A Pakistani’s year is punctuated with weddings that tend to roll around in winter as that is the official shaadi season. The weddings are almost always big, lavish, and last a few days, sometimes even weeks. The sheer number of events has become the norm in the country and usually involves ceremonies of baat pakki, engagement, nikkah, dholki, mehendi, rukhsati, and valima. Families that are financially sound tend to add in a few events. Events like nikkah and valima are religious in nature whilst the others are purely cultural. Traditionally, the nikkah is hosted by the woman’s family and the man’s family hosts the valima ceremony.
Simply attending the different events is enough to glean that weddings cost a fortune in Pakistan. Despite the worsening economic conditions of the country, the wedding industry continues to boom because the public keeps moving towards bigger and more exorbitant weddings. The wedding industry of the country is worth Rs 900 billion (in a year) approximately and it is estimated that Karachi, being the big metropolitan city, contributes Rs 168 billion to it.
Over the Top Weddings
Last year, the town of Mandi Bahauddin saw a bizarre event where a helicopter threw petals, dollars, and euros from the sky down to the ground. It was for the wedding of Rana Ibrar Hussain. The organizer of the event estimated the money thrown was around Rs. 2 million and the hiring of the helicopter alone was for Rs. 1.8 million.
Another example of an excessive wedding was the one that took place between the families of Jalal Sons and Master Tiles in 2020. A private country club was reserved for around four months for Rs. 150 million, and the event management company received a whopping amount of Rs. 15-20 million and the cost of the decor was likely the same, around Rs. 10 million were emptied on fireworks alone and the digital coverage of the event cost Rs. 9.5 million. Lastly, a famous singer was hired for the event for Rs. 15 million. The money spent was staggering enough for the Federal Board of Revenue to get involved to find out the exact amount of money spent to calculate taxes.
Yet another example can be taken from the biggest piece of news that came out of Junaid Safdar’s wedding: his vintage shahtoosh shawl. Belonging to the famous Nawaz family, the groom-to-be was seen wearing the 70-year-old shawl on his mehendi occasion. The 7-yard shawl was criticized heavily by the public because it cost Rs. 3 million and is made from the wool of Tibetan antelope whose processing of wool is banned all over the world.
Changes in the Wedding Culture
In the olden times, weddings simply used to be held at home. Nowadays, a wedding at home is considered to be a sign of inferiority. Junaid Zia, the owner of Qasr-e-Noor Banquet Halls put it very simply, “People want extravagant weddings… That is just what the social mindset is, to spend as much as you can on your son or daughter’s wedding for all to see.”
Social Media Impact
In this day and age of technology, it is no surprise that Instagram has had an impact on how weddings are shot now. Mutahir Mehmood, the owner of Karachi-based photography service OShoot, explained, “Instagram definitely has a major impact. Trends are shifting towards more editorial style couple shoots as opposed to your conventional timeless type poses… Before Instagram, it was all about unposed, genuine candid moments and people would have more fun at events. Now they pose solely for the ‘gram and people want their weddings to be posted online. There are very few events now where couples and families enjoy their festivities for memories as opposed to Instagram specific shots.”
In a way, social media platforms like Instagram have expanded the wedding industry as people tend to publicly acknowledge makeup artists, designers, etc. Ali Khurshid, a popular photographer commented, “Instagram has really changed the game. You tag people, you tag the designers, event planners and that creates a vibe throughout the internet. When people start sharing, all these networks come to life and that creates a lot of buzz for the photography business — that’s how it works!”
Ludicrous Expenditure
The cost of the wedding events is borne by the families of the bride and groom. A Pakistani wedding tends to have more than 200 guests. The prices of the services and products that go into weddings are different and depend upon the families’ budgets. If the costs are to be estimated, a makeup artist charges anywhere from Rs. 50,000 to Rs160,000. The cost of bridal dresses is outrageous and many brides are seen wearing dresses starting from Rs. 200,000. Event companies that arrange the food, venue, decorations, etc. for the events easily ring up a bill of more than Rs. 800,000.
Speaking of her observation of the wedding industry when she got married, Annam Lodhi, a journalist mentioned, “Over a decade ago, a ceremony would cost between Rs200,000 to Rs300,000…. But now it costs between Rs500,000 to Rs10,00,000 per event.” On the practice of vendors and artists jacking up prices upon hearing that the services/products are for a wedding, she added, “Even someone like a henna artist, who would normally charge Rs1,000, would demand Rs10,000 from a bride.”
COVID-19 & Pakistani Weddings
During the first wave of COVID-19, the Pakistani government imposed a complete lockdown on public places and gatherings including wedding halls but the ban on wedding halls was lifted in September 2020. Due to the oncoming second wave of the virus, the government limited the timings and number of attendees in marriage halls in October 2020. In April 2021, wedding ceremonies were banned once again in the country but it was later lifted. In January 2022, the government once again banned all indoor wedding ceremonies in major cities on account of rising positive COVID-19 cases.
On the effects of the lockdown, Taha Memon, owner of an event management company, Dawat disclosed, “I know several people, including marquee owners and event planners that could not meet their overheads amid fluctuating policies and had to ultimately shutdown their businesses during this period.” He further added, “Even with barely any events happening, we still had teams to pay and bills to clear, which became our only priority. The government kept changing its policies and prescribed limitations for events, so we just started taking smaller projects that came our way. There was little to no profit in those, but we were just trying to do our best to sustain the business lifecycle until better times.”
The government’s ban on public gatherings including wedding events was positively received by a portion of the population. Many couples chose to have small intimate weddings in their homes where only loved ones were invited. Muhammad Yousuf, a father who married off his daughter during the 2020 lockdown happily exclaimed, “It was a very simple function at home and I saved millions, which I can now use for my second daughter’s marriage.”
Observing the current trends, it is safe to assume that Pakistani weddings will continue to grow bigger and the wedding industry will expand right along with it.
