Vivah Utsav, a place for match fixing

Today, matchmaking has become a very difficult job for the parents of prospective brides and grooms as the people are scattered due to nuclear family system.

Most of the times, wastage of both time and money upsets the parents. But a novel matrimonial expo "" 'Vivah Utsav: 2007' "" held recently has created a new ray of hope for such parents.

Vivah Utsav: 2007, a four-day expo, based on the theme of marriage, organised by Trend Setters and sponsored by the matrimonial service provider Shaadi Point at Rathi Amrai, Gangapur Road here, got a overwhelming response. The expo in North Maharashtra became so successful that it saw fixing of 74 marriages.

The expo included all matrimonial services from matchmaking to honeymoon, under one roof. Around 25 stalls of all wedding-related services, including marriage bureaus, jewellery, caterers, bands (music instruments), beauty parlours, flower decorators, travel agencies for honeymoon sites, wedding card designers and photographers, were put up at the expo. The expo attracted around 7,000-8,000 visitors.

'Swayamwar', a four-day meet for prospective brides & grooms from all communities, organised by Shaadi Point as part of the 'Vivah Utsav: 2007' got overwhelming response and 720 prospective brides and grooms participated in the meet.

Around 74 marriages- including 22 inter-castes, 27 from Maratha community, 17 from Buddha and 08 from Brahmin communities, were fixed at the expo. This is for the first time in North Maharashtra that such a big number of marriages were fixed at the meet.

The concept of 'personalised matchmaking', which included all formalities from personal introduction to intellectual interactions between prospective brides and grooms under one roof to accomplish their interests and expectations, was also for the first time introduced in India, said Vinod Kulkarni, director, Nashik centre, Shaadi Point.

"One of the prospective brides, who had been facing problems in finding a match for the last four years due to planet Mars effect as per her horoscope, got marriage proposal from three highly qualified prospective grooms. Besides, luck also smiled on a Christian divorcee and a 70-year-old person at the expo," Kulkarni said.

The main objective behind organising this event was to make planning of wedding more easier and convenient with proper guidance from the counsellors and provision of all matrimonial services under one roof.