All About The Indian Wedding Industry-What It Looks Like?
It’s all about the “Big Fat Indian Wedding”! One occasion where Indians know how to throw a big party is the Weddings. Take a look at what the Indian Wedding Industry has in store for us.
Weddings is a major business in India. It is the second largest wedding market after USA which is at $70 Billion. The Indian wedding sector today is organized with wedding planners and specialized vendors entering the market.
This much more organised version of the industry is supposed to be valued at Rs. 50,000 Crores in 2018, according to some studies. What makes this industry such a lucrative business?
Destination Weddings
Whether it is Virushka getting married in Tuscany, Italy or DeepVeer in Lake Como, Italy or NickYanka wedding in Umaid Bhavan Palace, Jaipur has spiked up more interest for destination weddings than before. These exotic locations have surely grabbed eyeballs after these bollywood celebrities got hitched there. Couples who are trying to emulate these celebs in all way for their wedding are rising in demand, more and more want a wedding like some celeb. This has increased the demand for Destination weddings where everyone could enjoy a nice 3-4 day weekend getaway. The destination wedding industry itself in India is estimated to cross INR 45,000 crore in 2020.
New-age Wedding Planning
Gone are those days, where you assign duties to your friends and relatives for various tasks to look into for your wedding, be it catering, venues, decor, gifts, and more. No more rushing around to prospective venues and haggling with vendors. New age event management companies and wedding planner or coordinator take care of all those hassles for the newlyweds-to-be. Of course you should have your own wedding planning checklist so you keep a track of what all has been done and what is left. Unlike the old times, weddings now mean that couples and their family can enjoy the wedding while someone else ensures that the event goes off without a hitch.
Wedding Photography/Videography
Wedding day photography and videography have been common since ages now but there has been this new trend of pre-wedding photoshoots. Pre-wedding shoots along with wedding photography are also having a big stake in Indian weddings. And these pre-wedding shoots take place at different locations too which add all the more charge. Average Wedding shoots can cost ranging from Rs.15,000 to Rs.100,000 per day. The couples photo or boomerangs or videos with 5 more days to go, 4 more days to go, it is the day have been quite famous. The entire idea for these shoots is one off course to keep memories and second to add more drama and excitement to the wedding for the guests.
Also read Indian photographer’s rise in income-thanks to big fat indian weddings.
Catering
Twenty years ago, wedding food was more focussed on small buffets and limited menu.Today, Indian customers are evolving when it comes to deciding wedding menus. They are not necessarily sticking to the usual suspects like paneer/chicken butter masala, dal tadka, butter roti and rice. They are exploring with different cuisines be it Mangalorean or Mediterranean or Japanese and more. People are looking for “experiential” food where guests go back with memories. Also, now due to people turning health freaks, some weddings also have a small corner for them. Most well-catered wedding events today even have live kitchens, where dishes are prepared in front of guests, where they can actually see the ingredients. All these elaborate trends in catering definitely add up to a huge cost. The Indian catering industry, alone, is worth Rs. 15,000 Crore, and why not because good food ensures a good wedding after all!
Customization/Personalized
Just want some “personal touch” to it- is what all couples want for all aspects of their wedding. Be it decor ideas (theme-based weddings), outfits and accessories, wedding invites, or guest favors, everything is being customized according to the couple’s needs. A particular theme is decided and then the entire wedding from decor, outfits, pre-wedding functions, food and drinks, invites, photo booths, favors, and lot more is made according to that particular theme. All this customization according to the couples’ wish has a lot more extra charges, off course the couples do it for memories and fun in their wedding but it takes up quite a lot of amount from their pockets.
This is how the Indian wedding industry is all about and the new trends that make it a profitable business. After all, Indians love to celebrate and they do it in the extravaganza way. It is estimated that Indian wedding could range between Rs. 5 Lakhs to Rs. 5 crores. An Indian is likely to spend one-fifth of his total lifetime wealth at a wedding. That’s how Indians are, celebration is in our DNAs!