Ever wonder why Indian weddings are termed “big fat”? It’s because they cost a “big fat” amount of money. Weddings are essentially once-in-a-lifetime events that must go flawlessly without any compromises. Indians spend a fortune on weddings to make them spectacular. Indian parents likely begin saving for their children’s weddings as soon as they are born.
Let’s see how much each of things costs on an average at a wedding:
Venue and decorations:
The first step in organizing a wedding is choosing the ideal location. It could be a hotel, banquets/farmhouses, or a destination wedding.
- Hotels: – Per plate prices range from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 3,500. (500 to 1000 guests maximum)
- Banquet lawns and farmhouses: – Start at Rs. 2,000,000. For Tier-II cities
- Destination Weddings: – Prices start at Rs. 75,000 and can reach a few crores.
- Decorations: – An occasion as large as your wedding will require several decorations, which are included in one of the major wedding expenses. These decorations include your entrance, backdrop, seating arrangement, centrepieces, and a portion of your wedding décor. You might have to pay venue decorators between 50,000 and 2 lakhs for the wedding’s decoration.
Catering Cost:
People will remember your wedding based on the food, so it might not be a good idea to make compromises there. The price is calculated per plate and depends on the number of guests. The entry-level package starts at Rs 1,000 for each dish, while dishes of international cuisine might cost between Rs 1700 and 2000 per plate.
Wedding Dress, Jewellery, Hair, and Makeup:
Indian weddings are multi-day affairs. There are roughly 3 to 4 functions before the big wedding, and each one requires a brand-new outfit, jewelry, hairstyle, and makeup.
- Bride and groom attire: A bride has a million ideas in her head about the perfect wedding attire. She will spend anywhere from INR 25,000 to INR 1,000,000 on her lehenga. The ideal lehenga can cost an average of INR 40 000, with an additional INR 30,000 for the jewelry that goes with it. The average cost of a groom’s sherwani is INR 40,000.
- Hair and Makeup: The average bridal makeup package begins at INR 15,000. Depending on the makeup artist, it might reach lakhs. Generally, a full bridal package including both hair and makeup costs between INR 20000 and 50000
Photographers/cinematographer costs:
Wedding photography has changed over time. It goes beyond simply covering your special day. Nowadays, everyone wants to capture a couple’s pre-wedding shoot and pre-wedding ritual. Additionally, there is a new concept known as a cinematography shoot. Today’s photography services include drones, LED projectors, and other high-tech technology to cover your wedding. They might also present a wedding album. In India, a wedding photography package costs start at Rs 75,000.
Miscellaneous expenses:
Along with the major costs mentioned above, there are also minor costs that people often forget. However, these expenses have a significant impact on your bank account.
- Transportation costs: – Rs. 65,000 to Rs. 1, 50,000 (AC bus)
- DJ: – Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 40,000
- Sweets: – Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 25,000
- Others: – Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 1, 00,000
Ways to cut down some expenses:
When it comes to weddings, it might not seem realistic to manage money or cut back, but there are practical ways to do so:
- Renting jewelry: – Renting jewelry for weddings is a growing trend. You can save a few lakhs by renting jewelry instead of purchasing it, and use the remaining money for other things if you require.
- Invitations:– In today’s technologically advanced times, one can Create personalized e-invites or even send video or virtual images in place of paper or card. The cost of printing and delivering the wedding card can be reduced as a result. Consider printing just a few wedding invitations for your relatives if some of them aren’t at ease accepting an e-invite.
- The venue: – To receive significant savings, arrange your wedding during the off-season at a palace or hotel outside of the city. You can always choose to do this on weekdays rather than weekends.
- Multiple ceremonies, multiple days: – You can avoid scheduling many ceremonies on various days. Perform as many as you can in a day, if at all possible. You will benefit from it in two different ways: first, by saving time, and second, by saving money.
- Negotiation: – Everyone in India is skilled at negotiation. They are always willing to negotiate on anything. Every wedding planner has numerous connections with vendors, and they can save costs by 10% to 15%.
The Indian wedding market is today worth over Rs. 1, 00,000 crores and is expanding quickly, at 25 to 30% yearly. The average cost of a wedding in India ranges from 20 lakhs to 5 crores. According to estimates, an average Indian spends one-fifth of his lifetime earnings on his wedding. To organize the perfect wedding People generally use loans, break fds, or even use lifetime savings, but setting up a SIP might be a better choice. Let’s take the examples of the image below.
https://www.mutualfundssahihai.com/en/calculators
Let’s assume you are making a monthly SIP investment of Rs. 15,000 at 12% interest. Given this, your initial investment will be Rs. 1, 80,000 with 12% interest, it will grow to
Rs. 2, 01,600 at the end of the first year. Similar in this pattern, after 15 years, your investment will be 27 lakh and with the power of compounding, your 27 lakh investment will grow to 74.94 lakh.
You can have the wedding of your dreams, but all you need to do is be smart and responsible with finances, be thrifty, conduct thorough research, and avoid planning a wedding for attention or to impress others. Focus on your financial capabilities and make the most out of it.
