HAPPILY NEVER AFTER
I forked out £5k for my divorce party with a massive bouncy castle & a personalised bar menu… ‘it’s all about me’
The mum offers one-on-one sessions to help empower those going through divorce and holds talks at events
MOST people splash out to organise the perfect wedding day - but for Sonia Gupta, her divorce was the ideal excuse to throw a bash.
The 47-year-old mum, from East London, celebrated the end of her marriage with a £5k divorce party, which featured a bouncy castle and personalised cocktails.
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Not skimping on anything, the -based mum-of-two had organised a unicorn-themed bouncy castle and cake, also forking out for a bar serving a personalised menu and tipples, such as ''it's a Sonia gin'' and ''decree absolute''.
To celebrate the big day, Sonia also also sported a ''finally divorced'' sash and invited a staggering 150 guests, including friends and family.
The fun bash has also inspired Sonia to help those going through divorce or relationship break-ups, .
The mum-of-two, who works in business development operations, said: "It was to celebrate my new life. It's all about me."
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The delighted divorcee ad an arranged marriage in India almost two decades ago, in 2005, but just years later realised that she wasn't happy.
Despite the emotions, Sonia continued to live in the same house as her back-then hubby for a decade, whilst trying to seek advice and financial support.
It felt like I was trapped in a prison
Sonia Gupta
Sonia said: "I wasn't the best version of myself. It felt like I was trapped in a prison."
She added that people ''didn't come over for 10 years'' because of the bad atmosphere at their home.
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The unhappy pair finally filed for divorce in 2018 and it was finalised in March 2021.
Although Sonia was keen to throw a bash to celebrate the new freedom, she wasn't able to hold the party until September 2021 - due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place.
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The mum-of-two reckons she spent £5k on the big day - which also included hiring a bouncy castle for her two sons, now aged 13 and 19, as well as on food and drinks.
The London-base divorcee, who named the day ''it's a Sonia thing'', said: "I'm a loud, outgoing person. I love dancing and mingling.
''Not a lot of people get to celebrate themselves."
For the special occasion, Sonia also had a DJ and a motto on the wall reading ''I love the person I have become because I fought to become her''.
According to the 47-year-old, people have called her story "inspiring" and it even led to her setting up her mentoring business - named ''it's Sonia's thing'' - in 2023.
Divorce statistics in the UK
In 2022, there were 80,057 divorces in England and Wales — 78,759 were opposite-sex divorces and 1,298 were of same-sex couples, data by .
This is a decrease of 51.5% since 1993, the year with the largest number of divorces, when a staggering 165,018 marriages ended by divorce.
The mum offers one-on-one sessions to help empower those going through divorce and holds talks at events.
Sharing her story, Sonia said she also hoped to normalise divorce - particularly in Indian culture.
She said: "I support people and help to be unbiased. It's important for people to celebrate themselves and embrace their new beginning."
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Sonia also encourages others going through divorce to ''own their journey'', joking: "This is a story of how a party changed my life.
''It means those years were not wasted. There is life after divorce."
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