Mideast war taking a toll on Pakistan’s ‘wedding economy’

And not a day too soon, given how the ongoing war has impacted this wedding-obsessed country. Amid surging fuel rates and inflation, pricing volatility has reached new highs. Several venues have rai­sed rates by up to Rs500 per head, while others are refusing to commit to winter pricing altogether, citing uncertainty around oil and input costs, says Izzah Zaman, co-founder of wedding-tech startup Shadiyana. Alongside this, the government’s austerity measures have led to stricter regulatory enforcement: a 10pm wedding cutoff, police intervention in cases of violations, and crackdowns on the one-dish policy, resulting in venue closures across Islamabad. There are also operational challenges. Weddings in the capital, in particular, are increasingly vulnerable to external disruptions, whether due to security cordons near the Margalla Hills during peace talks or city-wide VIP protocols that delay guest arrivals without warning. Media reports suggest that last winter’s wedding season in Karachi alone was worth around Rs33 billion, while Shadiyana estimates the nationwide market at approximately Rs900 million. All of this is unfolding within an industry that has historically operated at enormous scale, albeit through a fragmented and informal economy. This disconnect is what Shadiyana aims to address. The idea took shape in 2021, at the height of Pakistan’s startup boom, when funding was pouring into companies such as Airlift. While much of that capital pursued models tested elsewhere, Izzah Zaman and her co-founder, Neelam Shoaib, chose a less-travelled path: weddings. “When we thoug