Wedding trade is married to money

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New Delhi: Marriages are made in heaven, but weddings are planned and organised by companies.

Welcome to the great Indian wedding bazaar, a recession-proof business that generates thousands of crores each year-end. Dresses, jewellery, catering, décor, DJ, photographers, and all other cost lots of money, which means to tie the knot you have to un-tie your purse strings.

When Megha, a journalist, decided to tie the knot, she had little idea where to begin trousseau shopping in Mumbai. Enter Weddingsutra.com, a company that advises clients like Megha on shopping for wedding paraphernalia like clothes, jewellery, make-up and accessories.

“The company’s advice met my expectations. My folks are not in this city, so I needed someone to help me shop. I am sure this is exactly what my mother would have also chosen,” says Megha.

“Most brides rely on traditions and customs to make choice of dresses but many like advice on latest trends to help them shop. Here the expertise of a wedding consultant comes in,” says Parthiv, managing director of weddingsutra.com.

Wedding planners and consultants though are the domain of the rich and NRIs. For families on a tighter budget, there are wedding malls. These one stop-shops offer everything from saris to sherwanis.

“The business potential is in the range of Rs 10 lakh plus, but opportunity is knocking at the door. In the next two-three days the business will pick up when the wedding season starts in the first week of December,” says Jaideep Khaitan, owner of Shagun Wedding Mall.

The industry though is far from set. Just one in 10,000 couples in the country opt for wedding planners. Some banks have begun offering wedding loans but they have got few suitors. The industry is still to start gift registry, where a single store manages gifts.

Kumar, who owns a small wedding shop called Darshana Sarees, in Delhi’s Moti Bazar, says the new wedding planner don’t bother him as most families do their shopping the traditional way.

(With Raksha Shetty in Mumbai and Himika Choudhury in Kolkata)