?The Rise of Big Fat Wedding Industry in India

If India is known for anything in this whole wide world, that’s only for its tradition, colorful culture and its big fat weddings.

Gone are the days when Indian weddings were organized by the family members, relatives and friends. Now it has taken the shape of a giant business altogether, which involves designer clothes, wedding planners, catering, decorations, and destinations, pre-wedding photoshoots, videos and what not.

According to various reports, there are 10-12 million weddings in the country in a year. Also, India is set to become the youngest country in the world by 2020, when the median age will be 29 years and the wedding industry will benefit from this demographic dividend.

According to the 2011 census, the UK has an Indian population of more than 1.4 million, so it's no wonder that the Indian wedding industry is booming in the UK.

Some start ups, businessmen have already eyed their opportunities and are pretty confident in running the business successfully. Yet there is always room for the aspiring entrepreneurs and businessmen to find their place and grow.

Here are some of the factors, which keep this business flourish every year:

1. Recession-proof business:

As per Aashni Shah, Creative Director of boutique wedding designer Aashni & Co and the founder of the Aashni & Co Wedding Show, ‘The Indian wedding industry is worth £12 billion worldwide, and much of that money is spent by expats living in the UK. More than 10 million weddings take place in India each year, which is why it is called as “recession-proof” business.’

The Indian wedding industry is a recession-proof industry, estimated to be around $40-50 billion in size.

Moreover this industry never will see any dull moment, as wedding take place throughout the year. Even if the wedding take place for a month but the ceremonies and functions attached to this is carried out throughout the year.

2. Too many options:

According reports, people usually spend one-third of their life’s savings in one wedding of a family member.

One can start with any one of the options available such as make up, photography, videography, wedding planning, catering, event planning, florist, jewellery designer, dress designer, tailoring, decorator, hall manager or simple mass employer.

Anything you feel like works in your favor, you can start with that. There is a huge demand for all these in almost all weddings.

“Customisation is a huge theme. Couples want everything from the drinks menu to the invitations to the decor to represent their personalities and love stories,” says Sanna Vohra, who owns Wedding Brigade.

“Instead of being a glorified classifieds portal, we tend to work with vendors and customers. People tend to spend almost 30 per cent of their life’s savings on weddings. With so much money on the plate, there is a lot of bargaining,” says Wharton-graduate Dharam Mehta, who founded Wedwise.

3. Rising Trends:

Rising trends is one of the vital reasons, which are letting this business to flourish.

The recent report suggests that NRIs and foreigners are choosing places like Jaipur, Udaipur, Kerala, and Goa among many tier II and tier III cities, for their destination wedding to take place. Whereas the Indians are flying to foreign lands for their destination weddings and honeymoons.

There is a growing demand for destination wedding, pre-wedding photo shoots, video shoots, inspired by movies and celebrities.

There is also another trend, which has just seeped in, is to invite celebrities be it actors, singers or dancers. To make the wedding look grand and memorable for the entire clan, people are ready to flow their money and call these talents to perform in the crowd.

In one hand where it looks like just a lot of money poured in a function, on the other hand it is also an opportunity for many locals to earn their bread and butter. It provides employment to a huge number of people.