Bhubaneswar, May 8: Marriage is a sacred ceremony and in India marriage ceremonies are an expensive affair with lot of planning and management. This year, the cyclone which struck the city last week, led to many such ceremonies getting cancelled or organized at double the cost. This has put financial burden on not only the couples to be married and their families, but also on wedding planners and event organisers.
Abhishek Khemka of Eventskart, an event management company, said that cyclone Fani has created connectivity issues. In terms of marriage events, the ring ceremony and engagement party are dropped by many of the families. The marriage ceremonies are being organised with much difficulty. Lack of electricity was the chief concern in events such as a huge number of people are involved. Generators which used to cost around Rs 50,000-60,000, now cost around Rs 1 lakh. This ups the total budget of the event. The cost of food has also shot up because of high prices of vegetables and non vegetarian items.
Due to this huge cost, some of the clients had stayed the event for a later date.
Musaraf Ali, an owner of horses needed for weddings, said that the cyclone has impacted them in a huge way as many of his horses had suffered injuries due to the cyclone. The stables were also destroyed.
Zakir Shekh who is a food caterer for marriage ceremonies said that in this week itself four to five marriage ceremonies have been called off due to the aftermath of the cyclone. “The main concern is lack of mobile connectivity and electricity. In marriages these things are very important,” he added.
Sanjay Singh of Arya Samaj Kalyan Mandap here said, “The lighting was the main concern in our mandap and the cost of a generator is very high too. This makes it difficult for us to arrange the event without any hindrances.”