Slim down spending on Band, Baaja, Baarat

Experts says it is high time that people cut down wasteful and mindless expenses on wedding ceremonies

Warangal: Already the wedding season is round the corner and the boiling summers are doing little to spoil the joy of couples and parents who are planning the big fat wedding.

Of late, the lavish wedding ceremonies, which sport floral decorations with exotic flowers, sumptuous and extensive spread of food items and etc, are growing day by day in the tri-cities of Warangal, Hanamkonda and Khazipet.

T Rama Chary, a part-time faculty of Kakatiya University said, “If you want to get married during the most in-demand time, the price of everything will be substantially higher than off season. If wedding is on Saturdays or Sundays, you can expect vendors to charge more because that’s when most of the guests are expected to attend the ceremony.”

Venu Madhav, a priest, said marriages this year started on April 9, after the celestial wedding of Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy. “Summer season is when most couples tie the knot. Obviously, we can expect the price of everything to be high,” he observed.

K Venkateshwarlu, a retired government teacher felt that a law must be enacted to prevent mindless and wasteful spending on weddings. Instead, it should be done in a simple way.

Stating that many were performing weddings to flaunt their wealth, Venkateshwarlu observed that just for the sake of their stature in the society, many were lending money and performing weddings in an opulent way and later becoming victims to private money lenders.

Meanwhile, several families have already started facing problems due to non-availability of function halls, purohits, flower decorators, caterers and orchestra troupes.

N Ravinder Reddy, who owns three function halls in the city said, “The rent of the function hall depends on various things along with different packages on Saturdays and Sundays (hourly bases that is 12 hours for each function). The rent may range from Rs 50,000 to 75,000 and some times the price goes up to Rs1 lakh.”

Meanwhile, the orchestra troupes are demanding 15,000 to 20,000 from each family at a marriage ceremony. Most of the flower decorators and caterers too were charging exorbitant prices owing to increasing customer patronage.

“Wedding flowers that are currently in season will be far more expensive than those in the off season,” said Ramesh, a flower decorator.

Sripelli Vijay Lakshmi, a vegetable vendor who lives in a rented house in Hanamkonda said, “I thought to perform my daughter’s wedding with lot of pomp. But we don’t have enough space in front of our house and it is becoming a herculean task for us to rent a function hall for marriage.

They are demanding more than Rs 50,000 because of the hectic bookings during this marriage season. Everything is so expensive that I have no other option but to perform the wedding in front of my house blocking the road.”

Meanwhile, experts say there is a need to keep check on the expenses spent on marriages as it is not good for society at large. People should cut down expenses on wedding ceremonies and should perform them in a simple way.

By: Puli Sharath Kumar