“Did you see the photos of the big fat NRI wedding happening in London?” queried my friend, Ms Avid Instagrammer, as we huffed our way through High Intensity Interval Training. “Yes,” I squeaked, barely able to catch my breath after my fiftieth jump squat. “Everyone looked so good, but aren’t they tired after a month of celebrations?” she panted. Ms Instagramer was referring to the Sindhi nuptials in Vienna, at the Belvedere Palace where Bruno Mars performed, before the revellers moved on to party in London. With its own hashtag, the marriage was conveniently trackable on Facebook and Instagram.
Grand destination weddings now dominate social media and provide instant inspiration to those aspiring to the Karan Johar school of larger-than-life spectacles. Weddings are our big indulgence. We save and save, and then spend ridiculously to ensure our progeny have the time of their lives on their big day.
I rang Mehak Sagar to find out what’s trending in the shaadi space. Sagar co-founded the wedding planning portal, Wed Me Good, alongside her husband, Anand Shahani, three years ago. The site gets 4,00,000 unique users a month and their app has been downloaded 80,000 times.
“Millennials value experiences over material things,” she told me over the phone from Delhi. “Guest lists are being scaled back, so people aren’t inviting 2,000 people, but they are spending more to ensure their guests have great experiences.” “Like what?” I enquired. From hand delivered wedding cards that play a video of the couple when you open it, to elaborately themed pre-wedding parties (one featured neon face painting to gear up for a rave) to personalized cutlery embossed with the couples’ initials to mehendis that offer perfume making sessions, caricature artists and on-site spa services, the great Indian wedding has morphed into an extravaganza. “Earlier, people spent money on IIFA awards-like stages,” continued Mehak, “but now the couple getting married are more involved, and they want to mingle with their friends and family.”
“What else is new?” I probed. “Oh, the pre-wedding photo shoots,” she replied. “In Indian weddings there are so many people so now couples prefer professionally shot photos before the wedding starts. There are outdoor studios in Delhi for example, like The Perfect Location near Faridabad, where you can choose a backdrop for the shoot.” When I looked it up online, I was struck by the options: a Moroccan fort, Venice, Santorini, and a Texan ranch stand out.
“Another trend is wedding stylists,” Sagar continued. Because choosing outfits can be the most stressful part of the process, stylists like Nisha Kundnani of Bridelan are in brisk demand. They help pick out the entire trousseau, working closely with both the bride and groom (and their families).
And, of course, overseas destinations still hold sway. Thailand continues to be a popular destination, but the crazy rich opt for European locales or places off the beaten path. Oman and Bahrain, too, are grabbing a slice of the great Indian wedding market.
What does all this cost? To find out, I reached out to Mr Sought After Wedding Planner. “How much does one budget for a wedding these days?” I asked him over a coffee at Starbucks. He gave me a perplexed look. “Dah-ling, how do I answer that? The sky is the limit!” “OK, let me rephrase,” I ventured, “what kind of a budget does one need to have you involved?” “I don’t work with anyone under a ₹3 crore budget,” he offered, reluctantly, “It’s really hard to execute a vision for under that amount. Just look at the price of flowers these days!”
Yes, when it comes to Indian weddings, forget the sky, it’s the stars we aim to reach.
This fortnightly column tracks the indulgent pursuits of the one-percenters
