Band, baaja... Indians splurge on weddings

MUMBAI: It's the wedding season and Indians are spending a fortune to get the band, baaja and baaraat rolling in style.

The average wedding budget this year is Rs 36.5 lakh while those choosing to go for a destination wedding are spending Rs 51 lakh on an average. Broadly, weddings got 7% more expensive in 2024 over last year, blame it on higher venue and catering costs which have gone up by over 10% year-on-year, showed a study by wedding planning firm WedMeGood."Everyone wants the best possible wedding. People are spending the most on venue, followed by food and a good planning agency. In India, most households allocate the biggest budgets towards the purchase of house and weddings of their children," Shashank Gupta, founder and director at wedding planning firm TailorMade Experiences told TOI.

For the rich, money is no bar and they are going all out-big fat desi weddings have a budget of over Rs 1 crore and the majority of such weddings are planned as destination weddings, a trend popularised by celebrities.

Weddings in India today are getting more personalised and experiential. From the invite to decor and events, everything is based on a theme and the younger couples are bringing a lot of unconventional norms into the wedding mix. "The nature of weddings has changed. People are splurging on experiences. Gen Z couples, for instance, are holding events like cocktail mixing, gaming sessions, setting up top up restaurants at their wedding venues. Many couples are also introducing themed welcome dinners which is a very western concept showing how cultural influences are bending," said Mehak Sagar Shahani, co-founder at WedMeGood. The trend of personalised and experiential weddings have helped new age businesses find their feet. "New age artists, caterers are getting opportunity as couples spend more on personalised experiences," said Gupta.

Estimates by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) showed that 48 lakh weddings are slated to be held in the Nov-Dec period, generating business worth Rs 6 lakh crore. Weddings make up for a big part of retail sales in India and the increase in auspicious wedding dates this year is expected to boost business. Social media and the urge of people to have "instagrammable" pictures is also driving a lot of wedding business. Most people in India dip into their personal and family savings to finance weddings as indicated by the survey.