Intimately luxurious: Wedding industry expects smaller guest lists, deeper pockets

New Delhi, Oct 3 (PTI) It’s that time of the year when evenings get colder, nights cosier and skies brighter with the dizzying extravagance of big fat Indian weddings famous around the world for their unrestrained exuberance.

As the industry readies itself for the peak next month, insiders say weddings appear to be getting smaller but certainly not simpler -- intimate maybe but edged with luxe and personalisation.

According to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the retail sector is expected to witness business worth Rs 5.9 lakh crore during this wedding season with an estimated 48 lakh weddings nationwide in the 18 auspicious dates from November 12 to December 16.

Delhi alone is projected to see 4.5 lakh weddings in these days, contributing to a Rs 1.5 lakh crore business, it said.

The wedding industry, which includes fashion, travel, hospitality and the service industry, is looking forward to the season with increased focus on domestic destinations, curated food menus, intimate guest lists and personalised experiences.

Industry insiders estimate that wedding costs can go from Rs 25 lakh all the way to a stratospheric Rs 100 crore - essentially many families tend to go all out, dipping into their savings and even selling property if they have to, to make the event as grand as their pockets allow.

“In recent years, we’ve noticed a significant shift towards smaller guest lists, especially among millennial couples who often prefer a more intimate experience,” Abhishek Sadhoo, general manager at Shangri-La Eros, New Delhi, told PTI.

Confirming an “exceptional surge” in booking inquiries for the wedding season with notably smaller guest lists, he added that the number of guests has decreased but couples are not cutting back on their overall budgets.

With peak season barely a month away, the luxury hotel chain has launched a bespoke service, “Bandhan by Shangri-La”, to “intertwine cultural richness” with hospitality.

“We see that budgets are increasingly directed toward creating luxurious and personalised celebrations. This trend reflects a desire for high-quality experiences, from exquisite decor to gourmet catering, where every detail matters,” Sadhoo said.

According to Parthip Thyagarajan, CEO of wedding planner WeddingSutra.com, people are willing to spend anywhere from Rs 5 to Rs 25 lakh, when it comes to the middle class, and from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2.5 crore if it’s the upper middle class.

“For those in the HNI category a wedding spend could range from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 25 crore and for those in the Ultra HNI category, anywhere from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 100 crore,” he said.

A typical wedding budget at Shangri-La Eros, for instance, begins at around Rs 25 lakh and can go up to several crores.

A similar budget or Rs 20-30 lakh is prepared by the Hyatt Place Jaipur, which is also experiencing a “notable increase” in wedding, pre-wedding and post-wedding functions”.

“Over the years, we’ve seen an increase in spending, primarily due to the personalised services we offer,” Vanshaj Bhatia, director of sales at Hyatt Place, Jaipur. The celeb wedding spectrum this year has gone from the simple ceremonies of actors Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth, who got married in a temple, and Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal, who went for a registered wedding, to the biggest, fattest of them all - Anant Ambani with Radhika Merchant.

The Ambani-Merchant wedding, which went on for several months, was grand and global. It made international headlines with the participation of celebrities guests like Rihanna, Ed Sheeran, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates apart from the who’s who of Indian film industry.

Akarsh Garg, director of Moksha Himalaya Spa Resort, noted that people are opting for “smaller, more intimate gatherings” but there has been an increase in what people are willing to spend.

A total buyout at Moksha Himalaya Spa Resort, located in Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh, costs around Rs 85 lakh plus taxes for two days.

Whether intimate or large weddings, the common trend is personalisation - a category that adds to the glamour of a wedding and also makes for a large chunk of the overall expenses.

The personalisation takes in everything from stationery to décor.

There has been a growing demand for “personalised and meaningful stationery”, said Sanjana Chatlani of The Bombay Lettering Company.

“Many are looking for designs that truly reflect their relationship and values. This includes a lot of hand-painted watercolour illustrations, with clients favouring elegant, subtle, and minimalistic styles over more jarring or extravagant options,” Chatlani said.

She added that the rise in interest is due to couples wanting their invitations to reflect their unique style and enhancing it with the use of butter paper wraps, twines, tassels, wax seals, and dried flowers.

For Chatlani’s bespoke wedding invites, the cost ranges from Rs 30,000 to Rs 10 lakh.

According to Thyagarajan, the expenses can be broken down into bridal makeup, photography, venue, decor and the location of the wedding.

“If at an earlier wedding Rs 2 lakh (for photography) was the billing for the family, it could be Rs 6 lakh or more this time for the same family. Some brides are spending on top makeup artists... Rs 1 lakh per function upward,” he said.

He added that hotel rates at destination wedding hotspots like Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Goa and Mahabalipuram have increased, “especially for winter weddings and those falling on auspicious dates”.

A continuing trend for this season is going to be destination weddings that have become all the rage over the last few years with celebrity weddings taking place at picturesque locations in India and abroad.

Darshan Shroff of Momente Weddings, a luxury wedding planning company, said domestic weddings continue to dominate due to factors like “ease of travel and the comfort of celebrating in one’s home country”.

According to Thyagarajan, while Rajasthan, Goa, and Kerala continue to be popular, the newer hotspots include Dehradun, Rishikesh, Orchha, Bekal, Coorg and all-year good weather destination, Bengaluru in the South.

“Only 10 per cent of high networth or ultra HNI individuals go abroad. Thailand continues to be very popular, hosting the most number of Indian weddings, estimated at 450 to 550 per year,” he added. PTI MAH/MG MIN MIN