The big, fat Indian wedding may not have turned bigger or fatter in recent years, but it certainly has become unique and more personalised. Couples now know what exactly they want, and from selecting the venue to customising the menu and zeroing in on a compact guest list, everything to do with the nuptials is being experimented with. With the wedding season gaining momentum, here is what?s hot this season…
Going offbeat
While palaces of Rajasthan and beaches around the country remain popular choices for destination weddings, couples are also opting for offbeat domestic locations such as Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Morni Hills near Chandigarh, Aamby Valley in Maharashtra, Lansdowne in Uttarakhand and Daman & Diu.
?Rajasthan and Goa are the top priorities for people in India as well as abroad. Clients from Mumbai and Delhi are mostly exploring venues near their metros as it gives them proximity advantage and access to quality vendors,? says Ruchita Parelkar of Mumbai-based Elite Wedding Planner.
Globally, destinations like Greece, Italy, Istanbul, Oman, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Langkawi, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong are gaining in popularity.
?We are organising a wedding by Lake Como in Italy on November 16. The couple wanted a romantic destination and we gave them the perfect option. The Hindu ceremony in the garden would be followed by a western wedding function,? says Rashida Abuwala of Bangalore-based Myshaadiwale Wedding Planners. It is expected that people from five continents would be attending the wedding.
But for the whacky, the sky, or, more appropriately, under the sea is the limit. Indian couples are also opting for some rather offbeat locations, such as undersea or even Iceland. For instance, Myshaadiwale is organising an underwater wedding in Bali this December. ?The would-be bride told us that her fiance wanted to do something crazy and fun for the wedding, and that she wanted to give him a surprise,? says Abuwala. The couple would dive with the priest into the sea, followed by the wedding vows.
Wedding planners are also getting a number of enquiries for weddings at wineries (Maharashtra has some popular locations), by the banks of the Ganga river (around Rishikesh) and at exotic and unexplored beaches like Mombassa in Kenya.
Delhi-based FNP Weddings is doing two weddings in Dubai this year and is working on ceremonies in Bali and Spain early next year. Tarana Ahmed of FNP Weddings believes that Dubai is going to be the hottest venue for the upcoming season. ?We get a lot of enquiries about Bangkok, Spain and Istanbul, but most clients choose Dubai or Abu Dhabi because of the proximity, accessibility, and entertainment and shopping options available there,? she adds.
Personal touch
Weddings today have become more conceptualised and personalised as opposed to just drink-dance-and-make-merry parties. Rather, they are becoming a reflection of the couple?s personalities, with everything from cards and gifts to themes tailor-made, personalised and detailed.
Says Mukta Kapoor of Delhi-based Yuna Weddings, ?We are doing a wedding that is divided into three segments, each having a different colour theme?green, pink and yellow?and each guest has to adhere to the dress code according to the colour theme. We will send the male guests a scarf and tie, and a chunri to the ladies.?
Says Ashish Abrol, CEO, BigIndianWedding.com, ?People have started dividing the various wedding events according to the kind of people they wish to invite at each event. The wedding itself comprises guests that include family and close friends. Pre-wedding functions like the cocktail and sangeet nights may be for a larger group of friends and extended family.?
For one wedding, Elite Wedding Planner had to hire about 50 artistes and train 25 interns from the National Institute of Event Management just to entertain guests. ?The smallest wedding we are doing this season has a budget of R5 lakh and the biggest of over R1.5 crore,? says Parelkar.
Theme weddings
From 2012 to The Great Gatsby, Hollywood is the big theme this year. Entertainment is also changing. People are opting for stand-up comedians and international artistes, apart from Bollywood stars.
?The wedding industry is heading towards sophistication. Many trends from the West are picking up. For instance, people are going for lighter hues for decor. Also, many cocktail/sangeet nights have themes like Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby. But people go back to their roots on the wedding day,? says Abrol of BigIndianWedding.com.
Says Parelkar of Elite Wedding Planner, ?People prefer theme-based entertainment options like chandelier girl, can-can dance and folk dancers from select destinations. One or two days are especially kept for entertainment when foreign artistes are called in for performances.?
Even budget weddings are seeing an increase in theme-based events. ?Neon colours, carnivals, spring gardens, Indo-western and royal themes are in huge demand among couples opting for budget weddings,? adds Parelkar.
Wedding planner Gaurav Singh says some non-movie themes that are becoming popular are Aladdin, Eiffel Tower and London Bridge. ?Recently, we did a wedding based on the Aladdin theme. The whole set was inspired from the cartoon series. We reconstructed a lookalike mahal to give it a real-life touch. We also did one wedding using the concept of London Bridge, where we created the bridge in the middle of the wedding ground,? says Singh.
Other themes doing the rounds are Oscar parties, Bollywood and English garden, apart from underwater or Moulin Rouge events for sangeet, Punjabi mela for mehendi, Rowdy Rathore for fun-filled evenings, pop art themes and palatial sets for ?royal? weddings.
?We even organised a cocktail party with the Buddha theme, where we created a big statue of Lord Buddha and placed candles around it,? says Kapoor of Yuna Weddings.
Online odyssey
Traditional invites are passe, especially looking at the busy schedules of most couples. What?s hot are digital invites with innovative apps. Wedding planner Abuwala says, ?Our director makes a short video of the couple inviting the guests and that is fed into the digital card. On opening the card, the video pops up. People are fascinated by this new concept.? The video can be seen over and over again.
