For eons, December has been a month or temperature extremes;
the cold that always accompanies winter, as well as the warmth that comes with
celebrations of Christmas and many unions. As many a family member travels from
overseas to celebrate Christmas with their kin, the knot is tied in the
presence of near and dear ones. However, in recent times, between not being
able to get a wedding venue without ample prior notice, to finding it
impossible to get the entertainment of choice without paying a premium for that
particular time of year, the reasons have been piling up in favour of moving
weddings to January, a trend that has been on the increase over the last couple
of years.
“I struggled for ages, just trying to get the venue of
choice, but I gave up when I was informed that I needed to book close to two
years in advance. In similar vein, I was financially on the back foot when I
was told that the band that I was keen on hiring would hike their rates during
the latter part of December. However, weddings are happy occasions and as such,
I refused to get put off by it, and I have now decided to move things to
January of 2016, where I finding much more breathing room,” says a bride to be
from Margao, who prefers to remain unnamed.
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For some, the change is logistically inclined. Ronnie
Ferrao, who is affiliated with a liquor concern, shares his logic behind
celebrating his marriage to long time sweetheart, Hazel Faleiro in January.
“It’s fair to say that our biggest motivator was traffic congestion. Between
the Exposition of St Francis Xavier, Christmas, Sunburn, Supersonic and New
Year celebrations, we realised that the congestion would just cramp our style
in terms of time. It’s your wedding, and you want to make the most of it, not
remain in a gridlock for hours on end between the nuptials and reception.
Hence, mid-January was a better fit.”
With EDM being all the rage at weddings, Claudio Tellis,
undoubtedly Goa’s most popular wedding DJ, recounts the experiences of many of
his clients over the course of his career. “In my opinion, especially when one
member or both members of the bridal couple are travelling from overseas to get
married in Goa, January is considered to be a more agreeable time. This I find is
primarily because the end of December makes it impossible to host a wedding due
to the Christmas and New Year rush. Hence, by pushing it to January, the couple
has more time to relax and plan better. These are merely a few observations
that I’ve made in time as an entertainer,” he says.
And life as an entertainer is far from easy; something that
musician Marwino Antonio da Costa and his veterinarian wife, Neysa Diniz will
attest to. Considered to be the ‘eye candy’ of the music industry, by the
industry, Marwino, the bass player of popular Goan band A-26 was far too
occupied spending December being a key part of the entertainment industry to be
able to slot his own wedding into his schedule. His better half fakes a sulky
pout as she says, “I wanted to get married in January, but as fate would have
it, with all the commitments that the festive season brings, Marwino just
couldn’t free himself. In similar vein, many an entertainer wouldn’t be able to
attend the wedding due to similar constraints, which would be a shame
considering that he is a part of the fraternity. As such, we pushed it back to
January, where things were more manageable. It was completely worth the wait.”
Bearing all this in mind, perhaps it’s time for December to
move over as for better or worse, January seems to be a growing favourite with
the knot-tying community.
