By Geena Paul
KOCHI/JAIPUR: Wedding season is here. And, who is minting money out of this? You thought textile shops and gold jewelers? No, the people who are doing roaring business this wedding season are people who are lending jewellery and clothes for a price!

With recession hitting the economy and people’s pockets hard, jewellery shops and small groups of innovative women are cashing in on the rise in demand for hired jewellery and clothes.

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In Kerala, at weddings all women love to wear heavy gold jewellery and the brides are also given good quantity of gold on the occasion. With the prices of gold soaring and the arrivals of dollars from foreign shores drying up, Kerala’s common man is struggling to come in terms with the recession blues. So, when weddings are arranged for their daughters now parents are looking to hire jewellery from shops for the occasion for a price and they are postponing the plans to purchase gold, considering the high prices of the yellow metal.

There are incidents where families of brides and grooms decide to postpone the gold purchase for a later date when the gold prices come down and on wedding they hire jewellery from shops or other small groups of women who are ready to lend them.

Talk to Laly Joseph (name changed) of Ernakulam, she says there are a lot of demand for her designer jewellery which she bought for her wedding and now renting out for weddings if she knows the people well. She charges Rs 500 to 2,000 per piece, depending on the cost of the jewellery.

Jewellery on rent has become a trend in Kerala now and it will stay like that for some more tome till gold prices fall.

In Jaipur also, several jewellery shops offer imitation jewellery sets on hire. Demand is very high for these jewellery pieces during wedding seasons when women come and take them to wear at weddings. Jodhaa Akbar variety jewellery designs is in high demand now, say shop owners.

Savvy brides are looking to hire, rather than buy, the bulk of their big day. Welcome to the era of the Rental Wedding.

In foreign countries also, this concept is catching up. But, with a difference. There are several online companies like www.adornbrides.com. These websites offer the jwellery pieces for a one-week rental fee of $100. Unlike subscription services like bagborroworsteal.com and www.borrowedbling.com, Adorn allows people no-commitment rental with insurance folded into the flat $100 fee.

Bridal rental jewellery has become a big business in the US now, where recession has hit the hardest.

Ask.com says that the rental wedding is a growing trend, as well as the importance of the cash-curbing credit crisis.

Now even wedding dress designs are also on rental basis. New Jersey boutique bridal designer Johnna Ho (www.johnnaho.com) has started offering her designs on a rental basis.