Want to build your career as a wedding planner
Indian Weddings have always been an amalgamation of tradition, rituals, ceremonies, celebration and of course a lot of planning. However, with changing times the definition of Indian weddings has slightly been altered. Though the essence is still very much intact but the simple and homely Indian weddings have transformed into humongous ‘Big Fat Indian Weddings.
This transformation into the Big Fat Indian Wedding has brought about a major change. Weddings no longer remain a closely-knit home-affair. The role of uncles and cousins running wedding errands right from the regular tailor stitching of the wedding lehenga, the ‘mithai-wale’ making the sweets and the mums and aunts doing the makeup, just about everything has undergone a major change.
The face of Indian weddings has undergone a drastic change where it has transformed into the mammoth business. Everything is now taken care by the Wedding Planners. There is the dedicated professional team to look into all the tiny to high fi affair right from dress designer to the decorator, the wedding photographer to the caterer, from the travel agent to the makeup artist, there are far too many small industries which contribute to the major part of the Wedding Industry!
When we consider the common trends, it is estimated that by 2020, India will be the youngest country in terms of its youth population. By the end of the decade, the median age of an Indian would be 27-29 years. This age group also falls in the category of being the ‘right age’ for getting married. So, this demographic dividend brings a complete win-win situation for the booming Wedding industry.
The band-Baja-baraat extravaganza is nothing short of a hub of good business opportunity for not just the Wedding Planners but various other businesses attached to the industry. With an estimate of about 50 billion dollars, the Indian wedding Industry is second next to the United States, that tops the list being worth 70 billion dollars. It has also been cited that the worth of the Indian market of weddings is around 15 billion dollars in the year 2015, and there are the whopping increases of 25-30%. With such large numbers on field and a promising business opportunity, it comes with no surprise that many foreign companies wish to invest in the Indian Wedding Industry too.
The rising economic crunch comes as good news to the booming wedding planning industry, weddings has always been in the picture be it any circumstance prevailing in our nation. In India, about 10-12 million weddings take place every year. An average Indian spends almost one-fifth of his life’s savings on a wedding which is generally in the range of 5 lakhs to 5 crores. When that high number of moneys is employed, the fear of recession seems to be minimal. And with dynamic times, the seasonality attached to weddings is also coming down, as most young couples wish to get married when it suits them rather than when it suits the stars!
Wedding business facilitates the smooth entry of startups. This recession-free aspect of the wedding industry has lured many start-ups to step up. Wedding industry have something for everyone. Just about anyone can start with anything in the wedding industry. From a makeup artist to a hair stylist, from a dress designer to a jewelry designer, from a caterer to a florist, there is always that “something” you can always contribute in one way or the other. Almost everyone wishes to have a remarkable wedding which is memorable and different in its own way, there is an increasing scope for creativity and newness in the flourishing wedding industry.
Seeing the rising scope and the easy finance option. It has undoubtedly marking a passionate impression as the prospective options for many, as of now there aren’t many legal formalities that are required to be fulfilled by a wedding planner as the wedding industry is still on its initial stage. It is undoubtedly the well-paying job too, it depends on the wedding planner if he wishes to have a fixed fee or charges a commission on the basis of the budget of the wedding. Many event planners and managers are now focusing more attention on planning weddings only.
Wedding are the memorable event and everyone thrives to make it a fun event for everyone There is in a demand of special and unique weddings. With almost every one striving to make the wedding like “never before “- kind of a wedding, the trend seems to be staying for every ling time. Weddings include lot of things right from Pre-wedding shoots, honeymoon destinations, bachelor trips, theme weddings which needs to be taken care off. Wedding planners are constantly told to brainstorm to come up with something new and afresh every time.
The flourishing trend of the “Destination Weddings” is making the business of wedding planning more interesting and flourishing thereby opening plethora of opportunities for people to step up and pursue it as career. The recent Virat Kohli- Anushka Sharma wedding was nothing less than the dream wedding by many young couples to be. Weddings are no longer a stressful event that a family has to organize, rather it is becoming more of a holiday not just for the soon-to-be-married couple, but the families and friends too. People choose the wedding dates on long weekends so that they all can get together and make it an opportunity for a family reunion. Depending on one’s budget the destination is chosen and all the ceremonies are planned there accordingly.
Indian wedding looks the most colorful which become the attractive destination for foreigners wishing to have a desi touch in their weddings. Not only Indians are going to foreign countries for a destination wedding, but many foreigners are also choosing India to be their wedding destination. Goa with its beaches and Rajasthan for its royal palaces, are considered to be the best spots. Many wedding planners collaborate with five-star hotels and organize such weddings. The rituals and traditions practiced by the Indians are found to be very appealing to the foreigners who therefore plan to do the same.
Indian Weddings are a resplendent affair. Be it a grand-destination wedding or a humble wedding organized in the Society Park, each wedding holds a special importance. The opulence and merriment attached to a wedding are spreading their wings wide and seem to be showering prosperity all around the Indian Wedding Industry.
