Here a marriage, there a marriage. It’s shaadi time everywhere. With all the marriage halls, party plots, decorators, caterers and florists booked for tomorrow, it’s the Great Indian Wedding Day.
Deepak Gandhi, president of the Decorators and Hirers Associaton, put the number of marriages taking place in the city tomorrow at an astounding 2,000.
On how auspicious is the date, astrologer Chandrakanth said, “Kal ka jo yog hai woh itna subh hai ki jo log kal vivah ke bandhan mein badhenge unhe apne lagn jivan mein koi takleef nahi aayegi aur agar aaye bhi to bahut kam aayege”.
It’s isn’t only the brides-to-be who are tied up in knots, caterers, decorates, florists and even invities are a harried lot trying to keep up with the preparations.
CATERERS
“Business has quadrupled. From tomorrow we are booked till February,” said an excited Narendra Somani of Bhagwati Caterers. “We have hired some 200 extra workers for tomorrow,” he added.
Manojbhai Purohit of Purohit Caterers said bookings for tomorrow were done more than four months back.
DECORATORS AND EVENT MANAGERS
“We are going to work day and night as we have our hands full with seven bookings for the day,” Hemu Gandhi of Gandhi Associates said. “It’s going to be a hectic day tomorrow and we have been making arrangements for it for the last one week as right from stage decoration to furniture to crockery to mandap and even arranging water tanks is our responsiblity,” he added.
“Everyday 400 to 500 marriages are taking place in the city,” says Rajeev Chhajer, MD of Dumaco Entertainment and Event Pvt Ltd.
“According to jyotishastra, last year was a shinhast varsh, considered inauspicious for marriage. Before that, riots and earthquake had cast a shadow for two consecutive years,” said Rajesh Thakkar of Shri Pankaj Decorators.
“Do saal mein itni shaadiya kisi ne dekhi nahi hai aur hamara kaam ka load to aasman choo raha hai,” says Rajesh B Thakkar of Shri Pankaj Decorators.
“For tommorow’s marriages we had made the arrangements some 25 days back,” said Somnath Dutta of S&D Event Management Company. Still they would need to work through the night to ensure that everything is in order, he said.
Som Dutta, an event manager, said he has not been successful in getting photographers as all of them are fully booked for tomorrow.
“Apart from SG Highway, where all the party plots and marriage halls are located, those in the Ellisbridge, Navrangpura, Bapunagar, Paldi and Satellite areas are booked for tomorrow,” said Suhash Mehta of Viral Decorators.
FLORISTS
Vivek Sultania, a Navrangpura based florist, said, “November 27 and 28 are the peak dates and we are keeping more than normal stock for these two days.” Suresh Bhai Shastri, manager of Kalgi Florist has 25 orders tomorrow. “My staff is going to stay back tonight becuase if we don’t work in the night we won’t be able to fulfil the orders. The demand for tomorrow is so much that we have ordered flowers from Pune and Delhi also apart from our usual Bombay and Bangalore consignment,” he said.
VENUES
Those who didn’t make the bookings well in advance are forced to have the wedding ceremony at their homes as no other space is available for tomorrow. The Grand Bhagwati will be hosting six marriages tommorow with the banquet hall booked from Sunday 7 am till 2 am of Monday. “Our plot was booked for 28th November some five month back, we have been turning down orders since then,” said Ketul Patel of Sindoor Party Plot. Rajubhai Patel, owner of Manav Mandir Party Plot said he had to turn down 15 prospective clients for tomorrow.
THE INVITEES
City’s VIPs are also gearing up for the grind. Mayor Aneeza Mirza has 16 invitations for tomorrow. “I think I will be bedridden by tomorrow night,” she said, laughing. “Hello hi kar ke nikal jane ka hai aur agar khane ko kaha tho jhot bolne keh doongi ki maine tho kha liya,” she said, asked how she would tackle so many invitations.
Law Minister Ashok Bhatt has 15 invitations for Sunday. Though he plans to pay a visit to all of them he said he won’t be able to spend more than 15 minutes at each place. Sudhir Nanavati, a leading lawyer, said he and wife would be juggling 18 invitations between them.
And they’re off to...
Once the wedding is over, it’s time for the honeymoon. This year, the most favoured honeymoon destination appears to be Mauritius. “We have already booked 80 couples for Mauritius,” says Manish Sharma of Shree Akshar International. Mauritius is followed by Malaysia and Singapore. The Malaysia tour package that includes the cruise option is also a hot favourite this season.
For December, 42 couples have booked the package and more orders are coming in,” says Manish. Nimesh Shah of Angel Tours and Travels said Goa is the most favoured domestic honeymoom destination followed by Kullu-Manali and Matheran.
“We are flooded with bookings for Mauritius and Goa,” says Nimesh. He said the main reason behind couples opting for these two destnations, is that apart from offering beautiful beaches, the packages can be squeezed into medium budgets.
This year, spillover to kamurta period
“The rush is such that people are paying no heed to auspicious and inauspicious periods. For example, the “kamurta” period that extends from 15th of December till Uttarayan is considered not good for marriages, but we have orders for those days also, mostly from NRIs,” said Hemu Gandhi of Gandhi Associates. “I didn’t have an option but to fix the wedding date for December 24,” said Raman Patel, a Miami-based computer engineer. Raman said he is aware of kamurta. “My grandparents were dead against this but they also could not do much because Christmas holiday is the only long leave we get and since it falls in the kamurta period, I cannot do much about it,” he said.