Want to build your career as a wedding planner
Indian weddings are nothing short of a concoction of traditions, ceremonies, music, food and oodles of melodrama. And though the basic structure of Indian weddings has undergone a complete makeover, these basic elements remain intact in almost every Indian wedding.
Almost a decade back, most people could not really afford to spend their money on extravagant weddings and hence, weddings were kept simpler. For most families, weddings were private affairs and only the near and dear ones were invited. The guest list was trimmed further in case the budget was falling short. The last few years, however has witnessed an era of prosperity and awareness, which has led to the emergence of the wedding industry.
With the rapid improvement in the living standards in India, there has been a drastic change in the societal pyramid. The society is no longer divided into various archetypes; mediums such as social media has given rise to intermingling of various cultures. The once famous marigold flowers, also known as “gaindhe ke phool” have been outdone by orchids and lilies; unscripted and on-the-spot dances have been replaced by professionally choreographed dance performances and home-made food has given way to the multi-cuisine layouts that includes Thai, Italian, Japanese etc. More importantly, the responsibilities of cousins and uncles running around making the arrangements for weddings have been transferred to the wedding planner. Instead of the aunts and friends helping in dressing up the bride, it’s make-up artists and stylists who give the bride a complete makeover. Professionally clicked wedding photographs and pre-wedding shoots provide not just a medium for capturing memories but also to serve the ones who couldn’t attend the wedding. Not just that, in a world where occasions are validated by how many likes and comments the event receives on some platform, Facebook and Instagram serve as a means of projecting a family’s social standing. Opulent weddings seem to have become a benchmark for many.
The average person generally spends between 2 to 20 million rupees on a wedding that might be a three or five-day long event. It is also estimated that about 10 million weddings take place in India annually. No doubt the Indian Wedding Industry is now a multi-billion-rupee industry. Expenditure on designer clothes, jewelry, catering, invites, photography and the décor adds up to humongous amounts. It might come as a big surprise, but it is during the wedding season that the amount of gold bought reaches a mammoth 450 tones. Himanshu Kapsime, an Engineer from IIT Delhi, quit his job in the US and started an online wedding portal called shaadisaga.com a few years back. Himanshu says, “This is a recession-proof industry”.
A lavish wedding makes the bride, groom and both families feel like celebrities for a day or two. By treating themselves to an extravagant and splendid party in celebration of their children’s wedding, the whole family feels nothing less than a celebrity for a day or throughout the wedding ceremonies. It feels as if the bride and the groom are the stars and the social media is their display channel. What’s all the more a welcome change is that it’s not just the super-rich that can flaunt a big-fancy wedding, the upper-middle-class Indians are not behind in outsourcing the wedding.
The trends of the elite are filtered down to the common public who are deeply inspired by social media, news channels and magazines. The younger generation is definite to not only adopt and adapt but also mirror and modify. Shweta Acharya of Baraati Inc, has handled over 15 weddings which include 4 destination weddings, one of which was organized in Florence. She says, “A planner makes a wedding come alive. He or she is the chef of a wedding. We have to make sure that the fairytale wedding is delivered with flair so that the client is stress-free”. In most Indian families, saving for the wedding starts very early in life. Now, it’s not just the parents who spend at the wedding, the boy and girl to-be-married can finance a big part of their own wedding too. This extra money makes spending easier and the standard of wedding rises higher and higher.
Youth of today also like to be personally involved in their weddings, not in the working but the planning. As they may not have much of an idea about the ceremonies, the rituals and about pooling the resources together but they do like to add their personal touch in every aspect of the wedding. From the invitation cards to the gift for the guests, from the decor to the menu, they want everything to be in line with their own taste.
What Shweta has pointed out is another big reason for the paradigm shift from the traditional Indian wedding to planned weddings, many people consider organizing a wedding to be quite hectic business. The couple as well as the immediate family have to be involved in the planning while it is only the guests that get to enjoy. The whole event becomes an obligation to keep others entertained. The present generation views the wedding as a holiday and a means to get together with friends and family and make some happy memories. And they do not mind adding 10-20% more to their budget if they can get the peaceful and hassle-free services from the wedding planner. This is a big reason why wedding planners are so much in demand.
