'Our budget wedding'

The walk down the aisle comes with a hefty price tag. And even if you try to cut corners - trimming the guests list, doing away with some social functions an average Indian wedding can cost about Rs 9 lakhs onwards and go on to obscene, unquote-able sums especially if you are looking at having a big fat Indian wedding in all its opulence. Considering all of this the Kerala Women's Commission has put forward a proposal to curb marriage expenditure. The panel urged the state government to draft a legal framework limiting the total wedding expenditure to Rs 5 lakh by imposing caps on individual expenses. It advised that no more than 80 grams of jewellery should be allowed to be gifted to the bride and the guest list should not be allowed to cross 200. Nobody should spend more than Rs 10,000 on the bridal dress, Rs 5,000 on the groom's clothes, Rs 100 per plate for the wedding feast, and Rs 25,000 on the venue. In addition, the commission recommended a fine of 25% of the total wedding expenditure on those who cross the ceiling, and using this amount for weddings of poor women. If this proposal does go through couples down south may have to tweak their wedding plans in a big way! And while that's up for debate, we decided to track down couples who veered away from the traditional route, consciously choosing to have an inexpensive wedding. Here's their story and mine.

Trimming budgets cutting down on expenses on food and outfits
When we were thinking of exchanging vows my husband had suggested we skip the reception all together and save the cash as it would come in handy for our new life together. While I agreed with his reasoning I could not go through with it because I always wanted to have a white wedding. So, we decided we would try and cut costs wherever possible. Even if that meant trimming the guests list or not having that expensive white gown which alone can cost about Rs 60,000 depending on the work on it. I spent a quarter of that amount on my wedding gown, because I saw no point in spending more on an outfit I would only wear once. When I look back I have mixed feelings I know we could have used that extra cash as my husband had suggested but I can't bring myself to regret one of the most beautiful days of my life. While in my case sentimentality won over logic, there are others too who have dodged this bullet and come out winners." Read on to take a leaf from their books.

My minimal expense wedding
Deepa Suryanaryan, a media professional shares, "I married my best friend, Thomas John, on July 12, 2013. It was a registered marriage, under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. This is an Act enacted to provide an option to people having an inter-faith marriage. While a lot of girls want a big, fancy, no expenses spared wedding, I never understood the reason behind blowing up so much money in a day, when that money could be used to sponsor your travel for a nice honeymoon or be donated to an NGO or to someone who really needs it. Ever since I can remember, I always wanted a fuss-free registered wedding with minimum expense, and that's exactly how my wedding was. Thomas wanted the same thing and our parents agreed readily. We were also very keen on not hiring a tout/broker--they charge about Rs 7,000 for "expediting the process." So we did it all ourselves--from procuring and filling the form, to waiting for our turn to sign on the dotted line. Post wedding, we invited just the people who mattered to us--our parents and a few close friends and relatives--about 25--of them for lunch. We spent about Rs 15,000 in all on that day. (Rs 1000 on motichur laddoos and other miscellaneous expenses, like taking xerox copies, notary attestation of identity proof etc, and Rs 14,000 for a thali lunch at a restaurant in Thane). We also got two gold wedding bands, and a gold mangalsutra. My wedding sari was a Kanjeevaram silk (Rs 5000) and Thomas wore a formal shirt and trousers (which he picked up from a departmental store for about Rs 2,000). A very close friend who is an amateur photographer offered to take photographs, so we didn't hire a photographer."

Another couple who echo Deepa's thoughts are Aparna and Ashay Nerurkar. Aparna says, "We tied the knot way back in 2001, having a small wedding was a personal choice for both of us. It's a trend of sorts where the affluent section of society spends extravagant amounts of money on weddings setting an example for the rest to ape. Many families for some odd reason feel compelled to follow the trend and try to borrow or mortgage property just to make an impression. We did not want to encourage this and were not in favour of splurging. Hence, we decided to have a registered wedding, with just our immediate families. After the court marriage we went out for a lunch and that must have cost us about Rs 1,500 at the time. Since our relatives were not part of the occasion, we made it a point to visit them just so that we could get to know both sides."

So in the end, having their big day in a small way paid off for both these couples. Would you consider doing the same?