VIJAYAWADA: Parents in Vijayawada are ready to spend crores with marriage season round the corner and have starting booking halls 60 days in advance.
Around 15,000 marriages are to be held in the city and around 50,000 in Krishna District. Business persons dealing in flowers, kirana, videography, setting up kalayana madapams, lighting and decorations are eagerly waiting for the season of marriages.
“As this is the Phalguna Masam, the subha muhurtams have started on February 19 and major muhurtam dates will be on February 23, 24, and 2t and March 1, 3, 4, 8, 10 and 11 in the current Telugu Year,” said priest Narasimha Murthy. More than 20 per cent of marriages among the rich who will be celebrating by spending crores.
The rent for a kalyana mandapam ranges from Rs 30,000 to Rs 5 lakh a day. The cost of decoration and photography will cost a bomb. People are arranging cocktails during receptions in a 5-Star hotel with a rich menu. “We can’t calculate the range of high profile marriages they can spend in crores according to their status. I am not able to tell or guess,” said Gummadi Suresh, General Manager, A-Convention Centre, one of the leading and major kalyana mandapams in the city.
“They are ready to spend a lot on the on dress, decoration and even for lunch or dinner” Mr Suresh said. The middle class too are not far behind competing with the rich class for the marriages of their wards. They are willing to spend anywhere from Rs 10 lakhs to Rs 20 lakhs. The 84 kalyana mandapams in the city have all be booked till August.
Parents and couples who have planned their weddings are finding it difficult to find venues hence are preferring hotels or some private campuses. Some have even arranged marriages in the cellars of their apartments March 3 and 4. “It’s becoming a norm to spend havily. Also a lot of costly food goes waste. Parents are falling into debt after marriages,” cautioned senior citizen Totakura Ahilandeswari Rani, president, Rose Society of AP. People are ready to shell extra bucks to get that grand feeling during celebrations.
