Marriage business gains stimulus after two years as Covid cases drop

The marriage business has gained pace after a hiatus of two years just as the wedding season began from the first week of February.
Representational Image. (File Photo)
Representational Image. (File Photo)

GUNTUR: The marriage business has gained pace after a hiatus of two years just as the wedding season began from the first week of February.

In the past two years, due to Covid-19, the marriage business was heavily affected - leaving thousands of people unemployed. People who postponed their weddings due to the pandemic are now in a rush. As a result, most of the wedding halls are booked for the entire month.

There are 84 wedding halls in the city. Of the total, 18 have an occupancy of more than 1,000 people, 10 can accommodate 500 people while 56 halls have an occupancy of 100-200 people.

On average, as many as 200 people are employed directly and indirectly for a wedding that hosts 1,000 guests. During the peak of the pandemic, while most of the weddings were postponed, several of them were celebrated in a low-key fashion. This left all the workers jobless and in great despair.

After two years, people are more than eager to return to celebrate weddings in a lavish manner. Many businesses including catering services, decorators, event planners, suppliers, security and cleaning crews are now getting business.

Expressing his content on the boom in the business, Trimurthulu, a printing press owner said, “Before Covid, we used to get orders for 700-1,000 wedding invitations. But it dropped to 50-100 due to Covid. As the wedding season has kick-started again without any glitches, we are now getting orders for not only wedding invitations but also for birthdays and other functions.”

Mohan, chief of a famous catering services firm in the city said: “During the last two years, we would only receive orders for 30-50 people. That was not at all profitable. But now we are getting food orders for a minimum of 500-700 people. As we have a handful of work, we have reappointed all our staff.”

Though it takes time to fully recover from the losses of the past two years, we are hopeful, he said. Ramanamma, a cook at the catering firm said, after losing this job, I worked for daily wages. Though it helped us to stay afloat, it is not our work. Getting back to what we are to do, is like coming back home, she added emotionally.

Venkat, owner of a marriage hall, exclaimed happiness over his hall being booked for the entire wedding season for the first time in two years.

He said, “We know how difficult it is to lose jobs during such dreadful times. So, we are being extra responsible and are taking extra precautions. We have appointed an additional crew to sanitise the entire area soon after the event is over. This has given more confidence to the families.”

This boom in the business has instilled excitement among the business community. With the marriage season continuing till the end of this month and with several auspicious dates being available from April to July, all of them are excited and are trying to get as much work as possible to balance their losses.

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