(From top) Visitors throng a stall at Vivaha; a model in a Poonam Kasera outfit from the same show; sales in progress at Brides of India; footwear from Rain, a participating brand at Vivaha

Shiva Natarajan, figures it?s the perfect place to pitch his products. Natarajan, marketing manager, Glaxo SmithKline is pushing his company?s new low-dose contraceptive pills, and he looks slightly out of place amidst the stalls hawking jewellery and lehngas at the Vivaha marriage mart in Delhi. But he?s drawing crowds. ?To-be married couples walk in and get free consultation with gynaecologists here. Even parents come in and compliment us on our efforts because it?s not very easy for them to talk about it with their children.?

Natarajan isn?t the only one encouraging married couples to think beyond the actual ceremony. Further down the aisle is finance giant GE with all the latest on its home loans for about-to-be-married couples. GE too is drawing crowds who?ve really come for the wedding day shopping.

Shows like Vivaha started out as straightforward jewellery and clothes shopping extravaganzas. Now the number of shows are multiplying. More importantly, they are metamorphosing into much bigger productions to cover every moment of the ceremony ? and a few years afterwards.

So, Vivaha has French hair stylist Olivier Bertieaux from JF Lazartigue who held workshops at Vivaha. And, at the upcoming Bride & Groom exhibition designer Shaina NC will demonstrate 17 ways to drape a sari on the big day.

The fact is that everyone wants to jump on the exhibition bandwagon. So, the exhibitions have transformed into everything-under-one-roof marriage hypermarkets. On display is everything from decorations, trousseau, gifts and jewellery. Not enough? There?s also instruction on how to hold theme parties at banquet halls, hotels and farmhouses. So everyone ? from those in entertainment, beauty clinics, travel, tourism, even matrimonial web sites ? is making their presence felt.

Look at the ever growing list of shows ? Masala Wedding started this year?s wedding show season in August in Delhi with a four-day affair followed by a three-day exhibition of Celebrating Vivaha and a 10-day show of Brides of India. The oldest and biggest of them all, Bridal Asia, is about to start in a few weeks as is the Bride & Groom fair. But wait. These fairs aren?t only limited to the Capital.

In September Vivaha is moving to Mumbai and in November to Pakistan while Masala Wedding is charting international waters to reach Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Jersey in September. Bride & Groom has already got over with its Ludhiana and London shows this year. Now it?s getting ready to wrap up its Delhi chapter and move to Bangkok, Pakistan, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Masala Wedding was originally for the NRI crowd. ?We started in the US and then decided to have something for our Indian audience as well,? says Ajay Modi, President, Masala Wedding.

Remember the much-hyped wedding hosted by steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal for his daughter? The more than $50 million price tag included a 20-page silver invitation. That, says Tarun Sarda, CEO, Celebrating Vivaha, is testimony to the fact that India?s wedding market is booming. ?It?s not just the elite who are going in for it, but with spending power increasing, the trend is being seen in middle class families too. The minimum budget spent on a wedding varies from Rs 10 lakh for medium size weddings to beyond Rs 50 lakh in the upper middle class segment,? adds Sarda.

?A recent survey says that the wedding industry is the only place where people invest without expecting any returns. It?s the only industry which has seen an upward swing,? says Geetika Sharma who heads Bride & Groom. As an organiser puts it, ?Each exhibition does a business of Rs 100-crore annually.?

The fact is that young about-to-be married couples and their parents turn up in droves for these affairs. Sarda, who organised Vivaha says that 100,000 people turned up every day and Modi reckons that 50,000 came daily for Masala Wedding. There is a downside to the crowds. Neeta Kapoor, a software professional, and her daughter found it all a bit too crowded. ?We?ve come to find gifts and clothes. But it?s so crowded,? she says.

?When we started in 1999, there were 9,000 visitors,? recalls Diivyaa Gurwaara, who heads Bridal Asia. The concept of the first bridal event in India was floated over coffee between Gurwaara and her husband. ?Already in the exhibition line, we were looking to expand. So we thought, why not a wedding exhibition?? she says.

