Most young men in Kabul seem to know the expression, “With a wedding every night, there is no need to go hungry.”
Shafiqullah, the groom entered into the hall and was surprised to see the number of people (around 1300) dining in his wedding celebration, 600 of them were unrecognizable.
“I didn’t recognise more than half of the guests in the male section,” he said. “It was amazing, but also disturbing as these were people I had never seen before in my entire life.”
An amiable 31-year-old-car salesman thinking it as dishonor had asked the caterer to double the food order, thereby bringing his wedding expense to nearly $30,000.
It is familiar case in Afghanistan, where wedding celebration lands the groom family in trouble, while maintaining the hospitality and devotion to family and community. Some of them have to take loan to host a party the size of a small village or two small villages which takes years to pay back.
In some cases, the high cost of wedding has delayed marriages here for years.
A bill which defines the guest limit in wedding reception has passed both the houses of Afghan parliament and is waiting for final signature of president.
