Delhi residents flock to Gurugram for weddings

Wedding venues in the city have seen an uptick in enquiries from Delhi residents after the Delhi government reduced the cap on weddings guests to a maximum of 50

Wedding venues in the city have seen an uptick in enquiries from Delhi residents after the Delhi government reduced the cap on weddings guests to a maximum of 50 amid the spike in Covid-19 cases. Owners of banquet hall owners said that there had seen a significant increase in booking requests from Delhi residents, whose wedding plans had gone awry due to the recent diktat.

HT Image

As per the unlock order shared by the district administration on October 1, the ceiling on the number of guests has been placed at 200. The city has 72 banquet halls. Owners of these venues, however, said that due to pre-booking of dates, they were able to accommodate only limited requests from Delhi.

Anil Rao, president of Haryana Party Lawns Association, with which all banquet halls in Gurugram are registered, said that the demand for wedding venues in the city has shot up due to the Delhi government’s move. Rao said that harried Delhi residents were looking out for alternative wedding venues with the reduction in guest capacity in Delhi banquet halls.

“We have been receiving many customers from Delhi ever since the Delhi government reduced the ceiling on guests from 200 to 50. We are providing customers with the options of banquet halls or tents, depending on the availability. The demand is very high, but options are limited since facilities have been booked in advance,” said Rao.

He said that the Delhi government’s sudden decision has families scrambling for last-minute replacements, while the business of banquet hall owners has taken another hit. “Delhi imposed a sudden drastic cut from 200 to 50 due to which people were caught off guard. Banquet hall owners have already suffered a lot during the past eight months since the lockdown was imposed in March,” said Rao.

He said that while the demand for venues in Gurugram had soared, hall owners had not been able to benefit much since bookings had already been made.

“There is complete chaos in the market due to the sudden decision of the government. We get so many enquiries but are unable to accommodate them due to the paucity of facilities,” said Rao.

Owners of such facilities also emphasised that the decision of the Delhi government has come at a time when the wedding season is due to begin, this week, and accommodating last-minute requests is a challenging experience. “We have been getting many requests for bookings from Delhi but the wedding dates are limited, due to which the scope of accommodating requests is low. The wedding season will last for 15 days, from November 25 till December 12. On a daily basis, we are getting three to four enquiries from Delhi,” said Vinod Saini, director of Notting Hills, a banquet hall located on the Old Delhi Road.

Sanjeev Kumar, the managing director of Bliss Premiere, a banquet hall in Sector 17, said that while the enquiries had definitely increased, not all requests were translating to bookings. “On average, we are getting five to 10 booking requests daily from Delhi in the past five days. However, from the point of view of our business, we are not getting any benefit despite the increase in enquiries,” said Kumar.