Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Destination Wedding

I am sure most of you would have heard about “Destination Wedding”.  A destination wedding is when the bride and groom select an exotic (strange) place for the wedding ceremony.  That too to have a traditional wedding based on their religion/community.

Take for example a Tamil Brahmin bride and groom who live in Chennai, who have never visited any place outside of Tamilnadu, select Agartala for their wedding ceremony.  They also want to have the wedding in a Tamil Brahmin style.

If the bride and groom spend their own money, it is fine.  But many brides want the parents to pay for the wedding and also make the arrangements.

What a logistics nightmare!

In my above example, the parents have to make arrangements in Agartala for the wedding hall, arrange Tamil Brahmin cooks for the feast, arrange a Tamil Brahmin punditji, and transport so many wedding related stuff from Chennai to Agartala. It will be financially and physically exhausting for the bride’s parents.

And the bride and groom expect all the invitees to attend also.  Not all have enough money to pay for the train/plane tickets, pay for the hotel stay, and give a wedding gift also.

It has become a fashion among NRI girls who are living in USA.  Couple of years ago, the daughter of a friend of ours had her wedding ceremony in Hawaii.  It is pleasing to hear “our wedding is in Hawaii”.  But the nightmare that was experienced by her parents cannot be described in words. (The mehandi function was on a chartered boat in the middle of the  Pacific Ocean).

Why I am writing this?  In about 10 days, we are going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  It is a famous beach resort in Mexico.  We have to attend this wedding.  The bride is Tamil Brahmin and the groom is Gujrati.

One good thing in this wedding is the bride and groom make all the physical  arrangements. They also pay for their wedding costs.

No, they are not paying for our airfare.  We pay ourselves.

19 comments:

  1. There is a show called 'Vital stats of India' that aired an episode about the costs and things involved in DWs and my Gawd, I was amazed at what lengths pple can go to waste their money. A wedding, I think, must a a simple function with more emotions than arrangements.

    Airfare yourselves..that's mean on their part!

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  2. wedding in a liner, weddings in hot air balloon, under the ocean, oh god! to what lengths people go to.

    Have a nice time at the tam-gujju wedding!

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  3. Hi SG, I am back..when you speak of wedding we had six weddings in the family including my son's :) . I know how tiring it is to make arrangements for wedding- sending invites, shopping, guests pouring in , entertaining..Ah.. I experienced everything. the wedding spree started in August 2014 and ended on Feb 8th. Recovering from all the stress and strain..huff..puff..

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  4. I think this is OK as long as people have money to spend for it. Asking their parents or over-reaching beyond their means is not a good idea.

    Destination Infinity

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  5. Most of the children expect their parents to spend for their wedding as per their plans. It is alright with rich parents, otherwise, they have to suffer the burden in their old age. Happy to know that the current bride and groom are planning their wedding with their own money.

    Enjoy!

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  6. I am just back from a destination wedding, virtually :D It was in a serial I watch :D

    Even I agree with your points... Wedding has just to be a pleasant event for the couple for their entire life. But, influenced by the celebrity/high profile people, many families go for grand/fancy wedding styles only to end up with loans for the lifetime... By any chance, do these grand weddings make their bonding stronger than the simpler ones?

    Hope you enjoy your trip :) TC! Keep smiling :)

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  7. Thanks for your commments Ankita. At least, in this wedding, the bride and the groom are making arrangemets and paying for it

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  8. Thanks for your comments Asha. Will take a few photos.

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  9. Thanks for your comments Chitra. And, welcome back. Hope none of the 7 weddings you attended was a destination wedding.

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  10. Thanks for your comments Rajesh. I 100% agree with you.

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  11. Thanks for your comments Sandhya. Will take a few photos.

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  12. Thanks for your comments Sindhu. Stronger bonding or not, this gives employment to many people. Improves the economy.

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  13. Most of the people I meet ,have one common destination...BANGKOK

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  14. It is good to know that both the children are spending/ sharing the wedding expenses.
    I always felt this is the right way to go about. Infact, I would prefer, a simple court wedding with a nice reception, with just a few friends and relatives from both sides attending.
    Now a days weddings are so lavish, and a total waste of hard earned money.
    I hope you have good time at the wedding.

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  15. well it just sounds nice and it will be cool for the people who attend( clubbing it with their holiday plans) but the cost involved is huge!. Y spend so much money and bring tension to the parents? instead hav a simple wedding and spend the money productively!

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  16. Wedding should be a sacred & private event. It cannot be converted into a circus or FB post.
    Atleast it is justified if the couple genuinely enjoy the same things - like underwater exchange of rings for sea lovers or mountaintop wedding for trekkers.

    But nowadays even weddings are for the sake of impressing the Joneses.

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  17. I see wedding as a costly and tenion affair for parents. They would have to spend half of their earnings on this. To top it with destination wedding is bad. And as you said, if the bride and groom meet expenses its is good.

    But my question is why so much fuss over a wedding. Isn't wedding an occasion to have loved ones around and just bless?

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  18. Curious for the couple and troublesome for the parents.Nice topic.

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  19. No wonder we call these the big fat indian weddings. As long as the bride and groom take up expenses, it sounds fair. Btw, how was the wedding?
    I like simple temple/church weddings, save a lot of time, energy and of course money :)

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