BAND BAAJA BUSINESS!

When we think of big fat Indian weddings what comes to our minds is the mouth-watering food, jazzy outfits, sparkling diamonds, the pomp and show-off, the band-waalas, the beautifully decorated mandaps and the ever smiling bride! The aunties dancing away to the dhols, the uncles overstuffing themselves with food, the glitzy glamour of the kudis, the kids scurrying around plucking off flowers- it’s an extravagantly overwhelming affair! In spite of the fluctuations in the economic conditions, the increasing disposable income, the recession going on, this is one industry which remains unaffected! People are always ready to spend extravagantly on weddings- it is one time where they don’t think before spending for the best and this is what the retailers take advantage of. The wedding season which kick starts in October is one of the most colorful, expensive and buzzing with activity. Everyone from the phool-walas  to the mithai walas, the shaadi cards to the photography, the lehenga-sherwanis to the dhols, mehendi-walas to the bridal make up, the themes to the planners, the destinations to the décor- it’s all booked months in advance!

Marriages in India thrive primarily on the notion that it is the single high point in an individual’s life and they want to make it special. People are ready to spend a fortune to get married in a unique atmosphere, fulfilling their dreams through it. Every girl dreams about marriage and how they would like it to be- the wedding industry revolves around transforming those dreams to reality. Weddings are no longer a household affair where the relatives troop into the house a month in advance and plan it out in a ceremony, they are now a well planned, organized and publicized affair where everything needs to be  perfect. Wedding planning as a retail jig started off in 2002 gaining appeal and popularity at a later stage around 2006. “BAND BAAJA BARAAT” in 2010 further endorsed the concept of wedding planners planning small budget weddings to destination weddings, organizing star studded affairs to the maholle-ki shaadi, the local mithai- wala to the mehendi -walas-the lighting to the decoration; it covered all aspects with equal precision and dhamaal. E-portals like shaadi.com and jeevansaathi.com are fast developing with prospective brides and grooms registering to find their perfect match.

Today, a lot of avenues have conceptualized in this industry, making it bigger, better and easier to ride on. There are wedding malls which are destination stores for the brides and grooms with designer stores as well as the local designers making it affordable for all classes. Softwares like Shaadi-e-khaas which helps manage RSVPs, guest's travel dates, accounts, hotel reservations, providing directions to the venue, and uploading wedding pictures and videos.  They are commonly used by the wedding planners and retailers who have to manage a lot of weddings at once. Australian based Rio Tinto is eyeing the wedding gifts business in India which is another part of this booming sector. It plans to tap the wedding gifting market of INR 10,000 Crores by opening Nazrana outlets selling diamond jewellery. 

The wedding gifts business is growing from the traditional Haldiram boxes of sweets to luxury chocolates. The demand is high and people like Alka Gupta, a Delhi based confectioner, who specializes in wedding chocolates sells them at INR 900 a kilo in weddings- a fortune spent and a fortune earned! Aunties and grand-moms have this tradition that benarasi sarees, rajasthani mehendi, Mathura pedes, lucknow chikankari, Sabyasachi trousseau, Kanjeevaram sarees and Benarasi paan are a must in all weddings. All this and more is being fulfilled by the new age of wedding planners.  At one Delhi wedding the groom arrived in a top-of-the-range German sports car flown over from Europe specially for the occasion. Lavishness is infectious. High flying couples in Bangalore, India’s booming IT hub in the southern state of Karnataka are abandoning the south's spartan traditional marriages and turning instead to the theatrics of their northern cousins. A typical traditional Bangalore wedding costs around 500,000 INR. A Delhi couple could easily spend this much on flowers alone.

Today, people in lieu of making their weddings special and different from the ones in the past, are ready to spend and innovate. They have their set of fantasies to be converted to realities which range from wild beach weddings to traditional haveli weddings, from hydraulic and revolving stages to LED lighting, star studded weddings to chateau weddings English style, the desi beats to the church violins, weddings in mid air (hot air balloons) to wild forest weddings (Katie Perry married in the Ranthambore National Park.)- All are a reality! The charms of Indian weddings have caught the attention of Hollywood stars like Liz Hurley who celebrated celebrated her wedding in the royal havelis of Rajasthan amidst tradition.

Marriage retailing is fast catching up with the fantasies of young couples and taking the load off the parties who can now concentrate on pretty dresses and stilettos while the organizing is taken over by the marriage retailers striving to make the perfect moments.

BAND, BAAJA, BARAAT is a BIG BOOMING BUSINESS today.