Chennai: Marriages are made in heaven, they say. And, in this part of the country wedding halls turn heaven where marriages are performed.
The Big Fat weddings as we call them demand a huge marriage hall where kith, kin and friends of groom and the bride throng in large numbers for the generally two-day mega fare.
Sadly, with Covid- 19 crisis and lockdown across the country, hardly 20 are allowed to gather for a wedding forcing a rethink and reschedule of celebrations.
Many families, who had weddings scheduled after March, are shocked and dismayed. Their grouse is- following social isolation we are forced to have it as an intimate affair within four walls of our house. But, the sprawling wedding halls or hotels where we planned to have the celebrations, are hesitant to repay our money paid as advance.
Speaking to News Today, Santhanam, who had booked a popular marriage hall that can accommodate over thousand for his son’s marriage last month, says, ‘We had to postpone the event. Rubbing salt to our injury is the owner of the hall denying to repay the advance we paid in lakhs. Several calls to him went unheeded. We were asked to pay even an advance for electricity and maintenance long back. With our wedding cancelled, it is his moral responsibility to repay the money collected’.
He adds, ‘Everyone knows that we have to book wedding halls well in advance and they collect almost entire sum as rent then itself. Is it not unfair on their part to stay quiet when we demand refund?’
Equally agitated is Kannan, a former government employee in Mylapore. ‘With all my savings, I arranged my daughter’s wedding in April. A huge sum was paid to a marriage hall in January this year. Now with corona threat and lockdown, we chose to do it as a private affair. When I asked for my money to be returned, they say 50 per cent would be deducted as cancellation charges. It is ridiculous. With an fixed asset, they are milking money.’
He adds, ‘In the worst case, they are giving an option to hold the wedding on a later date, say after five months. But they are not keen on returning the money. With social distancing and corona threat to stay for next few months, it is impossible. They should approach the issue from our shoes’.
Asked about refund, a manager of a marriage hall in Chennai, says that he has not yet received any such instructions from the management.
‘We negotiate with those who booked to postpone wedding and hold it in the same hall so we would not lose any money,’ he adds.
When asked, a staff at a wedding hall in a suburb, says, ‘ We know the gravity of the situation. We deduct cancellation charges and repay the advance’.
Denying allegations that they are not ready to repay money, he says, ‘ People should understand that we do have a lot of commitments. We have to pay for loans, maintaining the place, pay staff working here though there are no weddings and electricity charges too are exorbitant for us’.
On his part, Jayaram, an advocate, says, ‘It is the binding duty of marriage hall owners to repay the money. The events are called off due to unforseen circumstance – following a pandemic like situation. They have no legal standing if the aggrieved knocks the doors of the court. Even putting a cancellation charge on customer is not right as it is not the fault of the latter’
A few marriage halls have started to take fresh bookings from next October. Others request people to postpone the wedding scheduled now post October, says a wedding planner.
He says, ‘There are nearly 1,000 Kalyana mandapams in Chennai and suburbs varying in capacity they can accommodate. Much recently some cinema theatres were converted as wedding halls. Today, following cancellation or postponement of marriages, not just those running wedding halls but also catering services, stage decoration, lighting, nadaswaram and thavil players, music and light music orchestra are affected’.
He adds, ‘Henceforth when customers book marriage halls, s/he should ensure in the contract that a complete refund should be made in case of cancellation due to situations like corona’.