Then there are the bills to be paid. But marriage expenses can be trimmed, and, more importantly, steered clear of parents and their lifelong savings, feel Pune-based Milind and Shubhda Shende. Explains Milind, a mechanical engineer:“Ours was a love marriage and the moment we were ready to tie the knot, we decided not to take a single penny from our parents.” Raison d’etre?

The Shendes wanted to experience what it meant to handle finances as a lesson for the fu-ture. “It made us realise how much parents spend for just one night. We felt the pain be-hind blowing up your hard-earned money,” says homemaker Shubhda, who feels that thanks to high paying jobs that enable ample economic freedom, a self-financed wedding is an option many youngsters are waking up to.

Delhi-based Devna and Deepak Dhyani, working with a BPO, had their plans well chalked out. They had enough savings to fi-nance their wedding. “We used our money to shop for my bridal trousseau and presents for relatives. We used our money wisely; we knew there would be other expenses after our mar-riage,” says Devna. The duo has bought a car, AC and TV on instalments. For Deepak, it was like taking on a challenge: “Financing my own wedding was a way to prove to myself that I can handle life systematically. But this can’t be pos-sible without the support of your spouse.”

Couples are also getting choosy about who to invite to their wedding. “I didn’t want any-one and everyone to be at my wedding. How can you have people for your wedding you’ve never ever seen before?” asks Delhi-based graphic designer Sarah Kapoor. Sarah and her husband Manish got married with a budget of Rs 3.5 lakh, cut down on ceremonies like roka, engagement and mehendi rasam. Says entre-preneur Manish: “Our parents are getting old, why not take care of them? By curbing unnec-essary formalities, we saved a lot, took a house and a car and now we’ll be leaving for our hon-eymoon to Turkey—the expense for which was included in the budget.”

... contd.