It’s being touted as the wedding of the year and why not? British model and actress Liz Hurley and her business tycoon husband Arun Nayar are in India to complete the last leg of their transcontinental wedding.

Replete with lavish parties in Mumbai, ceremonies in three different forts and palaces in Jodhpur, the cost of the high-profile wedding is reportedly £2 million.

It is widely believed that some of the cost of the gala affair is reportedly covered by the sale of exclusive photo rights to Hello magazine.

It seems nothing short of a wedding fit for a monarch and that brings us to the question of the day: Are Indians spending too much on wedding functions?

In the panel of experts were fashion designer Rina Dhaka, senior journalist and author Anil Dharkar and wedding planner Vandana Mohan. Marriages made in banks Celebrity weddings in India can cost up to Rs 200 crore.

These are marriages not made in heaven but in banks. So, are these weddings just smartly managed media events? "It all depends on the kind of wedding.

As far as celebrity events are concerned, yes, they are big events and then wedding planners like us are hired to manage the event.

Yes, there is a certain amount of bonhomie that is still left in the smaller ceremonies.

But at the end of it all it’s the media who makes it really nice and big," says Mohan.

But there is another side to this wedding fanfare as it generates employment and has become an industry in its own right.

"I am so glad that people are spending so much money because the flip side of it is that this is an industry today and it creates millions of jobs.

You can pick up any part of a wedding and there is someone who has got a job to do. So, that aspect needs to be looked at," explains Mohan.

However, many believe that spending this kind of money in a country where millions starve is ridiculous, mindless and irresponsible.

"That is the conventional wisdom and we can always take that view. It is an obscene amount of money that is being spent. But if this money is not spent on what celebrities are doing, will they spend it on a worthy cause?

I doubt it. They would have used it in other ways for themselves. So, a way to look at it is that this is money going into the economy," says Dharkar and then adds in jest, "My only regret about the Mittal wedding is
that it took place in France."