The big, fat, Indian wedding is the stuff of dreams.
For Krishma Sood Bhojwani, this meant hosting a four-day-long celebration at the JW Marriott in Phuket, Thailand. The wedding featured cheese wheels imported from Italy, Iberico ham sourced directly from Spain, and a photography team from Mumbai. Chefs were flown in from India and Japan, with cooks preparing fresh food across 24 dining stations.
The wedding consisted of eight events spread across four days, all set against the backdrop of the oceanfront resort where lush jungle meets the province's coastline. The 120 guests, who flew in from around the world and wore black-tie attire and intricately embroidered lehengas, were treated to cocktail dinners by the beach and ballroom parties.
Bhojwani had arranged for a floating altar and wore traditional outfits that were made by luxury designers like Sabyasachi, whose designs can go for $30,000 a piece.
As for the cost? Around $400,000 for the wedding events alone, Bhojwani estimates — and that doesn't account for the couple's jewelry and outfits.
"I did have a strict budget — money doesn't grow on a tree. We were sharp on cost and didn't spend a dollar over what I said we would," Bhojwani, who's from Australia, told Insider.
In India, the wedding industry is worth a whopping $50 billion, and it's not uncommon for wealthy families to spend astronomical amounts of money on weddings. In 2018, billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani spent a reported $100 million on his daughter's wedding, with guests like Beyonce, Shah Rukh Khan, and Hillary Clinton in attendance.
But even for the just ordinarily wealthy, weddings can ring up serious price tags: Indian families are known to spend as much as $800,000 on destination weddings at five-star hotels and resorts across Southeast Asia. Traditionally, the bride's family would bear the wedding costs, but that's now considered an outdated practice — many families, including Bhojwani and her husband's, choose to share the expenses. As Bhojwani put it, Indian couples typically have a "huge amount of parental support" in financing the costs of their wedding.
Read More at https://www.insider.com/indian-weddings-southeast-asian-resorts-competing-big-business-2022-9