers from Pakistan, to jhulas for the groom and bride of real silver to return gifts of gold guineas, the homely sangeet is passé.”

Wedding planner Shaan Khanna says she’s inundated with requests for funky themes, price no-bar. “Bollywood’s big,” she says. “I recently did a wedding where the family wanted posters of Amitabh Bachchan in vinyl and put them up on the walls at the venue.” Gurleen Puri talks of the ‘Maharajah’ theme being ever popular. “It’s very stylised with crystal and bling and motifs of a peacock, crown or paisleys, everything — from the tableware to drapes and the walls. Costs a lakh upwards, but people love it.”