The city played host to a mind-boggling 14,000 weddings Sunday, turning it into a stage of merriment for some and a frustrating wait in traffic jams for others.

With Rs.14 billion ($310 million) estimated to have been spent on elaborate traditional ceremonies on a single day, it was a grand day of weddings. It was also the most auspicious day for marriages according to the Hindu almanac.

The couples' best day of their lives also triggered a rush in the city for everything from priests to flowers, besides putting the city's traffic police on high alert.

Businessmen made the most of the day with prices of even marigold flowers to decorate the wedding marquees shooting up to about Rs.400 per kg from just about Rs.25 per kg on normal days.

There was also a dearth of priests to solemnise the marriages, as they hopped from one wedding to another.

"I have committed myself to three weddings today," said Ram Prasad Chaturvedi, a priest in West Delhi.

An Indian wedding is celebrated in opulence, with richly decorated halls and an abundance of delicious food being the essential ingredients. Relatives and friends gather to celebrate this important event.

But the wedding season was not without its share of tragedy, as a woman became the unintended victim of celebratory firing of guns at a wedding reception two days ago. The practice of shooting firearms to celebrate weddings is peculiar to some communities in northern India.

The wedding rush has also provided an opportunity to designers like J.J. Valaya, Rohit Bal and Raghavendra Rathore to flaunt their talent. Valaya has tied up with the wedding management company Shaadionline, while designer Rohit Bal has launched his own wedding management company.

Each wedding is expected to have cost on an average Rs.1 million ($22,000), including charges for entertainment and wedding planners.

The Indian wedding industry is currently valued at about Rs.500 billion ($11 billion) and is growing at 25 percent every year.

While the rich engaged the services of designers and wedding planners to take care of the arrangements to the last detail, the not so affluent had simple ceremonies.

Among the thousands, who tied the nuptial knot Sunday included Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal's son Amit and London-based lawyer Pallavi.

Of the six auspicious days that fall this month, Nov 28 is supposed to be the most propitious, said renowned astrologer Ajay Gautam, who also hosts the website www.myastrohelpline.com.

The auspicious day is decided by five components of the Hindu almanac - including day and star of the bride and groom.

If those match with the date, it is considered to be auspicious, said Gautam.

Last year, thousands of weddings were solemnised on Nov 27, he recalled.

The traffic police made special arrangements to facilitate smooth flow, especially in South Delhi where a number of farmhouses hosted wedding parties throwing vehicular traffic out of gear.

--Indo-Asian News Service