NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 23, 2005: Thousands of couples in New Delhi were tying the knot on Wednesday, a day considered auspicious in the Hindu calendar, news reports said. Newspapers said 15,000 to 25,000 weddings were taking place, causing a shortage of priests and venues in the Indian capital. Such is the hurry to get married on Wednesday that women priests have been brought in from neighboring states to perform wedding rituals, the Times of India reported. Hindu marriages are generally solemnized by a male priest. Couples in Delhi had been waiting the entire year for the auspicious day, which astrologers described as the “perfect time” to start a marriage. “Those getting married on November 23 will be together for seven lifetimes,” the chief priest of Birla Temple, Ravindra Nagar, told the Times. “It’s an extremely auspicious day.”
But the run-up to the weddings was likely not a cakewalk. Musicians, wedding planners, floral arrangers, beauticians and other professionals who help organise wedding parties have been in high demand and hard to come by. Indians like to celebrate weddings with great pomp. India’s wedding industry is estimated to be a more than $10-billion-a-year business. According to the Hindustan Times, of the 125,000 weddings held in New Delhi in the entire year, 15,000 are taking place on November 23. –