You can have a great wedding without it costing the earth merely with some intelligent planning and sensible choices. Here's how

A 20-page invitation packed in silver boxes, 1,000 guests put up in a five-star Paris hotel for the five-day affair, a party at Versailles, pop singer Kylie Minogue’s performance, another party at a wooden castle temporarily erected in Parc de Saint-Cloud, five thousand bottles of Mouton Rothschild, and goody bags of jewels. 

If you thought that wedding extravagance happened only at a Jayalalitha’s son’s big day, then rethink. The above-mentioned arrangement was at business tycoon L N Mittal’s daughter’s wedding — one of the most expensive weddings of the history — where Mittal spent $60 million.

But take heart. You need not be Laloo Prasad, Jayalalitha, or for that matter, business tycoon L N Mittal to arrange for an impressive wedding ceremony. Proper planning should be the keyword when it comes to having a good memorable wedding ceremony without having to spend too much. Keeping in mind the limited finance and unlimited desire of the common man, a budget wedding is a trend that is fast catching up.

An advantage of having a budget wedding is that it bridges the difference between the parents, who want a talk-of-the-town kind of wedding, and youngsters who'd rather have a more subtle affair for the concept offers more choices and channelises the expense, thereby checking the unnecessary ones.

The wardrobe
If you plan to get something on the similar lines of the costumes of Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in the song Aaja Mahi Ve in the movie Kal Ho Na Ho, you may give a second and practical thought. While sherwani and turban are a must for the occasion, spending thousands on them, which would just occupy space in the wardrobe, might not be a very good decision. So why not rent it out?

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