Wanted: Wedding Crashers…Will Pay

Posted on by

shaadi.jpg Michael H. of Chocolate and Gold Coins points us towards an interesting little blurb on Ananova about brown weddings; apparently, people in India and people in Amreeka have totally opposite problems. I mean, the last time I was at this popular venue for desi receptions, I was a mere speck among 800 other guests. The Mother of The Groom, a former classmate of my Mom’s, bemoaned the fact that she had to cut people from her invite list…to get it down to 800. Maybe she should’ve thrown her bash in INDIA:

An Indian firm which rents out wedding guests says business is booming.
The Best Guests Centre, at Jodhpur in Rajasthan, is looking to expand across the state.
The company caters for families who fear they will fall short of guests at weddings.

Fake guests can be attired in your choice of either desi or “smart” vestern clothes, they also dance and use the right salad fork. The most crucial bit of preparation is probably the briefing these employees receive on the story behind the wedding, so that they don’t botch the illusion of perfect guest-ness.

Why on earth is this even necessary?

He told The Statesman: “The breaking up of joint families and lack of affection among relatives also creates a demand for paid guests.
“Such families need to hire guests to make up for the fewer number of relatives available for attending the marriage.”

Are you kidding me? Problems getting desis to show up for free food and gossip fodder? This HAS to be a joke. Right?

14 thoughts on “Wanted: Wedding Crashers…Will Pay”

  2. Too funny, Anna.

    Biggest wedding I’ve been to in the US: 1500 guests. They had two large screens – like a music concert – set up for those sitting in the back of the room so as to make sure they didn’t miss a single phera.

    Biggest wedding I’ve been to in India: 7,500 or so. The whole village was invited. Totally intense.

  3. My parent’s wedding in Kenya had 3000 guests, but that’s because you were (and still are) expected to invite the entire community (and my parents are from different communities, so both were invited).

    My father and his university friends would bank on the anonymity granted by these large numbers, and crash weddings whenever they could because their dining hall (mess) food sucked.

    When my cousin got married (both her and hubby are from TX, but the wedding was held in India), her father hired 3 busses to basically collect his entire village and bring them in for the wedding. Mabe they should have just hired these people 😉

  4. My father & friends also crashed weddings while in college (in India). He speaks fondly of all the ice cream and gulab jamun.

    We had wedding crashers (a good handful) during my wedding. They also speak fondly of the ice cream and gulab jamun.

  5. how sad would that be if you had to rent ppl to show up to your wedding? I think i’d be perched off of Mt. Kailash ready to take a jump.

  6. damn.. i remember when i did a study abroad in india.. and for fun we used to crash weddings at nice hotels in pune, and eat paan, and have a merry old time.. didn’t get paid, but the paan wasn’t bad 😉

  7. Last year I was doing this roadtrip through Haryana-Punjab with parents and fiancee. We stopped at a roadside eatery in Karnal. There was a wedding celebration going on – two movie cameras on a moving trolley – zooming in and out – projections on multiple screens – professional performers on stage – general mingling – three or four rows of booths set up with chefs cooking and serving on the spot… needless to say – very lavish affair… at least lavish to me – we’re just lurking outside – admiring the glitz – no guards or anything – anyone can walk in – several people waved to us inviting us in … the point is – for the really wealthy – what’s a couple of thousand here or there… I’d be skeptical if anyone’d really care if anyone crashed… but then – this was semi-rural, Jat country – hardly the kind of people I’d expect to be mingy

  8. Chick pea, what was your general experience in Pune like? My friends in the hostel at Fergusson College on Deccan Gymkhana would regularly crash wedding lunches to escape the food in the Mess.

  9. Mathematiker:

    I had a great time in Pune.. was in the Penn In India group back in 1995… we studied at the University of Pune and did either Cultural Arts of India, Ayurvedic Medicine, Economics of India, etc…

    We all stayed with host families.. mine was amazing.. still keep in touch to this day.. actually just got invited to the family wedding..

    I visit them to this day when I go to India..they are like my family..

    Pune.. unfortuantely like Bangalore has undergone too much change.. too much progress, lots more pollution.. now there is a Holiday Inn, etc.. wheras back in the day. (god i feel old) there was only the Blue Diamond hotel which was considered 4 stars…it was smaller, and more refreshing… now it’s a pain.. sigh…