The traditional Bengali theme, complete with palki, is a popular concepts for wedding parties

Jamshedpur, May 26: Candles, chandeliers, fountains, flowing fabrics and sufi music rent the air. You wonder if you have strayed into a set for an Arabian Nights-type movie when someone greets you heartily and welcomes you in, thanking you profusely for having found time to attend “the wedding”.

Theme weddings have become a trend that is fast catching the fancy of the steel city rich and famous.

“This trend showed up here a couple of years ago but it has caught up over the past one year,” says Sweta Jha, the only enterpreneur in the city who organises theme wedding parties. “This new mindset has come about due to awareness and the coverage media has given to star weddings. Earlier themes were only restricted to parties of Tata Steel parties and other corporate dinners,” she adds.

Earlier, the only event that had anything to do with themes was birthday parties. “I had organised a party with a musical theme for my 10-year old daughter and since Pokemon is such a craze with boys I had that theme for my son’s birthday,” says Sumita Maniktala.

Arranging marriage receptions were the business of the parents and the older generation. However, times have changed and today the brides and grooms are as involved with planning their wedding as their elders. “Couples tying the knot today want to know about every detail — from their wedding trousseau to the menu — and they do not mind spending to make the day a special one,” says Sweta.

Innovation is the key in the theme game. “There is a lot of money involved and no one wants the same old ideas repeated,” she says.

The Goan theme used to be very popular. “These days we work on various concepts ranging from a Bengali or Rajasthani theme to an Arabian Nights feel or a peaches-and-cream setting. The idea is to satisfy our clients by giving them a dream wedding,” she adds.

Theme weddings are not as easy to handle as it may seem. “They have to be planned at least four months in advance. Artisans and materials have to be arranged for, the props have to be made and all the details have to be worked out,” says Sweta.

Most of the material, like lights and fabrics, are not available in the local markets. They have to brought from West Bengal. Same is the case with performers. “We have in-house artisans from Bengal who specialise in working with plaster of Paris, plywood and fabric,” she said.

Decorations are the highlights of such theme weddings. Performers are usually fixed up by the clients themselves unless they want something to go with the ambience created. “There was one instance where we got qawwali singers from Lucknow and it was a huge success,” beams Sweta.

With so much to be worked on in such marriages, the amount of money involved is huge. No wonder most of Sweta’s client belong to the upper class.

“People who can afford theme weddings are usually the ones who work abroad but want to have their wedding in the homeland,” she says.

“People are willing to spend a whopping sum on weddings but when it comes to birthdays they tighten their fists. Clients resort to major cost-cutting by taking care of half of the arrangements on their own but they do not realise that they are messing up the party in the bargain,” says Shakun Bajaj, who specialises in organising theme parties forbirthdays.

“Money will always remain a bone of contention but it is important to make the clients realise that in the process of cutting down costs they might lose the special touch,” explains Sweta.

One of Sewta’s favourite assignments has been arranging a wedding reception décor based on the Lingaraja Temple where she had worked upon the marriage hall to make it look right out a history book. “A lot of pillars, typical of South Indian temples, were made with carvings and statues made of plaster of Paris. Creepers were thrown in to give it the dilapidated effect along with some weather-beaten bricks,” she recalls.