Wedding bling: For the love of money

Weddings these days are a way of displaying wealth. We focus on every little detail but the wedding itself!

Safia Kaleem December 19, 2010
It’s that time of the year again. Fathers lament the drain of their pockets, mothers get teary-eyed at every glimpse of their daughters, designers smirk behind their overpriced outfits, tailors get threatening calls from customers, salons get overcrowded, caterers lie their way through fancy menus and it’s probably the only time of the year when choreographers and the "band baaja walas" earn a decent livelihood. It’s the wedding season, where we focus on every little detail but the real wedding itself.

From designer clothes to custom-made jewellery, weddings these days are known for more than just a simple event celebrating the union of two people. And let’s not forget the overwhelming hype created before the mehendi, where the groom’s side literally has a dance off with the bride’s side. Irony of the fact remains that the mehendi alone is now the highlight of the three-day celebration; the rest of the days are merely reduced to a sequel to the hyped event. But it’s just not about the mehendi alone; weddings these days are a way of displaying wealth; no more than a competing platform where one outdoes the other. As long as it’s "over the top" and gets people talking, it’s in vogue.

Weddings are a status symbol more than anything else. It’s all about living up to society’s expectations, making it worthy enough to gossip about at the next kitty party. We can blame it on societal pressure but we forget that we are the ones who represent society. Recently, our prime minister’s son tied the nuptial knot in Lahore and according to news reports a three hour traffic jam followed an eight kilometre trail of guest cars.

It’s sad how the crux of the wedding – the nikah – is something most of us find insignificant even though it’s the most pivotal part of the wedding. Somehow, everything else seems to take precedence and is blown out of proportion to meet standard expectations.

While some are striving to raise funds to maintain a minimum life-style following one of Pakistan’s worst economic crises, others remain dangerously callous, self indulgent and preoccupied with going all out to manifest their wealth.
WRITTEN BY:
Safia Kaleem A Karachi based marketeer who works at Maersk
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (37)

Sana N | 13 years ago | Reply Good article, glad someone wrote about it and can I just say: What the hell is a Mayun?! Why do we even have it in there? Nikah, Valima -Khatam shud.
Patriot | 13 years ago | Reply Why did you post a picture of a hindu bride during her wedding? You can easily tell she is hindu as the man in putting the red powder in her hair parting. Only hindu brides do that!! Why can't we show and promote our own culture but try to copy hindu's? And we pakistani's don't spend as much as money as Hindu's on weddings. Recently I read on BBC News online a hindu wedding which took place this year cost $50 million dollars. Please respect our own culture and stop following hindu culture.
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