While weddings can be costly in any region, they are especially important in India as symbols of strength and prestige. For many cultures, especially India, marriages are more than simply a union of two persons. A wedding marks the coming together between two families, lineages, and at times, bigger groups like whole villages or communities. Marriages are a significant rite (of) passage that signifies a person and their family's status.
To push one's financial limits at a wedding can, of course, be seen as an attempt to achieve a higher social status and respect within the wider community.
Matrimonial business appears to be recession-proof and is estimated to be worth $40 billion per year, growing at around 20% per year. Indians see it as an indicator of social status, so don't spare any expense.
Complex rituals
Irrespective of the social status of a couple, Indian weddings are mostly distributed over a few days. That's India's holy pride that gives rise to elaborate arrangements; these lavish and big Indian marriages are seldom a one-day affair. Many marriages extend from a few days to a ten-day case. This is partly due to the different customs involved. While from last year celebrity marriages made headlines about their extravagance, they were all steeped in the Hindu tradition.
Hindu marriages account for around 80 percent of Indian marriage ceremonies, with Sikh, Muslim, and Christian wedding ceremonies accounting for much of the rest. While there are regional variations, many elaborate rituals have become common to almost all Hindu weddings across the country. As the wedding season starts, businesses that rely on the wedding market reap the benefits of increasing spending.
With India's economies booming, Indians are now investing their money on lavish weddings like never before.The timing of the celebrations also reflects national trends: the winter wedding season, which usually runs from November to February, is considered an auspicious period in the Hindu calendar. Couples often turn to the stars and their zodiac signs, to choose a date that will ensure a long and happy marriage.
Marriage is an important measure of social status and prosperity in India. As a result of the rise in the number of big fat weddings, categories such as catering, design, wedding planning, shoes, fashion, make-up have undergone a huge boom.
Widely cited figures that the wedding industry in India is worth US$ 40 billion per year and is rising at about 20% per year. Experts claim the weddings cost industrialists up to 200 m of rupees. On avg, a person in India spends one-fifth of his wealth on marriage functions. The growth of the wedding industry is fuelled by the rising middle class and the youth population. The number of millionaires and billionaires in India is also growing rapidly.
In the meantime, India's wedding market alone is set to reach 1, 6 trillion ropes by 2020. It defines the wedding sector as a "recession-proof industry. There has been a sharp spike in the number of wedding planners who bill 10 to 15 percent of the wedding budget as their consultancy fees.
