2023 Indian Wedding Trends

Now that Sabyasachi and others have become household names, the style choices for the gorgeous Indian bride have exploded. Indian dresses for men are becoming very chic and the ladies are redefining the word elegant. The average designer lengha can run about $10,000 but you can of course find any option to suit your needs, or design yourself.

Regardless, it's a very exciting time for Indian fashion. Sabyasachi, Manish Malhotra, you name it. As I talked about here if a Sabyasachi is really worth it, if you can EASILY afford it or really want to, heck yes, go for it. If you don't go designer bridal (which are about 75% of us who do big fat Indian weddings), you can EASILY find designers on Instagram for a fraction of the

cost who will give you a much more luxurious outfit with finer fabrics, quicker responses and overall just easier peace of mind. Plus you'll likely be the only one in your circle wearing it! If you know where to look, you will be spoiled for bridal choice!

Bands like Bryden and Parth are making live music at Indian weddings the norm. They pick up the energy, freestyle, let your own singer in the family jump on, and much more. A band can cost much more than a DJ (ahem, I'm a DJ!) but add something different for the first hour or two of your party.

Most bands who are worth it will run you between $10,000 and $30,000, but you're better of spending on them for your Sangeet or Reception rather than another $14,000 on centerpieces that may be overkill.

Vidya Vox made a name for herself mashing up famous western songs with Indian influences. Another cool style has been folks like this guy below, who play Bollywood saxophone on top of the backing music live for your guests. It's very cool and sets a fun tone for the evening. And it doesn't break the bank (as of this writing).

Imagine the doors opening to your reception and a wireless saxophone is mic'd up playing really nice Bollywood numbers. CLASSY! This guy is Thailand based but would charge between $1500 and $3000 USD to play at a wedding anywhere in the world (for a few hours). A very classy touch that you can look at doing before everybody does!

I see them all the time for receptions to entertain the guests for about 20-30 minutes.

We're finally at a place where it isn't rude to NOT send a fancy paper invite, and thank goodness for that. In fact these days most guests under 40 prefer the convenience of an easily searchable digital wedding invite. Most of the Indian weddings we do for couples under 40 have a website, nicely designed soft-copy invites, and a whatsapp group that has the invites go out

again a week before the wedding just as a reminder of all the events.

Imagine all the images and videos with your hashtag, across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter...all in one place. Guest's can see other's photos (assuming their public) and interact and actually see their memories in the moment. And then even take more photos and put out more content! Most of the times we see a few

Facebook posts and then things dwindle away...but social boards are a great way to keep engagement strong and memories lasting actually forever!

LED walls are the new standards for backdrops. The versatility to play video, show the live performance, add effects and their relative lower cost and convenience than traditional projector systems have made them a main stay for big fat Indian weddings.

Earlier on weddings would have a single backdrop, but with LED walls the benefits are: – also double as projector screens, – are easily customizable – wow your guests because well, they're tech savvy.

You're busy, your friends are busy, and you're not even a dancer. You saw all the tutorials online but it would be so much easier to pay someone in India to do it. You can get dances choreographed from around $200 for song, just for you and yours. Or buy a package for 8 dances (meaning 8 recordings) for like $1500.

People send way too many messages before a wedding, and guests tend to ignore emails until the last minute. One of the best hacks I learned from my own cousins wedding, who ironically is a film producer so I guess creativity crosses domains...was this: Make a whatsApp group with all the guests, but only the admins (aka you and your wife) can send messages. Then send one message daily the week of the wedding with all the details.

It's an amazing hack and people appreciate the direct info of all they need to know handy on their phone, and also that it doesn't overwhelm them.

Stand up comedy in the Indian scene has exploded, and you can hire a decent comedian in English, Hindi or even Punjabi/Tamil to entertain your guests. Just make sure whichever language you pick is understood by all your guests, otherwise your comedian will bomb.

At my own brothers wedding his friends roasted him and told a bunch of jokes (they're all comics) and it was HILARIOUS. Plus all the guests commented how different it was. The beautiful added benefit here was also that his friends did less speeches at the reception, since a lot of them talked at this luncheon event! You can call it like "LOL Lunch" or "Roast Lunch" or something to be quirky.

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2023 Indian Wedding Trends

1. Bridal Fashion Styles | INDIA is KILLING IT

1. Bridal Fashion Styles | INDIA is KILLING IT

cost who will give you a much more luxurious outfit with finer fabrics, quicker responses and overall just easier peace of mind. Plus you'll likely be the only one in your circle wearing it! If you know where to look, you will be spoiled for bridal choice!

1. Bridal Fashion Styles | INDIA is KILLING IT

Bands like Bryden and Parth are making live music at Indian weddings the norm. They pick up the energy, freestyle, let your own singer in the family jump on, and much more. A band can cost much more than a DJ (ahem, I'm a DJ!) but add something different for the first hour or two of your party.

2. Live Bands are increasingly Normal at Indian Weddings

Most bands who are worth it will run you between $10,000 and $30,000, but you're better of spending on them for your Sangeet or Reception rather than another $14,000 on centerpieces that may be overkill.

2. Live Bands are increasingly Normal at Indian Weddings

3. Violin/Saxophone/Live Instrument Mashups

3. Violin/Saxophone/Live Instrument Mashups

I see them all the time for receptions to entertain the guests for about 20-30 minutes.

4. Acrobatic Dancers

5. Paperless Invites are Preferred

again a week before the wedding just as a reminder of all the events.

5. Paperless Invites are Preferred

6. Live Social Media Screens

Facebook posts and then things dwindle away...but social boards are a great way to keep engagement strong and memories lasting actually forever!

6. Live Social Media Screens

LED walls are the new standards for backdrops. The versatility to play video, show the live performance, add effects and their relative lower cost and convenience than traditional projector systems have made them a main stay for big fat Indian weddings.

7. LED Walls

Earlier on weddings would have a single backdrop, but with LED walls the benefits are: – also double as projector screens, – are easily customizable – wow your guests because well, they're tech savvy.

7. LED Walls

8. Hiring Online Choreographers

9. Daily WhatsApp Broadcasts just from couple

It's an amazing hack and people appreciate the direct info of all they need to know handy on their phone, and also that it doesn't overwhelm them.

9. Daily WhatsApp Broadcasts just from couple

Stand up comedy in the Indian scene has exploded, and you can hire a decent comedian in English, Hindi or even Punjabi/Tamil to entertain your guests. Just make sure whichever language you pick is understood by all your guests, otherwise your comedian will bomb.

10. Comedian or Roasting at Lunch Events

10. Comedian or Roasting at Lunch Events

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