Baby, DON'T just say, "Yes"

Big budgets, drama, tantrums, tears. Why are we still prioritising one day over the life ahead?

- Karishma Kuenzang

At one level, it’s a matter of semantics. Indians often use the terms Wedding and Marriage interchangeably. The former is a one-day event. The latter, if all goes well, is a lifelong partnership. What guests attend is the wedding, what the couple commits to is the marriage.

On another level, Indian weddings are so huge, so all-consuming, so pressuring, it’s hard not to be swept up in the excitement of that one big day. The wedding industry in India is worth $75 billion or ₹6.2 lakh crore; each wedding has, on average, 310 guests, according to a report by WedMeGood. Prep, if you include fitness training, trips to the dermatologist, proposal videos, engagement parties, trousseau curation, and pre-wedding photo shoots, can start 18 months in advance.

Now, consider how much a couple preps for the marriage, and the shiny numbers dim. No wonder, as Sima Aunty puts it on Indian Matchmaking, “marriages are breaking like biscuits”.