Since then, scores of others have followed suit. And it?s not tough to understand why. Bridal Asia?s exhibitor count has gone up from 44 in 1995 to 75 in 2004, Bride & Groom, which started off with 22 exhibitors in 2000, now boasts 137 participants. ?They not only get visitors and international buyers, there?s bulk business too. It?s the best way to advertise. Also, it?s tax free,? says Sharma.

You might ask what do these exhibitions offer that traditional outlets do not? The convenience factor is the biggest draw. ?The idea is to rule out the hassles of organising a wedding,? says Gurwaara.

These extravaganzas lure the visitor with the presence of big-ticket fashion designers such as Ritu Kumar, Ashima and Leena Singh, Arjun Khanna and Meera and Muzaffar Ali. The designers themselves have an agenda for taking stalls at the fair. ?People can walk into a designer stall and see our brand. To be associated with these exhibitions gives you an edge over the others. We don?t have to pay for a stall since we?re a brand,? says Leena Singh of the Ashima & Leena duo who?ve participated in Bridal Asia, Vivaha and Masala Wedding.

The organisers too are making sure they have new offerings. This year, for instance, a large number of designers from across the border are participating in the exhibitions. Bridal Asia started the trend when during its first year Gurwaara had designers over from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. This year Vivaha had Pakistani designer Nadia Lakdawala at the show. Meanwhile top 10 designers from Pakistan are featuring in the Bride & Groom exhibition. ?We have names like Ayesha Varsey, Ahmed Bilal and Amina Yasmeen,? says Sharma.

(From top) Celeste chocolates from Vivaha; Nina Manuel in a Nilofer Shahid creation from Bridal Asia 2004; models show off outfits at Bride & Groom

Besides that, these exhibitions have also turned into platforms for upcoming talent. ?We?ve become a career launcher of sorts with designers such as Archana Jain and Shruti & Swati showing their clothes for the first on such a large basis,? says Sarda.

Inevitably, fashion shows are a part of the entire offering and these are organised by professional choreographers. Brides of India has model Noyonika Chatterjee Singh choreographing its shows. ?The shows are held thrice a day at the CTC Mall. Would-be brides get the option of watching clothes they choose being modeled by professionals,? says Noyonika.

Amidst all the glitter and glitz, there are inevitably new products on offer and innovative ideas. ?For my daughter?s wedding I visited all the fairs. I liked collecting new ideas that were very noticeable in these places. A nice way of wrapping gifts, unusual d?cor ideas or collectibles like kiwi chocolate are usually on display,? says Leena.

A trousseau is the most talked about part of weddings, but there are other areas where big money is spent. So at Vivaha you could pick from an array of luxury watch brands like Harry Winston, Audemars Piguet to Cartier. For those wanting to splurge on jewellery, there were renowned brands ? Adora, Gitanjali Jewels, Instyle, Orra, Naqsh, Diagold et al.

What about hair and make-up? Bride & Groom has workshops at which people like Shahnaz Husain will give make-up tips and stylist Jawed Habib demonstrates hair styles. And what?s more, they are all complimentary for guests.

At another level, the wedding planners are also making their presence felt at these shows. ?We do everything from conceptualisation to printing of cards, d?cor for the banquet and training family members for the sangeet,? says Jyoti Soni, a US-based planner who participated in Vivaha.

The organisers of the shows are trying their best to bring in a fresh touch. This year Bridal Asia is bringing fabrics from Pakistan, artifacts and jewellery from Thailand, an international menswear line, a d?cor company from Dubai and chocolates from Lebanon.

The stocks of the wedding bazaar are soaring, but is the volume of business ruining the entire concept behind these shows. Says Gurwaara, ?My exhibition started out on the lines of a boutique-style show. It has to reflect the designer element.?

The biggest diamond, the most expensive sari, a wedding managed professionally ? these might not be a small price to pay for (quite hefty actually), but it will make your day. So go ahead and splurge. As Sarda says, ?Marriages might be made in heaven, but you can?t celebrate them there can you? You might as well do it on earth and in style.?

Brides of India photograph by Rupinder Sharma
Other photographs courtesy Bridal Asia, Vivaha and Bride & Groom