Wedding business facilitates the smooth entry of startups. This recession-free aspect of the wedding industry has lured many start-ups to step up. Wedding industry have something for everyone. Just about anyone can start with anything in the wedding industry. From a makeup artist to a hair stylist, from a dress designer to a jewelry designer, from a caterer to a florist, there is always that “something” you can always contribute in one way or the other. Almost everyone wishes to have a remarkable wedding which is memorable and different in its own way, there is an increasing scope for creativity and newness in the flourishing wedding industry.
Seeing the rising scope and the easy finance option. It has undoubtedly marking a passionate impression as the prospective options for many, as of now there aren’t many legal formalities that are required to be fulfilled by a wedding planner as the wedding industry is still on its initial stage. It is undoubtedly the well-paying job too, it depends on the wedding planner if he wishes to have a fixed fee or charges a commission on the basis of the budget of the wedding. Many event planners and managers are now focusing more attention on planning weddings only.
Wedding are the memorable event and everyone thrives to make it a fun event for everyone There is in a demand of special and unique weddings. With almost every one striving to make the wedding like “never before “- kind of a wedding, the trend seems to be staying for every ling time. Weddings include lot of things right from Pre-wedding shoots, honeymoon destinations, bachelor trips, theme weddings which needs to be taken care off. Wedding planners are constantly told to brainstorm to come up with something new and afresh every time.
The flourishing trend of the “Destination Weddings” is making the business of wedding planning more interesting and flourishing thereby opening plethora of opportunities for people to step up and pursue it as career. The recent Virat Kohli- Anushka Sharma wedding was nothing less than the dream wedding by many young couples to be. Weddings are no longer a stressful event that a family has to organize, rather it is becoming more of a holiday not just for the soon-to-be-married couple, but the families and friends too. People choose the wedding dates on long weekends so that they all can get together and make it an opportunity for a family reunion. Depending on one’s budget the destination is chosen and all the ceremonies are planned there accordingly.
Indian wedding looks the most colorful which become the attractive destination for foreigners wishing to have a desi touch in their weddings. Not only Indians are going to foreign countries for a destination wedding, but many foreigners are also choosing India to be their wedding destination. Goa with its beaches and Rajasthan for its royal palaces, are considered to be the best spots. Many wedding planners collaborate with five-star hotels and organize such weddings. The rituals and traditions practiced by the Indians are found to be very appealing to the foreigners who therefore plan to do the same.
Indian Weddings are a resplendent affair. Be it a grand-destination wedding or a humble wedding organized in the Society Park, each wedding holds a special importance. The opulence and merriment attached to a wedding are spreading their wings wide and seem to be showering prosperity all around the Indian Wedding Industry. 
Once you have gained the required theoretical exposure, it’s time to jump into the practical world. Gaining first-hand experience as a wedding planner helps you to understand the ins and outs of the humongous wedding industry.
Getting yourself an internship or volunteering will help you in your career to becoming a wedding planner, as this will give you the chance to network with other industry professionals. The benefits of internships are that you work with established planners – which paves your way to secure a full-time job with them!
Marketing your services is very crucial if you want to excel in the industry of wedding planning, and is crucial to get your business off the ground. Word of mouth will help you to embark on this new career path quickly! Apart from that, social media can definitely be of huge help in reaching out to the possible clients.
It’s advisable to not rush into with an overflowing wedding calendar! Take your own time to pace up. When you will start as a planner, you’ll still be a naïve student where all the experiences will be a helping teacher. Take projects one at a time but execute the same with utmost perfection.
Being a wedding planner, you deliberately need to be able to cope up in stressful situations. If you’re able to handle the stress, part of the battle is already won. You will also need exceptional communication skills – both written and verbal – to be perfect on the job. You must be an “extroverted EXTROVERT” to become a successful wedding planner. You need to convey your ideas to complete strangers with utmost clarity.
Every wedding is like another small show which needs perfect timing and management of every aspect right from budgets and vendors to contracts and subcontracts. Develop a penchant to think “outside the box”. Do things differently and stand out from the crowd if you want to be recognized as a great wedding planning professional!
In the industry of wedding planning, experience is the golden key. Customer loyalty will go a major way in a business segment like wedding planning as thriving in this industry heavily depends on word-of-mouth. This will help you to earn excellent references.
If you really wish to dive into the career of wedding planner, there are zillions of opportunities waiting for you. You need to be proactive in finding opportunities and take an initiative to go out and grab them.
Last bit of advice
Learn everything that you see around and especially from mistakes made by others, and then move on to learning something fresh with a new sense of commitment. Your BEST chance to break into the wedding planning arena is to completely “WOW” everyone at your first wedding with your skills. 
For many, the budget is no longer the issue as most of the iconic Indian wedding opportunities for wedding planners aren’t just about “something old”. There’s always “something new” waiting to be explored around the corner. Today, majority of Indians getting married are millennials, who aren’t very comfortable with Grandma’s age-old ideas for their weddings but are more than happy to embrace new ideas and pave way for the sensational wedding with all the “dhoom dhadaka”.