Destination Weddings are the newest trend that seems to be staying on for long. With many celebrities going to exotic locations for their wedding, the young couples to-be-married-soon have a new wish-list. More and more couples wish to have a personal and meaningful ceremony in a far-off location, where they can spend some quality with their friends and family.
The younger generation often finds the wedding ceremonies to be replete with tradition. Most of them want high-tech weddings but with a dash of tradition. Weddings still are a once-in-a-lifetime affair, and nobody wants anything to go wrong. That’s the season of hiring specialized services like the photographers, decorators, videographers, stylists, designers and caterers. Though it is still the head of the family who is the ‘chief-organizer’, but then what’s the fun not having some highly charged emotional drama at a wedding. It is these high-pressure moments that make a great laugh years later. After all, it’s all about having a good time!
The average person generally spends between 2 to 20 million rupees on a wedding that might be a three or five-day long event. It is also estimated that about 10 million weddings take place in India annually. No doubt the Indian Wedding Industry is now a multi-billion-rupee industry. Expenditure on designer clothes, jewelry, catering, invites, photography and the décor adds up to humongous amounts. It might come as a big surprise, but it is during the wedding season that the amount of gold bought reaches a mammoth 450 tones. Himanshu Kapsime, an Engineer from IIT Delhi, quit his job in the US and started an online wedding portal called shaadisaga.com a few years back. Himanshu says, “This is a recession-proof industry”.
A lavish wedding makes the bride, groom and both families feel like celebrities for a day or two. By treating themselves to an extravagant and splendid party in celebration of their children’s wedding, the whole family feels nothing less than a celebrity for a day or throughout the wedding ceremonies. It feels as if the bride and the groom are the stars and the social media is their display channel. What’s all the more a welcome change is that it’s not just the super-rich that can flaunt a big-fancy wedding, the upper-middle-class Indians are not behind in outsourcing the wedding.
The trends of the elite are filtered down to the common public who are deeply inspired by social media, news channels and magazines. The younger generation is definite to not only adopt and adapt but also mirror and modify. Shweta Acharya of Baraati Inc, has handled over 15 weddings which include 4 destination weddings, one of which was organized in Florence. She says, “A planner makes a wedding come alive. He or she is the chef of a wedding. We have to make sure that the fairytale wedding is delivered with flair so that the client is stress-free”. In most Indian families, saving for the wedding starts very early in life. Now, it’s not just the parents who spend at the wedding, the boy and girl to-be-married can finance a big part of their own wedding too. This extra money makes spending easier and the standard of wedding rises higher and higher.
Youth of today also like to be personally involved in their weddings, not in the working but the planning. As they may not have much of an idea about the ceremonies, the rituals and about pooling the resources together but they do like to add their personal touch in every aspect of the wedding. From the invitation cards to the gift for the guests, from the decor to the menu, they want everything to be in line with their own taste.
What Shweta has pointed out is another big reason for the paradigm shift from the traditional Indian wedding to planned weddings, many people consider organizing a wedding to be quite hectic business. The couple as well as the immediate family have to be involved in the planning while it is only the guests that get to enjoy. The whole event becomes an obligation to keep others entertained. The present generation views the wedding as a holiday and a means to get together with friends and family and make some happy memories. And they do not mind adding 10-20% more to their budget if they can get the peaceful and hassle-free services from the wedding planner. This is a big reason why wedding planners are so much in demand.
Destination Weddings are the newest trend that seems to be staying on for long. With many celebrities going to exotic locations for their wedding, the young couples to-be-married-soon have a new wish-list. More and more couples wish to have a personal and meaningful ceremony in a far-off location, where they can spend some quality with their friends and family.
The younger generation often finds the wedding ceremonies to be replete with tradition. Most of them want high-tech weddings but with a dash of tradition. Weddings still are a once-in-a-lifetime affair, and nobody wants anything to go wrong. That’s the season of hiring specialized services like the photographers, decorators, videographers, stylists, designers and caterers. Though it is still the head of the family who is the ‘chief-organizer’, but then what’s the fun not having some highly charged emotional drama at a wedding. It is these high-pressure moments that make a great laugh years later. After all, it’s all about having a good time! 
