The Big Fat Indian Weddings

My parents are saving money for my marriage, since the time I took birth. At times, I feel that I have birth for this grand event to happen in my life.

Besides saving money for property, saving money for a daughter’s marriage is a priority for Indian parents. Especially in the middle class society, working parents save every single penny that they earn for the wedding day. The entire savings of their life are spent on one single day. The society is the stimulating factor for parents to splurge every single penny that they have. ‘Every thing should be better than a relative’s, friend’s etc’s daughter’s wedding,’ is a general mindset of people. But more than this part of the society, it is the privileged class which makes wedding the biggest event in one’s life.

Money is blown out of proportion as parents/daughters/brothers/sisters/relatives want every thing to be perfect and grand. These weddings are the most talked about events among the relatives, friends and friend’s friends. It is not only a matter of marriage, it is also a matter of prestige.

‘Koi kami nahi rehni chahiye’ is the mantra. The food served, the clothes worn, the jewellery, the décor, everything should be larger than life.

And now it’s fashionable to make the Wedding day an event of the lifetime. The wedding lasts for a week or at times a fortnight or a month. It is an opportunity for the rich and famous to flaunt their wealth.

Let’s have a look at the BIGGEST, the FATTEST, Indian weddings:
From UP, Bihar to UK, US, rich Indians with their astronomical wealth have given a new meaning to their son’s/daughter’s Wedding Day.

Our own Laloo Prasad Yadav’s daughter, Misa’s wedding with a computer engineer is unforgettable. The guest list included various political leaders and film stars who became a part of this extravagant wedding. She was a like princess enthroned to become a queen.

If Misa’s wedding was like a fairy tale than the hotelier Vikram Chatwal’s wedding with Priya Sachdev on 18th Feb 2006 was one of the most trendiest weddings of all times. Besides all the glitz and glamour, the guest list included the most prominent names from Iran to USA. Clintons, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and his son Aditya, supermodel Naomi Campbell, Prince of Iran, Prince Nicolas of Greece, US Congressman Joe Crowley and UK industrialist SP Hinduja are a few big wigs, who graced this mega event.

And how can we forget Arun Nair’s wedding with Liz Hurley. This ‘Firangi - Desi’ couple got married on March 2007. After an English wedding in Britain, there had been celebrations for over 5 days in traditional Indian customs in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The families of the couple stayed at the Devi Garh. This one of a kind couple has always been the most talked about pair both in India and Britain.

Also, in the history of Indian Traditional marriages, the wedding of the daughter of London-based steel tycoon Laxmi Niwas Mittal was a remarkable event. Vanisha, the daughter of Laxmi Niwas Mittal has tied nuptial knot with Amit Bhatia, an investment banker based in London. It is undeniable that the wedding was larger than life. It was reported that the total cost of the wedding was around £30m / $55million that is more than rupees two hundred crores in Indian money. The wedding was in news for weeks in all the leading dallies of the country and abroad. The guest list included names like from Indian and British society. Movie stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta and Aishwarya Rai was present to name a few. Famous lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar, is said, to have written a one-hour play to be staged during the run-up to the vivaah.

Not very long ago, India also saw the wedding ceremony of Rohan Gavaskar with Swati Mankar, his childhood sweetheart. The wedding ceremony was the talk of the town as it was attended by the who's who of Indian film industry, politics, cricket and fashion industry. People like Shabana Azmi, Bal Thakeray, Sachin Tendulkar, Shobha De, Dimple Kapadia, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agrkar and Yuvraj Singh graced the occasion.

It’s not only Laloos, Mittals or Bachchans that get their daughters or sons get married in an extravagant manner. Every Indian parents’ dream is to see their daughter married in the most lavish manner with the perfect and the most suitable life partner.

Sukhpreet Kaur Sawhney writes on behalf of Jeevansathi.com, which is India’s fastest growing matrimonial website, provides online matrimonial classified services. Jeevansathi.com enables users to create a matrimony profile on the website and allow prospective grooms and brides to contact each other. Users can search for profiles through advanced search options on the website. Users can avail free registration and make initial contact with each other through services available on Jeevansathi.com via Chat, SMS, and e-mail.