>Brides-to-be are generally jittery before their wedding day. This wedding season, things are more frazzled and for Mansi Sharma (name changed), the concerns are graver than usual. Sharma’s family has had to grapple with banks that are either closed or too crowded and limited transactions at ATMs. The spare cash at home doesn’t account for much. Her relatives are anxious as well.

“As it is, a wedding comes with its own set of headaches and now we have this unnecessary trouble,” said Sharma’s cousin, Priyanka Shivan, referring to the crisis spurred by the government’s sudden decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

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The wedding business is highly unorganised, she says. Cash is needed for a whole range of transactions – with guests coming in, milk and grocery bills get magnified. Florists and tent vendors need to be paid in cash. “Relatives like my parents came in thinking they will withdraw cash and gift cash. Now all the currency is worthless and just paper. You need to understand the sentiments around an Indian wedding,” said Shivan. Organising a wedding thrives on cash payments and it has been hit severely by the government ban, say wedding planners and those in the industry. Weddings slotted for this month are being cancelled or postponed and budgets are being slashed. The peak wedding season in India typically starts from November and goes on till February.

Wedding planner Vijay Arora has had to scale down preparations for two weddings this month and is struggling to manage one at the Fairmont Hotel Jaipur.

“It’s a tough time and everybody’s getting affected. People who have accounted for finances also take out surplus cash to pay to people who do odd jobs. One of our weddings will be restricted to simple pheras with a few people in attendance. The six pre-wedding functions have been cancelled and replaced by a mehendi function at home and a small wedding,” he said.

Keeping in mind the importance of such occasions, the State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur had set up separate wedding counters where people could exchange old currency notes for new after furnishing invitation cards as proof.

Still, many parents and families are worried. There is no indication of when normalcy will return with easier availability of the new currency notes.

Bikaner-based CS Sharma, a general manager in a public sector undertaking, is preparing for his daughter’s wedding in Bengaluru next week. “It is becoming very tough to settle smaller last-minute payments. Setting an ATM limit on transactions will make matters tougher as the service class is dependent on ATMs,” he said.

Wedding planner Vandana Mohan said expenditure on weddings scheduled early next year could come down, given the limited cash in the hands of people.

Celebrity chef Ajay Chopra, who runs Zion Hospitality Services, said the move will impact spending on catering and functions at weddings

“The mode of payment in Indian weddings is cash for 60-70% of the expenditure. From the tempo guy to vegetable vendors – and even chefs are paid in cash at times. I have been offered cash in weddings,” Chopra said. “This will directly impact our business and will bring down spends. It will impact the thought process when people start to book now. People will not spend Rs 6,000-8,000 per plate.”

However, wedding planner Swati Pandya Sood said the move is a big revolution and a welcome step that will make the wedding industry more structured and organised.

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