"Big fat weddings" are a norm in most parts of the country, and one such state known for its extravagant weddings, especially use of gold jewellery is Kerala. However, the Kerala Women’s Commission wants to stall this practice and has submitted a proposal to limit the expenditure on weddings to five lakhs. It has proposed certain guidelines to the state government urging it to implement the regulations in the wake of increasing number of lavish weddings in the state.“People spend lakhs for a wedding, where in the other side there are families who struggle to conduct their daughter’s marriage. So we should put an end to this,” says K C Rosakkutty Women Commission chairperson.Meera Jacob, a wedding event manager in Thrissur district says that the average budget of the last five marriages she managed was around 45 lakh.“There will be two or three separate functions, the decorations itself cost around one or two lakh. In most of the marriages that I have attended, the bridal wear costs more that Rs 35000. Some of the invitation cards cost Rs 700 to Rs 1000 per piece. All together the expenses will be around 45 lakh including the ornaments,” she says.The Commission proposes that there should be only one function for the marriage and the guest number shall not cross 200.The proposed regulation also states that the invitation card must not cost more than Rs. 25, the auditorium rent should be less than Rs. 25000 and decorations cost shall not cross Rs. 5000.A middle-class Kerala bride is generally known to wear more than 500 grams of gold during the wedding. The commission has thus recommended that a bride shall not use more than 120 grams of gold and the bridal wear should be below Rs 10000 and less thanRs. 5000 for the groom.“The advertisements which promote that gold ornaments and costly silk sarees are a must for weddings should be banned. Lavish weddings should be prohibited,” reads the Women Commission proposal.Rosakutty says that if the government approves the proposal, every lavish wedding not complying with the proposal will be fined and the fine amount will be used for marriages of woman from economically poor background.