KARACHI: “We are booked for the entire month, from the second day of Eid,” says Faizan Ahmed, who manages the Grand Banquet Hall on Shershah Suri Road in North Nazimabad.

The place which used to be lined with big houses at one time only now has marriage gardens and banquet halls on the service roads. It is the wedding season now so they are doing good business. Otherwise the booking rates, too, go down. “Yes, August, October, December and January fall in the marriage season when we also charge more. But during off season a hall that will charge, say, around Rs500,000 normally can be booked for as low as Rs250,000. This happens during Ramazan and Muharram, too,” says Mr Ahmed. “As the rates are down, people do book halls for weddings from the first to sixth of Muharram and 12th to 30th,” he adds.

Meanwhile, the cheapest ones, which are open-air with no carpeting and just grass may be booked for the evening starting with Rs30,000 only. The simpler ones that are covered and air-conditioned as well fall in the vicinity of Rs85,000 to Rs100,000. The rates also depend on hall capacity. Many have been done up as marquees but are all waterproof as they have cement or tin roofs over them.

Almost none depends on K-Electric for power and have their own generators. “Well, with as many as 15 air conditioners running and so many chandeliers and light fixtures, KE people would have had to install a pole-mounted transformer for every hall. So it is better to arrange our own power supply. It is also cheaper that way,” says Mr Ahmed.

“The halls are also always not booked for weddings. There are other programmes, too, such as school functions, book launches, new year parties and fashion shows,” he points out. This is also why all are not named Bandhan, Rishta, Kache Dhaage, Suhag, Blessings, etc. There are also Tulip Lawn, King’s Garden, Queen’s Garden, Marhaba and the like.

It is obvious that banquet halls have surpassed hotels. They are even more expensive than hotels and still people prefer them. The reason for this is that many are not happy with hotel food. Then whatever they serve they keep the leftovers while at the banquet halls there is a choice of caterers and you can also take the leftover food home with you. Timings are also an issue. A hotel will expect the party to be over in around three hours, like 9pm to 12 midnight, whereas a function at a banquet hall or garden can drag on for longer.

One hall manager shared interesting tactics used to wrap up the party. “We can start by dimming the lights and then go on to switching off the ACs,” he laughs. “Otherwise things have been known to carry on till 4am, too,” he says.

Safety and comfort also matters. At some of the bigger and more lavish halls, the decorated car can drive up to the stage. Similar is the case with the terrace or rooftop areas used for parties on top of tall office buildings off M.A. Jinnah Road. There you also have the view.

The decorated bridegroom’s car drives right up to the stage on the sparkling aisle with lights, water and an aquarium underneath at the most expensive hall in North Nazimabad, North Marriage Garden (NMG). “Well, outside there are so many harassment factors, such as eunuchs, the noise of drums, etc, that the groom can just come straight inside without getting out of the car. Also we have a bridal room under the stage, kind of a luxurious bedroom for the bride to wait and relax or have dinner,” says Arshad Bari, the NMG manager.

Dinner at the garden is served on big wooden buffet trolleys with a cylinder and hot water hidden under the frills to keep the food warm. And the colour theme of the halls can be changed within seconds. Mr Bari says: “We have cyan, magenta, yellow and black lights through which we can create any colour lighting and as the chairs and tables along with the ceiling and curtains are all white anyway this is quite easy to do as well.”

Today you have one garden or banquet hall in one area and suddenly there is a row of them. That’s how it happened in North Nazimabad, Bahadurabad, Sharea Faisal, DHA Phase-II extension, etc. They are a good business with hardly any staff required to pay regular wages too. Just a few sweepers needed to do the cleaning and different caterers to do the cooking and you are in business.

Published in Dawn, August 24th , 2014