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WeddingWire India, the Indian subsidiary of The Knot Worldwide, a leading online marketplace for couples and wedding professionals, on the occasion of National Wedding Planning Day released insightful statistics on wedding planning. The Pan-India analysis covered key aspects of wedding planning such as safety measures, in-person vs virtual celebrations, vendor selection, etc to decode the changing dynamics of the Indian wedding ecosystem.
The survey conducted across 635 newly wedded couples, revealed that 29 was the average age of people who got married during the pandemic.
Safety measures
According the the survey, in 2021, couples enforced health and safety measures with keeping the guest list smaller being the top priority (82 per cent), followed by providing hand sanitizer (75 per cent) and requiring staff to wear masks (69 per cent).
Wedding invites
In the new normal, new-age platforms like WhatsApp took precedence (76 per cent) when it came to sharing key details such as events, accommodation, etc with the guests, followed by physical invitations. Nearly 4 in ten people said that they still prefer using physical invites to share wedding details (39 per cent).
In-person vs virtual celebration
While digital platforms like WhatsApp were popular when it came to communicating and inviting friends and family, wedding functions are leaning towards pre-pandemic level in-person celebrations. The survey highlighted that 90 per cent of respondents preferred celebrating physically with family/friends in attendance (with or without streaming element), while only 5 per cent chose fully virtual ceremonies (i.e., online civil ceremony etc.).
Vendor selection
When asked about the top three vendors that they prioritised in 2021, couples chose photography & videography (84 per cent), followed by hair and makeup artists at 74 per cent and Mehendi artists at 70 per cent, with word of mouth, and friends and family recommendations being the preferable method of choosing them. When it came to choosing the venue, the cost was one of the key aspects (71 per cent), followed by travel time to the venue (61 per cent), venue capacity (52 per cent), and venue style (52 per cent).
Budget
Traditionally, allocating a budget was the job of families, but, as millennial couples are taking the charge and planning their own wedding, the wedding budget has drastically changed. In the survey, half of the respondents said their preferable budget was less than 10 lakhs with 25 per cent of couples opting for 5-10 Lakhs as their preferable budget. Technology gaining prominence
Interestingly, WedTech platforms which practically were non-existent a few years ago in the Indian wedding ecosystem saw phenomenal growth as 27 per cent of respondents opted for them to find venues and other wedding vendors. In fact, wedding websites also came up as one of the key platforms that millennial couples chose to send invitations as 12 per cent of respondents opted for it.
Rescheduling of wedding/reception date
With respect to wedding dates getting shifted, 37 per cent of respondents said that the date of their wedding ceremony and/or reception was impacted owing to Covid. In the meantime, while the cancellations were happening, 79 per cent of respondents reported getting engaged in an intimate ceremony.
Talking about the survey, Anam Zubair, Associate Director of Marketing, WeddingWire India said “Without the shadow of a doubt, the pandemic has significantly changed the wedding ecosystem across the globe, especially in India. Therefore, we conducted this survey to gather first-hand insights into what new-age couples are looking for in this rapidly changing ecosystem. The results are similar to the trends that we’ve been talking about. There’s definitely a growing affinity towards technology amongst millennial couples as it offers them ease and convenience. For instance, virtual venue recce witnessed an uptick. In addition to that, 27 per cent of couples chose WedTech platforms to find vendors. These statistics further strengthen our belief that WedTech is the future of the wedding industry & we being one of the first players in the ecosystem globally, are really excited for it.”
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