Parelkar of Elite Wedding Planner is even seeing a huge demand in couples asking to create an online project. ?Tech-savvy couples want us to create wedding websites with an option for RSVP. This gives them a platform to showcase their wedding story and share it with others on social media. It also helps them keep track of guests and provide them with proper directions and an event time-line to be followed.?
World on a platter
People these days are opting for global variety in their wedding menus. They want cuisines from all over the world?Lebanese, Spanish, Thai, French, Italian, Chinese and Japanese, to name a few. Serving global cuisine by specialists from across the world is a trend now, including fusion food and molecular gastronomy. ?Live food counters, fusion food and molecular gastronomy are a few of the latest trends,? says Saurabh Agrawal, managing director, Red Events, an event management company. Agrees Candice Pereira, creative head and co-founder of Mumbai-based Marry Me Wedding Planners, ?Most counters at weddings today are live stations, which prove to be very interactive and interesting for guests. Also, most portions are served bite-sized, so guests can sample different items.?
While Indian food continues to hold its rich regal place, consumers these days look for something that satiates their worldlier tastes and palates, says Sunaina Sharma, director, Memorable Indian Weddings, a wedding planner company based in Delhi. ?Lavish food spreads are quintessential to Indian weddings. One can notice multi-cuisine menus, with cheese platters and canapes doing the rounds during a wedding reception. Although sit-down dinners don?t go very well with Indian weddings and menus, on special requests and for small wedding groups, the reception is mostly a sit-down service with multiple courses.?
With food being one of the main things people usually remember about a wedding, menus are getting increasingly innovative. ?We organised a wedding in August for which the clients wanted cuisines from all over the world. Consequently, we had about 10 cuisines at the reception?Lebanese, Greek, Spanish, Mexican, Thai, French, Italian, Indian, Chinese and Japanese,? says Abuwala of Myshaadiwale Wedding Planners.
In addition, theme-based menus are also in vogue. ?People prefer having their menu according to the wedding theme. For example, a wedding with a carnival theme has fruit pizzas, icy shots, etc; Rajasthani and Gujarati wedding themes feature delicacies like dal baati, gatte ki subzi, dal dhokri, etc,? says Parelkar of Elite Wedding Planner.
Dazzling decor
Enter a wedding venue and the first thing that catches your eye is the decor. And over the last few years, wedding decor has moved beyond the customary floral decorations. ?There is definitely a change in the traditional colour palette of Indian weddings. Today?s brides know who Preston Bailey and David Tutera are. They know the exact look, flowers and lighting needed for the event. With more tech-savvy brides and Pinterest as their favourite hangout, we no more discuss pink- or blue-themed events, but The Great Gatsby-inspired weddings or coral-and-blue colour combinations,? says Sharma of Memorable Indian Weddings.
?Everything this season is more opulent and glamorous. We see a lot of exotic flowers imported from various parts of the world. We also see clients requesting a high level of customisation to enhance the guests? experience,? says Pereira of Marry Me Wedding Planners.
There is a sea change noticeable not only in the colour palette, but also in the lighting. ?Not very flashy lights are used, and day lights and halogens are used very minimally. If it?s an outdoor venue, mostly LED par-cans (parabolic aluminised reflector lamps) are used. Colour combinations like neon with pastel colours are used,? says Parelkar of Elite Wedding Planner.
And with theme weddings catching on big time with the urban youth, there is a visible shift towards experimentation. ?In terms of decor, people want to go with themes, as these increase the entertainment quotient as well. The whole decor is done according to the theme. Cards, wedding flowers, etc, are all decided according to the theme chosen. Our clients, especially the bride, are very particular about the decor. They have each and every aspect planned and we execute it accordingly,? says Abuwala of Myshaadiwale Wedding Planners.
Even the wedding stationery is customised according to the theme. ?From save-the-date cards to return gifts, everything is detailed as per the theme. Even the stress on finer details like motifs, minor touches like engraving the couple?s initials on specially-designed tissue napkins for the wedding, stationery, etc, show the involvement of a couple,? says Sharma of Memorable Indian Weddings.
Gifts extraordinaire
Gifting forms an essential part of Indian weddings and people are now breaking set norms and putting a lot of effort and thought behind deciding return gifts. Customised gifts like a fragrance created especially for the wedding, tea blends, Habanos cigars, exclusive made-in-Japan Royce chocolates, etc, are some choices for return gifts these days.
?Return gifts these days can be the guests? on-the-spot developed photo with the couple, miniature wines and Arabian dates, among other things,? says Rakesh K Harjai, wedding stylist, Indian Wedding Planners.
?Wedding return gifts are no more just Ganesha and Radha-Krishna statues. People want their guests to savour the gift, not just stack it somewhere in their closet,? says Sharma of Memorable Indian Weddings.
Return gifts are also chosen according to the theme. ?For example, hats for a Goan theme, belly chains for Arabian themes, broaches for the ladies, etc. In one of our upcoming weddings, we plan to gift a laser-cut glass frame with the bride?s and groom?s initials on it, which can also act as an invite,? says Parelkar of Elite Wedding Planner.
?Gifting is a large part of Indian weddings. For events like the mehendi evening, people gift things like bracelets and customised brocade potlis. For destination weddings, return gifts are in sync with the destination chosen. If the wedding is in Rajasthan, the return gifts are block-printed or tie-and-dye dupattas; in Kerala, the Aranmula mirror makes for a very niche gift,? says Sharma of Memorable Indian Weddings.