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US tastes
Indian wedding spectaculars |
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Traffic comes to a halt and heads turn
when she walks down the street. A date with her can cost anything upwards of
$8,500. Young Indian men with deep pockets are
queuing up for Minnie to realise their fantasies. Those who can't afford her
settle for Sadie, Cindy or Penelope who cost about $500 an hour. Minnie is an elephant and the other three
are white mares rented out for Indian weddings. The four-legged beauties are part of a
booming wedding industry that caters to the ever-growing demands of rich
Indians in the US. 'Huge cost' Manan Shah had a childhood dream of taking
centre stage in his marriage procession - or baraat - on an elephant. He was inspired by the Indian blockbuster
of yesteryear, Haathi Mere Saathi, a movie about a boy with elephants as
friends. A relative's wedding in India where he saw
an elephant carry the groom to the bride added to the fascination. "I knew it was almost a lifetime wish
for him and so I decided to go for it despite the huge cost,'' says his
father Suresh Shah, who has lived in the US for more than 30 years.
Five or six years ago, it would have been
an impossible wish to fulfil. But not anymore. A few calls to the wedding planner and
Minnie, a 3,175kg (7,000 pounds) grey Asian diva, is on her way to Washington
DC from Connecticut. "Elephants are the latest trend - and
because there are not many around the demand is always high,'' says Sonal
Shah. The cost of hiring an elephant can go up
to $30,000 depending on distance - but people still seem to have the money to
pay for it. She says most of her Indian clientele
wants bigger, better and more elaborate weddings. "There's a great craze for new
unreleased models of cars like Aston Martins, Ferraris and Lamborghinis for
the baraat and I am also doing one where the groom will land on a
helicopter,'' says Sonal Shah. She has 25 such high-end weddings lined up
for the year. Bollywood inspired No wonder Indian wedding planners have
mushroomed all over the US. And so have supporting professionals like
videographers, hair and make-up specialists, henna artists and so on. The music and dance must also be Bollywood
inspired, with specialist DJs and choreographers.
Kumar Singh, whose son was married
recently, says 10 years ago it wasn't easy to get any of the accessories
required for an elaborate Hindu wedding ritual. "Now with a little luck maybe we are
able to fire guns in the air the way we do it in India,'' says Mr Singh, who
is in the auto and motel business. Many of these wedding vendors are from
backgrounds and cultures with no obvious links to Indian traditions and this
growing industry has nurtured cross-cultural ties. The Commerford family that owns Minnie has
been in the animal attraction business for 35 years organising pet shows, pony
and camel rides. "It was last year that we got the
first call for an elephant to be used in an Indian wedding and then we
realised it was an exciting business opportunity,'' says Darlene Commerford. The wedding was in New Jersey and the
Indian family had a blanket made for Minnie which they gave to her as a
parting gift. 'Wedding market boom' Five years ago Midge Harmon, the founder
of Harmon's Hayrides that now rents out white mares in Virginia and
Washington DC, wasn't even aware of the Indian tradition of weddings where
the groom makes a dramatic entrance on horseback. Then, she only rented out cars for
American weddings and did not have a white mare. Now, she has three - Sadie, Cindy and
Penelope. "The demand has been huge and I
invested in their training and even got brocades and traditional wedding
attires for them from India,'' she said. She has a better understanding of Indian
traditions now and can differentiate between a Sikh and a Gujarati wedding. "In fact, the handlers of these
horses have a better understanding than me, as they are the ones who go to
the weddings,'' she said. But what is it that has triggered this
boom in the Indian wedding market here? Midge Harmon says the second generation
Indians have now reached the marriageable age and there's a large number of
young Indians who are in 20s and early 30s. "They are Americanised, want to get
married here but in the traditional ways and so the support facilities have
grown to service them,'' she says. And one things for sure. It's here to
stay. As Sonal Shah puts it: "It's one
business with indefinite longevity.'' |
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It's one business with indefinite
longevity