Previously, wedding planning was very much a part of event planning. The event planners were the jack of all trades managing events like birthday parties, corporate events, concerts, etc. and could even lead planning a wedding as they all seem to have so much in common i.e. venues, guest, food, hotel booking, etc. But now weddings requirements are more detailed and client specific taste, style and theme. In a broader sense, the wedding planners are also categorized as Event Planners, but technically wedding planners have expertise and knowledge when it comes to specific details of a wedding.
Today, it is elementary to pursue individual career in wedding planning. The wedding industry is built on the backs of various segmented small, local entrepreneurs. “The Indian culture lends itself to be inclusive and supportive in many ways.” Word of mouth and referrals are the augmented tools to grow their businesses. It is imperative for wedding planners to understand the trends of wedding.
The growing fraternity of wedding planners are stealing the thunder from old and trusted marriage markets, vigorously expanding right from the florist to the caterer, from tourism to entertainment, from beauty salons to fashion designers, everyone is basking in the glory to become the part of the wedding industry. Even online matrimonial portals like shaadi.com are racking up huge revenues, and this website is somewhat confident that the wedding industry is trending.
According to Indian industry experts, the wedding industry revenue pegged at $40 billion last year, with an average 10 million weddings taking place annually in various parts of the country. The market is exponentially trending at the rate of 25% yearly. The estimated cost of a wedding in India starts from Rs. 5 lakhs to Rs. 5 crores, which includes both traditional as well as destination weddings. Experts states that with the increasing income in India, the wedding market in the country is expected to double in the next 15 years. The fact and figures points towards one thing: that Indian weddings industry is bound to prosper.
Various Indian startups platforms are growing exponentially such as WedMeGood, ShaadiSaga, and BollywoodShaadis, offering end-to-end wedding services. The shifting of core event planning to individual wedding planning is increasing as clients seek perfection in every moment on their wedding day. The wedding organizing platforms are also rising as there is an increase in the scope of plush affairs. For instance, last September, Gurgaon-based WedMeGood raised Rs 2.7 crore in its seed funding round led by Hemant Kanakia and Alok Mittal of Indian Angel Network (IAN). This shows the increasing market value of the elegant affair called “Weddings”.
The subsequent paradigm shift from event management to wedding planning is enormous and for this cause, there is much more to planning a wedding. The living genies, called as wedding planners, specialize in planning everything from tip to toe, from possessing the little black book filled with credible professionals to managing the wedding party and various family member roles they slid into all the parts.
Be it the Wedding Planner or the couple-to-be-married, the future in this industry looks to be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders and clients. Not ignoring the growing number of the elite and the higher income sections of the society, continue to spurge into bigger, glitterier and glamourous Indian weddings. Yes, so true, the wedding planning industry is undoubtedly continuing to glow the brightest, with all the lights and sounds to the tunes of this amazing era of wedding. 
The low-scale and straightforward weddings have given way to dominant themes and destination weddings. Couples are far more aware and know exactly what they what and how they want it. Many young people who wish to have a lavish wedding don’t need to depend on their parents and have saved enough to have a marriage of their dreams.
And it is not that this change has affected only the wealthy and high society people. This shift has been evident when it comes to middle and upper-middle-class families as well. Today when there is so much exposure, the young boys and girls start having ideas about their wedding theme. Celebrity weddings are also a significant influence and more and more youngsters wish to replicate that in their lives. Weddings and receptions of the likes of Anushka and Virat in Tuscany, Italy is very similar to the fairy tale where you can’t stop yourself to fall in love with destination and couple outfits throughout the wedding.
More and more people now believe that if you have the right wedding planner by your side, you can have a smooth way of executing the entire plan. That in turns gives you the opportunity to spend that time with your friends and family. Rather than making plans, you can create memories for a lifetime.
Once the wedding planner takes charge, you can leave all there worries and tensions to them. The individual needs to be clear about what he/she wants and how they want it, and a good wedding planner will be able to deliver just that.
Many a times family members plan everything that is to happen at the wedding, but putting it all into action is not that easy.
A seasoned wedding planner would be able to make a complete plan for you depending on your requirement and budget. He is an expert at handling all wedding complexities and can offer you the best advice on the trickiest of situations.
This steady change in the attitude of people and acceptance of Wedding Planners in the society has been instrumental in causing a humungous growth of the wedding planning industry. This, in turn, has also affected numerous other sectors. A lot of people and companies are venturing into the Wedding industry as the prospects seem very bright and inviting. There are various subparts of organising weddings which together combine into one big-fat-Indian-wedding.
With so much money invested in the wedding, the level and grandeur of a marriage has also grown tremendously. This trend is bound to grow in coming years and the Wedding Planning industry is on a growth trajectory giving fantastic opportunities for all folks who are joining this industry at this stage.