Ok so this isn’t one of those blog scams where the headline is too tempting to be true. We did in fact have a sort of a “destination wedding” in 400k Rupees or 5000 Dollars and that too in peak Indian wedding season. You’re probably wondering “How the hell did that happen?” Well, there’s a bit of frugal planning involved and you will need to spend quite a bit of time and effort on this. Open that excel app and start jotting down any potential expenses right from the beginning. For example, the below table shows a brief overview of our expense breakdown:
| Accommodation (3 days & 2 nights) | INR 100k |
| Transport (2 days) | INR 50k |
| Food (2 days Breakfast Lunch Dinner) | INR 150k |
| Set up & Decorations | INR 50k |
| Miscellaneous (Photographer, Pandit, Bridal Make up etc) | INR 50k |
Figure out the destination
Okay so the first step is figure out where you want to be married. Forget the cliched banquet halls or fancy hotels or exotic beach resorts. That’s not happening with a shoestring budget of 4 lakh Rupees. What you need is a place which is “off the trail”. Think a bit outside the box. Maybe a remote beach resort between Mumbai & Goa. Maybe a mountainside hotel in Himachal Pradesh. Or even a village side resort of Punjab. You get the basic idea. We went for an ashram situated between Haridwar & Rishikesh. The views overlooking the Ganga river and the Himalayan foothills were breathtaking.
Accommodation
Once you have the place decided, look up places online or on google maps and start making calls. Places like these won’t have a website or an email id to get in touch with and make bookings online. Figure out which place can accommodate 50 wedding guests for a couple of nights. Some places might have a great location but won’t have easy accessibility. Try and find some middle ground. Somewhere not too fancy but one that has a decent bus/train/local taxi connectivity.
You’ll need to set aside Rs. 1 lakh for accommodation for a couple of nights.
Transport
Most of you and your guests will arrive by bus/train/cab unless they are driving down to the wedding location. Get in touch with the local taxi or mini bus operators. Book them in advance for those two days on a flat fee basis as they will be bringing them in or dropping them off throughout the day. You’ll need to set aside Rs. 50 thousand for this.
Food
I know most weddings are extravagant especially in north india and things like alcohol, fancy dishes and desserts are almost always the norm. But hey we’re on a budget here and this is a no frills destination wedding. So let’s chuck out alcohol and the other fancy stuff. Contact a local caterer or a restaurant which can setup a stall at your location or provide packed breakfasts/lunches/dinners for 50 people. We had managed to get a local food business to setup a stall at our wedding location. We gave them a small set vegetarian menu to work with and they cooked & prepared fresh food right there so we didn’t have to worry much about quality in general.
You’ll need to set aside Rs. 1 lakh for food.
Set up & Decorations
This is something where you could cut down quite a lot if you have the wedding during the day time. You won’t need things like a backup generator, floodlights etc. We went for a simple mandap and a few flowery decorations, garlands etc. Nothing too fancy.
You’ll need to set aside Rs. 50 thousand for this.
Miscellaneous
This is where personal choice and taste comes in. If you’d like a good quality photographer especially who’s available to shoot your wedding, you’ll need to stretch out your pockets. On the other hand, if you’re not too fussy about it then contact a local photo studio. We managed to arrange one for Rs 10,000. He wasn’t exactly a Steve McCurry but then again all of that comes down to your budget.
The local pandit ji, dhol waala & bridal makeup staff cost us about Rs 40,000. We had rented out most of our bride & groom wedding clothes. This article gives you a list of such websites.
All of this added up to Rs. 4 lakh. I know a lot of it sounds made up but we actually did this. Most of our money went to the ashram we stayed in, local small businesses and we were even able to donate some amount to nearby orphanages & charities. Just remember, you don’t have to go through the tiresome expensive ordeal of a conventional Indian wedding where you spend all night covered in makeup & heavy jewellery, hungry because you can’t eat much with all the guests greeting you on the stage, fake smiling in front of the camera getting pictures taken with people you don’t know and probably will never see again for years and by the time you’re actually down to getting married, you cannot wait for this never-ending nightmare to be over.
This day is supposed to be about the two people who are getting married. Make sure you let loose and enjoy that day as much as possible with your loved ones who really matter.
PS – All credit goes to my dad Ashwani & his brother Vinod who carried out most of the planning & on the ground arrangements. If any of you plan to get married in future, feel free to get in touch and we can help you out in any way possible 🙂
Indian Shamrocks ☘️ 