Everybody knows that the big fat Indian wedding is as big and fat as it gets. Now, the website >bigindianwedding.com hopes to cash in on what is an industry in itself by catering to demands that range from the trousseau to wedding venues.
Ashish Abrol, the brain behind bigindianwedding.com, holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering and a master's in Business Administration. On what prompted the launch of the website, Abrol says, “India is a huge market; when it comes to marriages, people spend huge amounts on the events. So it drove me to think about launching a website that would simplify and manage all the wedding arrangements. It not only lays the platform for people but also provides a platform for vendors. Now one will not have to move from mall to mall, checking out locations and wasting time in all the research work. Now it is all at one place only.”
Abrol began his career as a banker and later on went on to work with giants like IBM and CSC in New York in client management. On the tie-ups bigindianwedding.com has entered, he informs, “We are working with companies like Raas, the jewellery brand, Kisneel for all the ethnic clothes like lehangas and saris, and designers like Vandana Kapoor and Pam Mehta for the guidance required.”
In a market which relies on touch-and-feel, will the online model work?
“Yes, it will do well. It will have all the ingredients and flavours that make an Indian marriage special. For instance, if one stays in Ludhiana and wants to organise a wedding in Delhi, he might have to go all around, keep on asking friends and family about the best place, but one doesn't have to do that now — we are here for that to guide you and make it happen for you. And we don't work only for the high-end segment.” Venues, he says, range from Government marriage halls that come at reasonable rates to five-star hotels.
