Tahsinur Rahman, a young banker, completed his marriage registration but couldn’t hold a post-marriage reception because of the consecutive hartals enforced in the past weeks by the opposition. He had fixed November 12 as the date for a party at the Officers Club and then had to cancel it.
Like Thashin, many people had to reschedule their weddings thanks to escalating political unrest and violence in the country.
“We had planned to host a reception after our marriage, for our families, friends and colleagues, but the date of the programme had to be pushed back because of hartal,” Tahsinur, an executive at Bank Asia, said.
“There was nothing we could do about it. What can we do if politicians continue to enforce such disruptive street programmes in the name of democracy?”
The situation has not only affected would-be-couples, but also all those involved in wedding businesses, including marriage registrars, wedding planners, caterers and community centres.
“People usually hold weddings when they feel secure and are at ease. But frequent hartals have understandably created a sense of insecurity in them,” said Yousef Chowdury Nayeem, a marriage registrar in the capital’s Lalmatia area.
Nayeem usually performs 8-10 wedding ceremonies each month but business usually picks up between November and January, when he gets upwards of 20 calls a month on average. “But, up till mid-November this year, I only had one call and have two more at the end of the month.”
“One of my clients cancelled his reception party and instead arranged a private programme because of hartals.”
Hartals or shutdowns are also taking their toll on the business of organising wedding ceremonies.
“In the past weeks, most of our contracts had to be reworked because of security concerns. People are afraid. It’s unfortunate that we are facing this problem during the peak wedding season,” Zakir Hossain, owner of Prianka Community Centre in Dhanmondi, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Almost two-thirds of all weddings held each year are organised during these three months, he said. “It is bad time for business. Usually we have 30-40 advance bookings for December, but this year, we have only 12 so far.”
Jahangir Hossain, manager of the Victoria Convention Centre, said most of the incidents of parties being postponed had taken place in the last couple of weeks. “There is an intense feeling of fear among people holding them back from marrying or holding weddings now.”
