Destination weddings, easy on the pocket!

If you scroll through the comments section at the end of news reports covering Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone’s wedding celebrations at Lake Como, in Italy, you will see disgruntled readers asking why so much money is wasted celebrating a wedding abroad instead of in India. There were similar comments when Virat Kholi and Anushka got married too. Why not India? 

Well, they will be surprised to learn that these festivities in foreign locales cost just half of what a big fat Indian wedding in India would cost.
How? 

Destination weddings can’t accommodate all the thousand plus people you would be compelled to invite if you were getting married in your hometown — if it’s Mumbai or Delhi or any other big city. So the guest list is cut by less than half, and this is a major saving. Ranveer-Deepika and Virat-Anushka Sharma had invited not more than 70 guests for their respective wedding in Italy.

Tulika Agarwal, the founding partner of Pandorama Events, a wedding planner company, explains, “With such a difference of numbers, you save a lot on the food, alcohol and the cost of hotel rooms.” 

Another killer cost at weddings which gets slashed to the bare minimum is the decor. “Opting for destinations with gorgeous locales and natural beauty enables the couple/family to tighten the budget when it comes to decor,” says Tulika. The locales are so beautiful that it doesn’t really need any decor. Put a few candles or something minimum and inexpensive around the place and you are done. Flowers abroad don’t cost much at all. Malini Ganju, of MS Events, who is known for specialising in high-profile celebrations outside India, says, “A wedding abroad can be done in a Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore budget, depending on what you want and the number of people.” 

Saying ‘I Do’ at a former palace overlooking the Bosporus in Istanbul is a fabulous idea; not only is the location stunning but it is also very inexpensive. After the terror attacks in Turkey recently, all hotel prices were slashed. It’s a similar story in Egypt. Hosting a dinner where guests can enjoy a view of the pyramids is far cheaper than staying at a luxury hotel in Rajasthan.

Places in the Middle East, like Ras Al Khaimah, work out to be very reasonable and very convenient in terms of distance. “The hotels are perfect to cater to large Indian weddings and the area has a huge local vendor database, for even things like mehendi and dhol,” says Tulika.

“The cultural uniqueness of a place like a vineyard in Tuscany or a chateau in France can add so much glamour to a wedding,” says Malini, adding that often alcohol and duty prices are much cheaper abroad than in India. On the whole, things are more cost-effective, your celebrations are different, the recall value is more and your social status goes up without spending a bomb, feels Malini.

And destinations like Thailand, Bali, Malaysia and the likes are even more less expensive when compared to Europe.