It is wedding season again. You do not need an invitation to notice it. Open your window late at night, and you will hear the bang of fireworks at one or two in the morning. You will see flashes lighting up the sky or be startled by convoys of sports cars tearing through the streets as if they are on a racetrack. What should be a joyful celebration for one family too often becomes a disturbance for the whole neighbourhood.
I have experienced this many times. You are finally drifting off to sleep after a long day, and then, bang, fireworks explode outside your window. The dog starts barking, children wake up, and the whole house is restless. Add the roar of Lamborghinis and BMWs revving past, horns blasting, and suddenly, your peaceful night has been hijacked by someone else’s party.
These convoys of cars are not just loud; they can be dangerous. They speed along narrow streets, putting pedestrians and other drivers at risk. What happens if a child steps into the road at the wrong moment? What happens if an accident turns this so-called celebration into a tragedy? These are not imaginary fears. Many people in our communities have witnessed fatal accidents.
The truth is that weddings in our community have changed. They are no longer about love, faith, and family. They have become about showing off. A wedding is not just about two people starting a life together. For many, it is about parents staging a performance to prove their wealth, their status, or their importance.
It is no longer enough to book a simple hall and share a meal. Now it has to be the grandest venue, decorated like a palace with flowers, lights, and chandeliers. The guest list often runs into hundreds. The cars have to be flashier. The fireworks have to be louder. The food has to be more extravagant. Families spend huge sums of money as if the whole event were a contest.
And what is the cost? Tens of thousands of pounds, sometimes much more. Parents sell jewellery, take out loans, or borrow from relatives just to keep up appearances. The so-called wedding of the year may win praise for a day, but the debts can last for years. Young couples start married life under pressure and financial strain. How many marriages survive that kind of burden?
It is not just the families who suffer. Entire communities are disturbed. Fireworks at midnight or later are not harmless fun. They rob people of sleep. Convoys of revving cars may look glamorous on social media, but they frighten children, unsettle the elderly, and annoy anyone who has to get up early the next morning. What should be a happy occasion for one household becomes misery for dozens of others. This is not a celebration. This is selfishness.
What makes it worse is how far it is from our values. In Islam, extravagance is condemned. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, taught that the best weddings are the simplest and least expensive. Blessings come from sincerity and modesty, not from spending a fortune. Yet weddings today are judged by likes, shares, and online attention rather than by prayers and blessings. The nikah, the sacred marriage contract, is meant to be the heart of the day, yet it is often overshadowed by fireworks, Ferraris, and staged photographs.
We need to wake up. Every pound wasted on empty spectacle could be spent helping the couple build a life together. A deposit for their first home. Paying for education. Starting a business. Or even helping those in need. Imagine if weddings were remembered not for how loud they were, but for how meaningful they were.
The bravest wedding today is not the one with the biggest guest list or the loudest display. The bravest wedding is the one that dares to be simple, sincere, and true to faith. The one that celebrates the union of two people and the coming together of families, not the showing off of wealth. That is the wedding worth remembering. That is the wedding worth celebrating.
The next time fireworks go off at two in the morning and sports cars roar past with horns blaring, ask yourself: is this really a wedding or is it a circus? And more importantly, is this what we want our community to be remembered for?
