Marginal Revolution: Markets in everything -- fake wedding guests

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Markets in everything -- fake wedding guests

An Indian firm which rents out wedding guests says business is booming.

The Best Guests Centre, at Jodhpur in Rajasthan, is looking to expand across the state.

The company caters for families who fear they will fall short of guests at weddings.

It hires out guests, either traditionally dressed or wearing smart western clothes, according to requirements and budget.

The guests dance and try to impress with their etiquette without letting anyone know they are being paid for it.

Proprietor M I Syed briefs his staff about the groom, the bride and their families before the wedding to avoid a faux pas.

He told The Statesman: “The breaking up of joint families and lack of affection among relatives also creates a demand for paid guests.

"Such families need to hire guests to make up for the fewer number of relatives available for attending the marriage.”

Funny thing is, I would pay people to stay away from my wedding...Thanks to Josh Edlin for the pointer.

Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 24, 2005 at 09:12 PM in Economics | Permalink

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Comments

I have never been to a wedding in India, but I have been to several Indian weddings in Pennsylvania. They are huge. Generally, the invitation extends to everyone in the church (and if the families attended different churches, then both).

I would say the average attendance at a traditional Indian-American wedding in Pennsylvania is 500 people.

If that is the cultural norm in India as well, it would explain how you could easily fall short of the desired number by 100s of people.

Posted by: Richard Bellamy at Aug 25, 2005 10:39:39 AM

Having married my Indian wife in a hindu ceremony in India, I
could only just laugh and wish my father-in-law could have hired this firm.

There was lower attendance, in part due to the fact that my western name
was prominently displayed on the outside marriage hall.

My wife told me that he was concerned that people might not show up, if
they saw Michael (instead of Makesh - which is the name he wanted to use.)
My wife and brother-in-law persuaded him not to change my name.

As it turns out he should have. Two things kept the attendance to about
250 people (instead of the 500 planned for). One, another wedding in the
family 100 miles away and a drop in other people attending - members of
the community who just drop in on a wedding seem to have been driven away
by the out of caste marriage.

One side benefit, lots of left overs from the caterer. Since, I didn't
ask for a dowery, my father-in-law hired the best caterer in the city.
The food was wonderful and I had it for days!

Posted by: Michael at Aug 25, 2005 12:57:13 PM

The Russians have a centuries-old tradition of hiring what's called a "wedding general." The couple basically pays some highly-positioned person (hence "general") to attend their wedding and act like he actually knows the couple or the families. This is supposed to impress other guests ("Did you know that so-and-so was at their wedding?")

Posted by: Kl at Aug 25, 2005 2:15:19 PM

How much are you offering?

Posted by: The Eclectic Econoclast at Aug 25, 2005 9:27:31 PM

On the other hand, the best wedding I went to this year had 15 people there...

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