If half the world is not talking, no point in getting married. That seems to be the motive of the high flying weddings that we have witnessed in 2018 and previously. If the pictures do not get the highest tweets, forget it. If the ceremonies do not get breaking news status, it's bad news. If the guest list does not make people envious, jealous, in awe, there is no point in having a gathering.
The biggest, the most extravagant, the most who's who, the most designer, the most rare, the most exclusive, the most costly, the most...this desire to be making world records is a characteristic of the rich and famous. The lives of the rich and their luxury unlimited are a subject that has fascinated people. The mega rich are the fantasy of every ordinary man or woman trying to make it in life.
Aside from the rich the famous also hog people's curiosity. Celebrities may or may not be as rich but are still news that people want to know most of the time. This creates the mouthwatering content that media cash in on for viewers and readers.
The recent wedding that has caught media attention world-wide is the famous Ambani extravaganza. India's famous billionaire Mukesh Ambani is getting his only daughter Isha married. This wedding is termed as the most expensive wedding of the year beating Prince Harry's and Meghan Markel's royal wedding.
The serial wedding was about how far money can go to ensure the ritz and glitz of unparalled levels. The pre-wedding buildups, the wedding function episodes and the post wedding celebrations became a ritual of calculating the stunning cost that seems to beat all estimates and guestimates of lavish weddings. Multiple media reports have estimated the cost of the week-long extravaganza at around $100 million (around Indian Rs 710 crore).
However, a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the planning has said that the cost of the marriage is not more than $15 million (nearly Indian Rs 110 crore). Rs 110 crore is not a small amount as it is and can easily beat most luxury weddings.
The guest list was also drawing Oohs and Aahs. From Hollywood to Bollywood and from politics to art big names were transported on chartered planes to all the exotic resorts housing surreal functions.
Why do such weddings allure people? It is the same fascination human beings have to fantasy world. These are the Alice in Wonderlands of real world; these are the real life prince waking up the sleeping beauty stuff.
The hanging palaces, the mountain top resorts, the celebrity galore, the Beyoncé item numbers are all on screen stuff that comes live on such weddings. This involves all rarities in the material world. From the invitation card designs to venues to outfits made by the most exclusive names, the décor, the choreography, the theme setter, the program MC, the super star items all are stuff that are out of this world for people of this world.
Weddings were getting stale and needed some innovation and thus the latest trend of "Destination Weddings" took place. Couples decide that they will marry away from home and preferably in some other country. For Pakistani couples Bangkok, Turkey and Dubai are quite common destinations to wed. For Indian couples either some exotic palace in India or a European country is more appealing. For the last few months the world has seen celebrity couples tie knots in foreign lands. Teasers, trailors, gossip, speculation has all been about celebrity weddings in the Indian film industry.
Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja, Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, and finally Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas. The most talked about wedding was the Kohli-Sharma romance finale in Italy and lately Deepika-Ranveer in the same destination. Virat and Anushka wedding was stuff made in fairy tales with the Prince Charming of cricket making the rounds with the princess of Bollywood.
Destination weddings are a combination of made to order and do it yourself desire of to be weds. The personal choice it gives in terms of choosing the place, the weather, the people you want around you, the theme that you dreamt are all choices that make the staid and stressful business of getting married an adventure.
The idea is to have a wedding on your honeymoon with the people you feel comfortable with, without the prying eyes of media and public and then return to your hometown to throw a reception for others as a token of celebration. For celebrities, these weddings may be very expensive but can become good business too.
Some reports say that Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas wedding pictures were sold as an exclusive deal to Hello magazine at a reported 2.4 million dollars. There are mixed reports on the expense on wedding attire. Some say designers heavily subsidize these gowns for the bride and bridegroom in return for the free advertising and publicity that they gain in return for being viewed and admired by billions of people. The celebrity couple itself gets the romantic publicity to create more hunger for its movies in the future.
Of course they can afford these weddings and how you celebrate your big day is definitely their personal choice does not take away the fact that there is a wider and deeper message they convey to the ordinary people-that money is the route to fulfill your dreams and fantasies.
The marital unions are more like unions of mega brands to create brand empires that reek of materialism at its highest and ugliest. The splashing of wealth, blinking jewelry, 9-course meals constitute such a contrast against stark poverty existing in South Asian countries. The amount of money spent on one of these weddings can feed hundreds of thousands of poor families for a year. To assuage this guilt the Ambanis did their charity dole out.
They donated three meals a day to 5,100 people in Udaipur for four days as a gratitude towards the lake city. They also set up a crafts bazaar to showcase traditional paintings, pottery and other forms of local artisans. Such an act of charity only went to show the stark contrast between the lifestyles of those who charter planes in and out of Udaipur Palace and those who wait on streets and orphanages for the largesse of the immensely rich.
Weddings, no matter how choreographed and planned are a matter of heart and mind. Celebrity weddings are notorious for their short lives. Spending majority of their time in front of the superficial world of the cameras, marriages and personal lives should be a break for them away from the artificiality of this make-believe world.
However, when personal living also becomes one more big ticket release or mega event to accumulate brand equity it becomes very difficult for reality to become up close and personal. But for the rich, marriage is also at least a three-episode serial. As Jacqueline Kennedy said, "The first time you marry for love, the second for money and the third for companionship". Seems the repeat business of weddings is on a season high. (The writer can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com)