Weddings In Wonderland

- Monica Bathija & Naini Thaker

A few years ago, for the wedding of a patriotic Indian-origin businessman’s daughter, wedding planner Aditya Motwane made a proposition that floored his client. “Just when the sindoor was being applied, we made three fighter jets fly past with the Indian tricolour dust behind,” says Motwane. The client didn’t know it was going to happen. “We were on walkie-talkies and in touch with the air traffic control. I was talking to someone, who was in touch with someone from the military, who was in conversation with the pilot on top… it was a challenging thing, and it had to happen at that time. We were delayed by three seconds…the groom put the sindoor and from behind we started playing AR Rahman’s Vande Mataram. Just then, the flights went up and down and did two rounds. Every guest had tears in their eyes, and the bride’s father hugged me,” he recollects.

Celebrity weddings make it to the limelight, but a fly-past is the sort of grand gesture that takes the big-ticket Indian wedding into another league. A league that involves buyouts of entire hotel inventories at destinations or even cruise ships, flying down chefs and artists from all over the world, and setting up massive sets that resemble cities. Where costs might start at 1 crore to 1.5 crore, with no upper limit.