Gen Z Is Taking India’s Weddings Abroad Like Never Before

The Ambani wedding, held over a few months, across different parts of the world and India, was a spectacle for the world to see. While not all Indian weddings are that grand, they’re big nonetheless. And now, they seem to all be happening abroad.

According to brokerage Jefferies, India’s $130 billion wedding industry would be the second-largest retail category after food and groceries, if it were a category.

While the pandemic was a bit of a dampener for the industry, it has grown at a steady rate of 7-8% annually since, according to a report published by WedMeGood this year. And as times change, so do preferences.

Indians not only want all to go all out for their weddings, but a recent survey shows that destination weddings are becoming even more popular than ever before, especially with Gen Z.

Skyscanner’s recent report titled Destination ‘I Do’, through a OnePoll survey with 2,000 respondents, revealed that Indians have a strong preference for destination weddings, with 85% of respondents planning or having had a destination wedding. Of these, 49 % were Gen Z, and 33% were millennials.

Several factors have led to this — the wedding guest lists are getting shorter, but budgets are not. Also, people in intercultural marriages are looking for a middle ground for their families to meet.

Shift In Decision Making

Bengaluru-based Karuna Reddy, founder and creative director of The Mogra Collective, is hardly surprised at these statistics. Earlier this year, Reddy constituted a new business identity to cater specifically to this growing segment, called Host Stories. Of the only 11 weddings Reddy plans each year, 40% are international destination weddings. The number has been growing each year.

Chinmai Jain Kedia, founder of Mumbai-based The Wedding Ties, has also noticed this trend. Kedia would get an average of two inquiries out of 50 for destination weddings. This year, the inquiries have gone up to 10%. Of Kedia’s clientele, nearly 80% want to get married outside of India.

The upward tick in destination weddings, planners believe, is rooted in the marked shift in decision-making. Couples, not families are taking the lead. “And they don’t want to stand on a stage with 1,000 people watching,” Prerika Puri, the founder of To The Aisle, a wedding planning company, told The Core.

As per a survey by WeddingWire, destination weddings are witnessing an annual growth of 13% in India.

Reddy believes this trend is especially common in intercultural weddings. “The couple is sensitive to the needs of both sides and in search of a middle ground.”. The WedMeGood report notes the change in decision making citing that in 56% of cases, the bride took the lead.

This has also brought about a change in the average wedding guest size. Most wedding planners The Core spoke to place the number of guests at destination weddings between 200 and 300. “People want an experience or a holiday so the families can have a good time. They want to limit the number of guests,” Reddy said.

Despite the reduced guest list, there has been no noticeable decrease in wedding expenditure. “The amount they would spend on six guests is now being spent on two,” Reddy says. Puri tells us it is a chicken-and-egg situation. “They have become more intimate and this allows them to become destination weddings,” she says. “Besides, you end up spending the same amount. In Bali, you may have fewer guests if the budget is between Rs 80 lakh and Rs 1 crore. In Mumbai for example, you may end up calling more guests,” she adds.

She believes that it all began with cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma’s dreamy Tuscany wedding. They sparked off the trend of luxury intimate weddings that are design-forward and high on customisation.

Seeking The Off-Beat

The Skyscanner survey found that Asian countries continued to top the charts as options for destination weddings for India. Forty-eight percent of respondents were drawn to Thailand, Japan and the Maldives. European countries were preferred by 31% of the respondents.

Within the country, the sunshine state of Goa is still the most chosen wedding destination. Rajasthan, Dehradun, and Kodaikanal are some of the other names that come up.

Among international destinations, Indians opt for Dubai, Bali, and Bangkok.

“Vietnam, among international destinations, is picking up. Bahrain has been on the list for some time. Koh Yao Yai, an island off Phuket’s coast, has been in demand with a new property that can host weddings,” said Puri. People are now looking for newer destinations and social media reels inundated with travels in Vietnam may have something to do with this sudden obsession with the country, Puri added.

Kedia is getting inquiries for weddings in Bali, and Reddy has seen Portugal and Oman emerge as new destinations for Indian weddings. “Italy is also booming thanks to Bollywood. It's close on the heels of Thailand. Sri Lanka has also been popular,” says Reddy. Countries with visa-on-arrival or easy visa processing are preferred, the planners confirm.

Wed in India

In November last year, on a broadcast of Mann Ki Baat Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urged Indians to marry in India, as a means to boost the economy. The call was reiterated in January this year also urging those overseas to choose India as a wedding destination. In response, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), conducted a survey estimating 42 lakh weddings and an influx of Rs 5.5 lakh crores in the first half of 2024.

Within the country, hosts are looking for new destinations and unique experiences. Off-beat locations like Rishikesh and Manali are becoming popular. “Every couple wants to do something different. We recently hosted a wedding in the Gir Forest in Gujarat,” Puri tells The Core. “We are getting inquiries for weddings in the Andamans,” she added.

Puri believes that the need for novel experiences overrides that of overseas destinations. “As more resorts and hotel properties open, more weddings will take place in India,” she said.

On the ground, the majority of wedding planners The Core contacted, have seen no tangible benefits as business owners or for their clients. “We only heard of actor Rakul Preet and actor-producer Jacky Bhagnani, moving their wedding from an overseas location to Goa following the PM’s announcement,” Kedia says.

Abhisha, the founder of Chennai-based Tinsel Diaries, who recently hosted a wedding in Dehradun said, “One of the PM’s suggestions was hosting weddings in Uttarakhand. The demand there does seem to be growing”.