Actor Salman Khan at the wedding of Gulshan Kumar?s daughter in Delhi. (PTI)

New Delhi, Nov. 24: Calcutta may have had its Mittals? bash and Lucknow is still recovering from the grand Sahara wedding. But Dilliwalas tying the knot this season are getting ready to outdo them all.

So what if the Palace of Versailles can?t be brought to Delhi, the capital, looking to Bollywood for inspiration, is on a ?we-wed-better-than-you? spree.

From Devdas to South African jungles, Gothic and French to the Oriental, Delhi wants more: wedding themes more unusual than the last marriage they attended.

Fashion designers like Rohit Bal, Tarun Tahiliani and J.J. Vallaya have just got scent of the Indian wedding industry, estimated around Rs 10,000 crore ? the annual outlay for Delhi according to the Tenth Plan.

Kicking off the wedding season in the capital on Sunday was Khushali, daughter of the late T-series magnate Gulshan Kumar, who wed Nishant Arora, scion of the Kohinoor rice family. ?The whole look was a frosted glass theme done in blue. There were dried trees painted white,? says wedding planner Mehar Sarid. The wedding was a riot with Bollywood stars landing up ? Shah Rukh Khan was mobbed by fans who even edged Mayavati off the dais.

A sober, elegant affair far removed from the Delhiite?s belly for eye-catching wedding galas was the marriage of Indrajit, son of defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, at the Jahanpanah Club. This was followed by a reception at Subroto Park on Tuesday.

But cabinet colleague Kamal Nath?s flamboyance will make up for this ? preparations are on right now for his son Nakul?s wedding on Sunday ? the event is already the talk of the town. The theme is a red sun and is being designed by wedding planner Geeta Samuel. It will include huge transparent tents with curtains of exotic halyconia flowers flown in from Bangkok.

Union minister Kapil Sibal?s son Amit is also getting married on Sunday, at the bride?s Prithviraj Road residence. Congress sources say the minister is trying to get party chief Sonia Gandhi to attend the bash.

Wedding planners like Mehar Sarid with her Sound of Music, Vandana Mohan with her The Wedding Design Company and Geeta Samuel have come into their own thanks to the rash of blockbuster marriages. Delhi?s favourite florist Ferns and Petals has over the last few years transformed from being just another florist into a wedding design company.

There is nothing quite like a shaadi to fire up a Dilliwala whose taste for the ostentatious, even bizarre. ?Ten years back, I got a BMW sports car flown in on a chopper in Delhi,? Mehar says.

Sarid has just flown in 12 giraffes and Zulu dancers from South Africa. ?I pushed it,? she says. Mediterranean, Persian and Lebanese are the themes she is working on for the season.

The marigolds that Vijay Raaz famously munched in Mira Nair?s Monsoon Wedding are all history as jaimalas priced over Rs 2,500 each have turned exotic with spider and tiger orchids, carnations and moti laris.