The chances of thriving in the wedding industry are very bright. You just need to be aware and analyze the trends and shifts in the wedding business. It has so many sub-divisions and department, and an expert wedding planner has to be a master in all. From the initial chalking out of the wedding plan with his client’s approval to planning the invites and gifts, the designing and the decor, management of destination wedding, hospitality, entertainment, photography etc. This is where your formal education helps you understand the technicalities of this industry. When the students attend sessions and workshops that educate them about the ways of the wedding industry, they also get hands-on experience of many such events.
If you have the educational background in wedding planning, it also helps you learn and master the tricks of the trade. Studying and learning about the wedding planning industry is one part of the formal education that a student receives, what is equally important is the actual training that he receives. It is the internship that the student undergoes which gives him a true picture of how exactly a wedding planner works. The practical training that the students receive helps them to get a better understanding of how things work in the wedding industry.
Most institutes offer an internship to their students. This is the best way to put your newfound skills to test. No matter how much you learn sitting in the classroom, it can never actually measure up to what you learn through your practical experiences. It is during the internship period that many of the students realize how difficult it can be to work under contest pressure of deadlines. The internship period will be a great learning for you and will give you many life-long lessons to remember. The result of your internship will also play a key role in your placement.
With the rise and rise of the wedding industry in India, many startups and event management companies are also trying their luck here. With creativity and new ideas being constantly in demand, the need for more and more young and dynamic wedding planners is on an all-time high. People today are becoming aware of the various options that they have, and it is not just the rich and famous who hire wedding planners. The middle-class families take up a reasonable share of the wedding planner’s schedule. Therefore, there is a rising demand for wedding planners who can organize weddings from a small and humble level to the grandest levels of all.
Thanks to this mammoth growth in the scale of the wedding industry in India, wedding too has become a big business and there is absolutely no doubt that a career in the wedding planning is rather hot and rewarding! According to the data submitted by the Association Of Bridal Consultants, the hiring of wedding planners has seen a gigantic rise from 7% in 2013 to 18% in 2017. With more than 2.5 million wedding a year, there is enough scope for young and talented Wedding Planners to explore the highest reaches in this business. If you too are an aspiring wedding planner, enrol yourself in a reputed Wedding Planning Institute and get geared up to Ace the world! 
The importunacy of a dramatic decor never goes out of trend! Which has become the key highlight of all the wedding ceremonies? The setting needs to be proper right from staging, lighting, flowers, chairs, and tables, to the centerpieces and curtains. The details can get intricate, but the outcome is worth it. Many Bollywood celebrities hire wedding designers to give their venue a complete makeover that suits the swaggy weddings.
Weddings are not only about the perfect locations. For the bride to be, there’s nothing more important than the wedding trousseau, which also includes the wedding dress. Picking one or at times more than one trousseau designer can make all the difference. For example, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja wore outfits from three designers in her wedding ceremonies – Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla, Anuradha Vakil, and Anamika Khanna.
Your jewelry should be unique and one of its kind. When it comes to jewelry what you wear is as important as how you wear it. Its the job of the jewelry designer to guide you to pick the best piece of jewelry that goes perfectly with an outfit. Depending on your style, your comfort level and of course your outfits, the designer can create heavy, light, indo-western, ethnic, contemporary jewelry items whatever suits your body type.
Finding the right wedding planner is as important as finding the right partner as the weddings are getting way more creative and demanding. Food, as they say, is the way to the happy stomach is undoubted can never be avoided. There is no such thing as ‘ordinary’ at a Celebrity wedding. Even the most traditional food is supposed to make a style statement. The presentation of the food that is to be laid out is at times more important than the ingredients. The ‘menu’ is one of the most time and effort consuming aspect of a wedding. Though traditional dishes are a part of the cuisine, many couples believe in going ‘international’.
Giving the “royal-touch” at a wedding is one of the most important aspects of a celebrity wedding. This is probably the most important way to make your wedding a memorable one, not just for yourself but for everyone who attends it. You need to keep it personal. From your guest list to the decor, from the menu to the venue, it should reflect your taste and style. There isn’t anything wrong if you are taking some ideas or in other words ‘inspiration’ from a celebrity wedding, but remember it is after all “Your Wedding”!
So, go ahead, plan your wedding in the grandest way possible! Even if you are not a huge celebrity, your wedding will surely be the talk of the town, and you never know, you might become as famous as a celebrity! 
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. 
