Tying The Knot

THE INSTITUTION of marriage holds immense importance in the Indian society, the unification of the love, coming together of the better half's and the expansion of the kinship group, the big fat Indian wedding indeed cannot be described in one definition.

In a recent interaction done by BW Hotelier, various hotels across India shared the interesting side of the wedding industry which came to be seen. Marriage cannot be understood only in the religious or the ritualistic form, however one has to understand how this institution holds immense importance in the economic growth of hotels as well. 

Number of Weddings hosted in a year

Varun Mehrotra, Director of Sales and Marketing, Fairmont Jaipur said that Fairmont is renowned as one of the most sought after hotels for weddings in the country, especially in Jaipur. In a year they arrange around 60 to 65 wedding celebrations at the palace hotel. Further to add up Hari Sukumar, VP, Jaypee Palace, Agra points out that on an average they hosted about 41 weddings in a year.

Sonovai Kaicher, CEO, Neemrana hotel added that they used to host 15-20 weddings at their hotels near Delhi, but after the successful launch of magnificent Tijara Fort-Palace, which boasts of vast hanging gardens and flatter palaces, they began with 39 weddings in 2017-18 and jumped to 57 weddings in the year 2018-19.

These days as there is a hike up of destination weddings, many couples wish to fulfil their fairy tale fantasy and opt for destination weddings. “The Indian destination wedding industry is expected to reach a market size of Rs 45,000 crore by 2020, with a projected annual growth rate of 25-30 per cent,” said Mandeep Lamba, President - South Asia, HVS ANAROCK.

India is grooming in this sector, many hotels act as the facilitator in fulfilling the fairy tale, by providing lavish venues for a destination wedding.

Sandra Tilak, General Manager, Palazzo Versace Dubai says that “ We love hosting Indian weddings as we are in a space to offer them luxury in style, and manage to host on an average of 3/4 destination weddings in a year.

When we talk about destination weddings, so how can one miss the pristine beauty that the pink city has to offer, Jaipur is known across the globe as one of the most popular cities for the destination. In the Pink City, Fairmont Jaipur, located away from the hustle clamour of the city, in the quiet recesses of the picturesque Aravallis is one of the most sought after destinations for weddings. Couples planning for their dream destination weddings like the Royals of Yore often aspire for the celebrations at the palace hotel in the heart of Jaipur. On an average 60 percent of the income generated is by the destination wedding, Further, Sukumar added that they organize 25 to 30 Destination weddings a year.

Facilities provided by the Hotels

Indian wedding is celebrated just like some other event, on this auspicious event, people spend loads of their savings and wish to have the best of facilities from the vendors to the wedding planners, to makeup artist, florist etc.

Weddings at Fairmont Jaipur are a regal affair as they firmly believe in walking the extra mile to curate unforgettable moments for the guests and make their D-Day even more special. They provide in-house catering and; florist comprising of their own team members along with Salon services by renowned Jaipur chains. The Events Team at Palazzo Versace provides with a preferred Wedding Planners list with décor suppliers and sound and lights suppliers to assist with the entire planning. Many other hotels provide with the vendors, however, it is completely the choice of the couple what facilities they want.

It has been noted that a huge sum of the income generated by the hotelier industry comes from the wedding industry, however, when one plans for a lush wedding the environment should not be exploited. To promote eco-friendly wedding hotelier department suggest the guest opt for plated food instead of buffet system so that the food wastage is less. The entire hotel team comes forth to ensure the same with a plethora of options such as designing unique menus that are served on bio-degradable ‘Pattals’ or Leave Plate. Additionally, for certain functions, the team at Fairmont does suggest daylight celebrations so as to reduce electricity consumption usually evident in such larger than life weddings. Many other hotels such as Nimrana use fresh flowers instead of artificial flowers, and these become manure, We also re-cycle our water in STP systems.

The wedding industry is blooming, it is not just an intimate connection of bringing two families together, but also concerns the economic spheres. The wedding market provides with business opportunities in other spheres as well.