The wedding is planned like a bespoke experience centred around the bride and groom’s personalities. “These couples are global citizens, and that reflects in the celebrations,” she says. Vedika Mohan, creative director of The Wedding Design Company adds that Indian couples are more inspired by international weddings now. “We worked on a recent wedding in Cannes where even the mayor and city council supported us through the entire planning process.” The vibe There is recognition for the amount of business we bring to the host city-employing local vendors, hotels, kitchen and production companies while spending money at their establishments,” says Devanshi Patel, founder of Shreem Events. “Indian weddings are now being given the same importance as Lebanese weddings. The scaleĭestination Indian weddings in Europe are not a new phenomenon, so what has changed this time? A move from the clichéd Bollywood-style wedding to a refined celebration at par with the highest international standard, leaving no stone unturned in its scale or sophistication-be it renting 100 gondolas to ferry wedding guests in Venice, privatising a piazza in Menaggio for a sit-down dinner or orchestrating fireworks that the entire town comes out to watch! “Due to scarcity of appointments for Schengen visas, host families are now also involved in assisting guests with visas where they can,” adds Udeshi. RSVPs pour in until the final week.” Aligning this with bookings is a tall order. “We send out invites only two-three months prior, while other cultures do it a year in advance. Kanan Udeshi, founder of WIP, specialists in luxury hospitality management for weddings, admits that a key challenge is that Indian weddings are planned a lot later than international weddings. Pulling off this Indian extravaganza on foreign shores is no mean feat.

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