Weddings take a knock

2008-07-28 10:25

Colombo - As if wedding nerves, guest lists and the right dress were not enough to deal with, Sri Lankan brides-to-be are finding their big day dominated by heavy security, inflation and even global politics.

Tighter security at hotels that are popular venues for both weddings and terrorist attacks has left lovestruck couples caught in traffic jams and missing the "lucky time" chosen for their marriage by astrologers.

And if they do make it to the reception, soaring food prices mean the wedding banquet will cost the bride's parents dearly.

Ahead of a South Asia regional summit in early August, the Sri Lankan government has dealt weddings yet another blow by ordering five-star hotels to cancel all banquet hall and restaurant bookings for a week.

Anoushka, who didn't want her surname used, said she had planned her dream wedding for August 1 at the Hilton, complete with horses and masses of balloons.

Now, she says, she is in shock.

"We booked the hotel after the astrologer gave us the time and date one year ago," she said, adding she and her fiance are now having to consider a simple ceremony at her home.

Government taking no chances

"Invitations have gone out. Now I don't know how to face the relatives."

Colombo is hosting the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) summit on August 1-2, and hotels have been ordered to close to outsiders from July 24-August 4.

Officials from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be at the summit, and with the island's war on rebel Tamil Tigers escalating, the government is taking no chances.

Once a romantic beachside wedding destination, this palm-fringed island is gearing itself for more bloodshed.

Civilians have increasingly come under attack, with the government blaming the rebels for a string of bombings that have killed more than 170 and injured more than 500 since January.

Five-star hotels favoured for lavish weddings are now shrouded in heavy security with multiple checks to ensure that flower-festooned wedding cars are not car bombs.

As traffic to the hotels can be restricted or diverted at a moment's notice, wedding guests cannot even be sure they will arrive.

'There is nothing to do but pray that God will help us'

The hotel industry, which had counted on weddings to make up for a downturn in tourism - arrivals were down nine percent in June compared to the year before - is as distraught as the betrothed.

Sri Lankan weddings tend to be huge, colourful affairs that families start saving for as soon as a daughter is born. But weddings that used to entertain around 1 000 guests are being cut down to leaner affairs of perhaps 200, hoteliers say.

Hotels weddings can cost up to $35 000 - or more than 20 times the average annual income - and City Hoteliers' Association president Shanthi Kumar says wedding revenue is now essential to the industry as the civil war has both deterred foreigners and cut into local guest lists.

"Negative travel advisories are putting off couples from travelling to Sri Lanka with their extended family and friends," said wedding planner Jerry Jayasinghe, who has seen a drop in bookings from overseas clients.

Rising global food and fuel costs have hit Sri Lanka and its 27-billion-dollar economy, with prices of staples such as rice, milk and sugar jumping 50% in the past year, sharply raising the cost of banquets.

Inflation hit 28.8% in June.

K Selvakumar, 51, a plantation worker, said his life savings of $5 000 will just about pay for his only daughter's wedding in July, leaving nothing for his retirement.

"There is nothing to do but pray that God will help us," said Selvakumar.

- AFP