I can’t say whether this is a bad step from the point of view of biodiversity and environment ‒ being so close to one of our finest tiger reserves ‒ but a recent visit convinced me that we will soon have another ‘destination wedding’ hub to compete with Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaipur in Rajasthan and, of course, Goa, Kerala, Coorg ‒ and at a fraction of the cost!
I am inspired to write this column by the recent edition of BW Travel October-November-December 2025 ‒ almost entirely devoted to ‘Luxury Destination Weddings’. Of course, my write-up is about a very nice mid-market resort but the destination is taking off rapidly and might well add luxury venues too. The point I am trying to make is about the sustainability of the places where luxury wedding hot-spots are coming up. The Mehrangarh Fort will probably suffer only littering but places like Mussoorie, Kovalam, Udaipur, Goa, Ladakh and other locations in the hills or on the beaches, pose a serious threat to the fragile ecology of the places.
Late October, my grandnephew and his girlfriend ‒ both working in the US ‒ decided to get married in India (where both the families are) and they chose, after a lot of research, a venue in Jim Corbett. We were quite surprised to see the invitation as we had never heard of marriages being celebrated in this area ‒ primarily known for wild-life safaris. We had actually visited the place, with two other couples, almost 50 years ago and spent three nights at the idyllic Dhikala Forest Lodge smack in the middle of the national park and had a gorgeous 12-minutes sighting of a tigress basking in the late afternoon sun after a satisfying meal ‒ half of which was still lying next to her which smaller animals would later feast upon. But a ‘big fat wedding in Corbett’ had never crossed our mind.
We left Gurgaon around 9 a.m. (not for us the 6 a.m. departure as our children had done two days earlier); total 285km; initially fast transit for about 200 km to the outskirts of Moradabad and then NH-309, first 50 km treacherously pitted road followed by 30 odd kms narrow road through bazaars with heavy traffic. This 80 km took us two hours! Whereas the first 200 was done in well under three! There are scores of dhabas on both sides of the good road with multiple big hoardings including the owner’s photo inviting you. They call them dhabas but actually these are all excellent buildings with multiple eating options and, of course, one has to stop to find a clean washroom.
Anyway, we landed at our ‘Spa & Resort’ around 2.30 when the Mehndi function was still on around a pool with a bar on the side and tables, loaded with snacks and lunch. Idyllic setting ‒ extensive lawns, on the banks of river Kosi, hills in the background beyond the river, well planned pathways with low-rise double story rooms on either side, mehndi artists busy in one corner creating beautiful motifs on the clients’ hands, arms and feet; lot of women and young girls waiting for their turn or drying their hands till they are permitted to wash, children frolicking in the pool, music, dance, beer, food ‒ everyone having fun. The complex, spread over 8.5 acres, 65 rooms/duplexes/cottages with a total of about 200 beds, divided into five wings with names like Tiger, Tigress, Tusker, Deep Forest etc., restaurant and cafeteria conveniently located close to the function areas ‒ all-in-all a place built specifically for weddings and company offsites.
A little rest and soon the first evening programme ‘sangeet’ started. Loud music, tasteful lighting, elevated dance floor, comfortable seating for oldies like us, photo backdrops, bar and buffet tables with different coloured trimmings were all in place. Youngsters ‒ friends of the couple, many from USA with unbelievable energy and enthusiasm kept on dancing ‒ perhaps having worked with the choreographer during the day or the previous evening and before we realised it was past 1a. m., already late for us to retire to our rooms. We would learn the next day that the guys and girls had carried on till about 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.
Next morning schedule was to start early ‒ choora (when the bride’s maternal uncles gift her special red coloured bangles) and gharoli (symbolic carriage of a small pitcher on head with water from the river, usually by the boy’s Bhabhi or sister ‒ all with the pundit and dholwalas in attendance, elders doing vaarna (money circled around heads of the duo and thrown up in the air with the dhol guys and waiters scrambling to collect them. I am not sure about the significance of all these and suspect these are inventions of the pundits, band baaja guys and resort owners ‒ all in an unholy alliance.
Anyway, barely over with these minor functions and, of course, more food, guests were told to dress up and assemble for the sehra-bandi, ghurchari and baraat that would be followed by jai-mala and pheras and yet more food ‒ and later ‘music by a bonfire. We had no energy beyond tucking in a variety of snacks and retired to our rooms as we were advised a very early departure Monday morning; by those who had left earlier to reach their homes Sunday night so as not to miss school, office etc. and got stuck for several hours in bad Chhath traffic on the highway and even missed their flights. Reports later revealed that this too was another very late night event.
Back to the complex; they seem to have permanent contractors for tenting, sofas, tables, chairs, props, strobe lights, florists, decorators et al. They are also ready for laying out food literally 24 hours ‒ as on cruise ships ‒ and are ready to meet all demands of the clients which obviously differ from region to region (ours was a typical Punjabi wedding) and waiting for more clients to line up. I am quite sure there are several such venues in town including a Taj property and many more to meet all budgets. I believe right now their packages are significantly lower than those at the better-known venues but it is only a matter of time before they catch up. Places like Goa and Kerala have already priced out themselves as people find it cheaper to go to Thailand for their parties and weddings.
Bottom Line. It is good to develop more hubs like this and in case even half of the independent environmentalists feel this won’t cause too much disturbance to the animals and the ecology, the government should do everything to make the approach easier ‒ repairing the badly pitted parts of the stretch, removing encroachments on the road so that traffic can move easily. As of now this particular venue ‒ 267 km from South Delhi ‒ takes about five hours on an average traffic day. With improvements, this could easily come down to four hours ‒ reasonable transit time.
I don’t give much credence to the “permission” management has from the State environment agency considering that they themselves told me the shortest distance between the resort’s boundary and the nearest gate of the national tiger reserve is “about five km”, one can safely assume that this won’t be more than three in reality. As per uncle Google, the resort entrance is eight km ahead of the first gate of the reserve on the road.
Not knowing the exact layout, I can only assume that this fact may have facilitated their “official permission” but we could clearly see that they are not adhering to rules like ‘no loud music and bright lights after 10 pm’. Classic case of the ‘eternal conflict between development and environment’ that needs a detailed study by experts so that the government can either give them the go-ahead or stop mushrooming of ‘wedding resorts’ right away.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. |
