Dear fiance, hmmm.. I have not yet found him so I don’t think I can address it to fiance..
Dear future husband,
Every girl has big dreams about her wedding day. She wants to look like princess and the wedding celebration should be like that of royal ceremony. Some dream of lavish lehenga, some dream of that Jodha Akbar kundan necklace, some dream about inviting celebrity, some dream about a great artist performing a concert. Well even the parents have high dreams and plan a lot for this day. My dream is very simple, we just have to walk into a register office and both of us have to sign the deal. Do you want to know why? We can do a hell lot of things with that money. Here is how we can convert all those expenses into a happy married life,

1. Rent of marriage hall – you know how people want only AC halls these days with high end rooms. They cost easily one and half lakhs for a day. And with ceremonies like ours we will have to spend three lakhs! Instead let’s just go to Kenya and watch ‘The Great Migration’. My honeymoon gift for you!! Easily ten days we can spend watching the wildebeest trying to cross the Mara river while the lions and crocodiles try to attack it! You will thank your girl for taking you to the most adventurous place. Plus it is my dream destination, please please..
2. Cost of food – previous day evening tiffin, dinner then on wedding day breakfast, lunch, plus now and then coffee, cool drinks. On top of that nowadays there needs to be buffet and dining. Then Indian, Chinese, salads, ice cream, dosa appam counter. Summing up all this comes to another three lakhs! Now we are heading off to Europe! Paris has for some reason not fascinated me but if you want to do it, I am this adjustable wife so we can go! Otherwise it should be between Italy, Greece or Ireland, Norway, Sweden.
3. Cost of wedding dress – Four silk sarees easily come to one and half lakhs. Plus if we include cost of travelling to Kancheepuram, feeding the relatives who accompany, gifting free sarees to them, all this will come to another fifty thousand. So that makes two lakhs for us! Let me include your sherwani, silk dhothi cost too, another fifty thousand! Woww! We are rich dude! This time place is your choice okay. You do have a travel bucket list na? Otherwise don’t even think of marrying me.

4. Cost of flower decoration – for previous night engagement one decoration, the next day some traditional decoration, plus all those ornamental garlands, the cost easily comes to another lakh. We can go to Ladakh! Please don’t reject me that I call myself a traveler but have not yet done ladakh 🙁 Lets just say I wanted to get leh’d only with you 😉 So lets spend some time in Srinagar and go by road to Leh, do the Spiti circuit too and then end at Manali, no direct flight landing at leh ok.
5. Cost of welcoming you – please don’t get offended honey! Aren’t my open arms enough to welcome you? Why do you want horse and elephant to welcome you? Then those drummers, band guys, crackers and fancy decorated welcome plates! You know for every welcome plate you need to drop hefty money in it. I am helping you to save all this money! We would have easily saved forty thousand here. Three day trip to McLeond Ganj. All we do is go there, check into a resort and stroll around the Switzerland of India.
6. Cost of stay for relatives – Seriously! Seriously!!! Wedding should be on a holiday so they can spend the entire week touring around the place at your expense! AC room cost, cab cost, food cost, I can tell you we can save easily 60k. Now both of us would have saved one lakh twenty thousand. Bali, here we come! We can spend island hoping in Indonesia. Let’s go let’s go.
7. Cost of laser show, entertainers, candy and pop corn machines – What yaar? We both are conducting some kind of exhibition or what? Guys dressed as Mickey mouse walking around and then cotton candy selling vendors, and then laser beams streaming over our head, who needs them? No, we are saving seventy thousand there. We are going to Ranthambore or Tadoba. So far there has been no luck in spotting the tiger, let us try our luck together. Plus the mysterious jungle, serene morning, anxious wait for the tiger, it is such a thrill you no! So there we go.
8. Cost of household items – We can manage to live like how we have lived all these years. There is no need to buy all those vessels, cot, grinder, TV, etc. And those silver lamps, tumblers and plates like we are born with a silver spoon and drink out of silver tumbler everyday!! So hey, another lakh saved. Now, hmmm let me think. How about Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya, Nepal all of those near there?
9. Cost of car – we are going to be globe trotters. We don’t need a car! Plus don’t even dare think of such costly gift from my parents or me! Not happening. Since neither of us can demand this, no money comes to our hand and so cannot plan travel.

10. Cost of candid photographer – They are quoting one lakh you know! And for couple shoot fifty thousand! The pictures look dreamy and nice. But hey, can those beat all those beautiful pics we will be taking together in those exotic locations! No way. So we have another a lakh and fifty thousand.. I am not really a beach person but if you insist we can do between Agatti islands, Mauritius or bora bora islands.
11. Cost of Makeup – 30k.. Dude for the rest of the life you have to see my face without makeup.. Might even scare you when you wake up in the morning and look at the face next to you.. So why not prepare yourself from the very first day? Good idea right? Let’s tour south India. Might sound strange but I have not done most of Tamil Nadu only!!
12. Cost of orchestra – How long are the orchestras gonna sing the same old song, ‘nooru varsham inda maapilayum ponnu daan’!! So let’s not have these dumb orchestras with blaring sound. We won’t even be able to talk with each other. And then during the wedding the traditional saxophone or nadaswaram. All this would have saved us another 60k. Let us go to Turkey. I have an eye on the blue mosque from quiet a longggg timee. And I want to get on that hot air balloon over Cappadocia..

13. Cost of wedding invitation – people who love us and are excited about our wedding will turn up even if we don’t invite them. So yayyy, both of us saved 30k each. Orissa or Maharashtra ok?
So you see we can do so much with the money.. We have our whole life planned ahead of us filled with joy and happiness travelling around the world. Honestly, no one is going to remember what you wore on your wedding day or what food they had in the wedding hall. It doesn’t matter how grand the wedding is celebrated. All that matters is how cordially we live after that. So let us not waste all our hard earned money on one day!!
Btw, did you notice I have not mentioned about cost of jewelry? Darling, you have to buy me the mangalsutra, I believe in sporting one.. No escape 😀
Time to get on my ride.. Liked the blog? Share it 🙂
Nice one Chittra!!!! Wish i read this before getting married 😛
Good thing , Hope is would have married in 2015 after reading your blog.. 🙂
Haha 😀 Next time you see some extravagant wedding remind them, there are better options 😉
Indira, keep this in mind when it comes to your kid 🙂