In a nation where weddings tend to be lavish events, one farming community in Haryana’s Hisar district took a different approach. In Gawar village, brothers Rajesh and Amar Singh Punia set tongues wagging by staging a double wedding for all six of their children over two days, showing that tradition need not necessarily be expensive.
The festivities commenced on April 18 with the two sons of the family marrying each other. Their four daughters followed suit with their marriages the next day in similar jubilant ceremonies. The event drew fast attention both from the people locally and online social media followers, who hailed the family for mixing merriment with sense of finance.
“We grew up together, our children grew up together, and now they’ve entered married life together,” said Rajesh Punia, describing the reasoning behind the joint celebration. “It was sensible to celebrate this milestone as one family, with one grand celebration.
One invitation card was printed for each of the six weddings, and the whole affair was organized at a single location. Several mandaps were arranged side by side, and this joint arrangement allowed the family to save on big expenses such as catering, logistics, and decoration.
If we were to have organized each wedding independently, the cost would have been much more,” Amar Singh Punia said. He added that it would have been expensive and difficult to stage six individual weddings. The family estimates that by staging the two weddings together, they saved multiple lakhs of rupees.
Other than saving money, the joint wedding also ensured better time management for the guests. In the current busy life, attending more than one wedding can be challenging. “This agreement enabled friends and family to attend all of the ceremonies without having to take time off work,” a relative said.
The ceremony was attended by several hundred guests, a number of whom were genuinely shocked by the Punia family’s choice. “It was a wedding, a festival, and a message all at once,” commented a guest. “They’ve proved that tradition doesn’t have to be extravagant.”
Photographs and footage of the wedding were circulated online, where they were greeted with respect by the public, who viewed the wedding as a welcome break from the often-materialistic wedding culture prevalent today.
