Floods force mass wedding cancellations

Rawalpindi Division is witnessing a disruption in its traditional wedding season due to severe flooding and the resulting economic and domestic crises.

What was once a peak season for weddings, starting from the 1st of Rabiul Awwal and lasting two months, has now been virtually wiped out, with hundreds of weddings and engagements either postponed or outright cancelled.

Marriage halls and marquees, which typically hosted three to five events daily during this season, have seen a sharp decline, with only two to three functions taking place per week. As a result, nearly 10,000 temporary workers—caterers, decorators, cleaning crews, lighting staff—have lost their jobs.

The ripple effect has also hit small vendors who sell balloons, snacks, and drinks outside wedding venues, leaving many of them without a source of income.

Food catering businesses across the division have been forced to shut down, with several catering shops laying off dozens of employees due to the financial strain.

Thousands of bookings at marquees and wedding halls have been cancelled, severely impacting the wedding industry across the division, which stretches from Jhelum to Sialkot.

The entire belt has been hard-hit by floods, with families across districts interconnected through kinship. A large portion of the population in Rawalpindi and the twin city Islamabad consists of migrants from various parts of Punjab, and the flooding has not spared them either. The Leh Nullah and 15 other stormwater drains in Rawalpindi caused major destruction over the past two months, further exacerbated by floodwaters from across the Indian border.

Homes, lives, livestock, and standing crops were devastated in several areas, leading many families to postpone weddings and engagements until 2026.

Representatives of the Food Catering Association and unions of wedding caterers confirm that Rabiul Awwal is usually their busiest period, with four to five weddings taking place daily in even the smallest halls. This year, however, the number of events has plummeted by 70–78 per cent. Halls that once had four to five daily bookings now struggle to secure even three or four weddings per week.

Due to this dramatic decline, thousands of decorators, lighting workers, sanitation staff, and other support personnel have lost their jobs across the division. Sheikh Faizan, Vice President of the Marriage Halls Association for Rawalpindi District, said that due to inflation and flood-related destruction, wedding bookings since the start of Rabiul Awwal have been negligible, resulting in a failed season.

Naveed Mughal, Secretary of the Food Catering Association, stated that this two-month period is typically the peak of the wedding season, where bookings become difficult to manage.

While there was some demand for large meal preparations during Eid Miladun Nabi celebrations, wedding orders remained rare. "Rabiul Awwal is now ending, and we're still waiting for bookings," he added. Faisal Khan, President of the Decorators Union, noted that even lighting bookings for Eid Milad celebrations were minimal this year. "The floods have effectively ended the wedding season, severely affecting household incomes."