Budget for marriage
29,M. I am planning to get married this year. My parents have not accumulated much money, plus i don't want to burden them with the expenses of my marriage, hence I will be sponsoring the marriage on my own. Same is the case for my partner, and we will split all expenses equally.
Now, here comes the twist, our parents wish to retain the "izzat" that they have in the society and want to do a big wedding. The budget that I have been told is minimum 20L. Tbh, I don't want to spend this much. I was looking for something ~ 5L.
People on grapevine, especially the members who married recently, what do you think is a decent budget for marriage. Additionally, could you help out in some money saving hacks.
Guys suggesting court marriage, please read the OPs question again. He isn't confused between court marriage or a grand wedding. He wants to understand what the budget should be.
Groom side expenses Clothing: 70k Jewellery gifted to girl: 2~3L Return gifts (Usually sweets): 1L Stay for guests (30rooms, 2 days): 1.5L
Bride side expenses
Clothing: 1.5L
Gifts to guy: 2L
Jewellery: 3L
Makeup: 30k
Return gifts: 1L
Stay( Same as groom): 1.5L
Common expenses Photography (2 days): 3L Venue + Food (2 days): 6~8L (Per plate ranges between 1k to 2.5k in tier cities) Parents shopping: 4L (2L per side)
Total expense= ~30L for both sides. Now you can decide what to cut and what to spend on.
20L is on the lower side. Nowadays, marriage at a decent wedding hall in Tier 2 city costs 30L minimum. With only 5 L budget , you wouldn't even be able to afford catering lol
30L on marriage wtf 😶
so true... catering is a big expense. the only way to reduce costs is to reduce the number of invitees. That is the most difficult part. There will come a time, where both of families - bride &groom will make it into a contest. You go and tell the other family that you are planning a "private wedding" with just 50 guests, suddenly they will have at least a 100 "very close relatives & friends". Or worse they will ask "why? people dont talk to you?". It becomes izzat ka sawal only after that.
Surprised at the "court marriage" advices. Pretty stupid. Doesn't work IRL unless you don't have an extended family/friends.
Where are you from? You can do it within 10L in T3 cities. 5 might be a bit difficult.
It boils down to:
- Venue charges (venues outside City are cheaper and bigger generally) - my place it was like 90k per day.
- decoration, audio, lights (just do basic) 50k atleast
- catering (per person, try to negotiate hard, choose the bare minimum) - starts from 500/plate. Mine was like 1000/plate * 500
- clothing (just rent something) - 15k x number of events
- photography (sky is the limit these days, choose a basic studio if you just want photos) - mine was roughly 2.5L including photo, video, highlights, drone, etc
- misc (pandit, vehicle, etc)
If you hire some event management agency, it'll be seamless but much more expensive. If you have the manpower, handle it yourself.
Got married less than a year ago. Spent around 3L for wedding. Around 120 guests. Only immediate family and friends. Booked a normal banquet hall that costs per plate. No regrets ( My wife wanted the wedding to be bigger though, but that's common for every girl).
IMO, wedding photos and videos are the only things that'll stay with you. Rest you'll forget in a month or two. Just spend on them more.
Planning to do something similar. How much do you suggest spending on sherwani, lehenga etc. And would you suggest renting these..?
We did the same. Except we booked a big wedding hotel which costed 5L because of the society pressure. Varna log kya kahenge, bete ki shadi dharmshala se kar di. It wasn’t even worth it.
Helped a friend plan a wedding recently. She did a very closed wedding ceremony with only 50 people. Cost her about 1L for the venue, 750 rupees per person for food, and the rest of the expenses put together came about 2L. Then they threw a big reception for all extended family and friends, drinks later that night. Costed about 9L in total. There are a lot of nice airbnbs you can book for your wedding venue and find a hall for a reception.
Tell more about this... What are these Airbnb venues for wedding?
Great move. I've been preaching this to all my friends who are getting married. Small intimate marriage for close friends and family + Big buffet meal where you invite every tom dick and harry
You save big time and still have enough to show off.
After reading the comments, it makes sense why marriages are a billion dollar industry 🤦
If possible, do it not on "muhurats"
Muhurats is just a scam by pandits to drive the rates up. If you do it when there is no other wedding in your city, rate of everything falls half ( coz all vendors are free)
Also please negotiate properly with each vendor, tell them every vendor ( venue, caterer, photographer) is free and we can very well go to the other one.
These business operate on %occupancy, instead of making nothing, they will be happy to atleast earn half margins.
If parents cant contribute to the wedding, tell them thats your condition for the wedding, they have to meet you half way atleast.
Best of luck man and have a great life ahead ( i was in same spot few years back, put my foot down for doing the shaadi on non muhurat, paid almost half for all vendors like venue, band, horse , even pandit)
One advice- Don’t think about wedding as it’s happening for you alone. Weddings are mainly for parents and relatives to enjoy. Think of it as a kid playing with their dolls. In the case of weddings, parents are those kids and we are dolls. Most of the wedding for bride and groom is Do this, do that, specially if its an arranged marriange.
Even after your marriage, your parents are the ones who will be looking at your marriage photo/videos or talking about the event with their friends/relatives, a lot more than you would.
Keep these pointers in consideration while planning for the budget. 20L is a good budget if it covers both the parties. Marriages have gotten expensive , even in tier 2/3 cities
Probably the most pragmatic comment here. My pov is similar- marriage aint just for you its a big life milestone event for parents, and a joyous occasion for relatives where all come together at one place to create warmth & memories. Not gonna give gyan about western fundas but for a typical indian culture rooted family this is it. So while do cost cutting but why devoid parents of their milestone ach in life quest or reward if in gaming terms :D
Tell your folks to pitch in for izzat else say you are going to do it your way.
