How to find the ideal destination for your big fat Indian wedding?

Weddings are something of a dream for us Indians. We live our entire lives playing dress up with our dolls. Days of glossy lehengas with golden lace. Years of the dolls taking their seven rounds. And as we walk them towards their life, we wait for our own weddings. So much of our life is shaped around this day. A marriage is a smile that keeps your cheeks full and happy. And on this day, we want the best of everything. We want the best clothes. We want our invitations to come in four different folded and customized compartments. We want to celebrate this day of extreme joy with everyone we have ever known.

And after waiting for so many, many years, we deserve all of it. Deciding where this meet of souls happens is a significant day. There are a million different plans to plan. And your aunt with a bindi bigger than her forehead has ideas too. In all of this mess, it can get tough to find the best place.

We have created a guide to finding the perfect spot. This is a ready-made and tailored way of picking the best location for a wedding.

1. Know your people

Your family is eventually all that matters. That cousin from abroad that taught you how to whistle. That aunt of yours that sneaked you in chocolate when your mother raised her voice. These are the people that matter. So, now your count. Know the people you want to be calling. You need these people by your side, wiping their tears without you noticing as you make the most significant decision of your lives. They have to be a part of your extraordinary day.

The first step to deciding your location is knowing who you want to be calling. Once you know who makes your list, you have to find a way to locate a venue that can be reached by most of your people. If a lot of your relatives stay in a particular area or city, that makes the most sense. If you want to pick a far, far land, you have to make sure you have the means to transport your entire crew to your destination. Once you make these calls, a big chunk of your decision making is done.

You also need to know how many people you are inviting to the wedding. And with the three-day wedding plans that most of India embrace with open arms, you need to know if your destination can hold those many people. Your decisions here will shape the rest of your wedding.

2. Backdrops

What is your ideal travel destination? Are you looking at mountain views and pine trees in the destinations? You and the person you are getting married to will start the journey of a lifetime on this day. And what better way is that having a beautiful backdrop at your wedding? You get to make this decision together. You get to understand what your partner will be like once you are married. This beautiful taste of test will shape your relationship to come.

India has a thing for the dramatic. We are not the kind to have a quiet one. We want to go all out. Elaborate Amitabh Bachchan songs set to humongous setups have made us accustomed to all things big and beautiful. So, taking an excellent destination wedding tour will just spark off your masala marriage.

If this is a love marriage, choosing this spot is a dream come true for you. You have had tonnes of plans and places you have wanted to go to. Ideas that you never even thought you could take. This is an opportunity to make this come true.

While choosing this spot, the season is crucial. Your pandit has mandated time of marriage, and according to this, you have to avoid rainstorms or think of conditions that can enable you to go to a spot. You cannot have a beach wedding in the rains. These bits will help you get closer to knowing.

3. Budget

This is a step you have to consider as you move forward. Not only with the wedding, but in all cases. You can dream of the Bahamas extra luxury package, but do you have the sources for it? We don’t want to bring your dreams down. We want to empower you. But the reality is the first check of marriage. And once you get this done, your way ahead is mapped out. You need to know how much you are willing to pay to make this day a success. From the marigold wholesale seller to the pink carnations with speckled dust. You have a range of options to choose from. These options need you to decide your budget. Look at what your highest budget is. Plan it out wisely.

Most of India save up for this day for a lifetime, so can breathe in peace for most of the time. The trick is to not spend your entire budget to the last penny. Plan out your entire route from one detail to another. Decide what you want to prioritize. And leave a chunk of money by your side.

Weddings are a series of events that only end when they sit in the extremely decorated, “Just Married” car. There might be places where you might have to spend on towards the end. With so many people involved, added costs and unexpected costs are bound to happen. So, if you do this, you will be able to sit in the calm and know that if something was to go wrong and the DJ was to take a bit more, you had something up your sleeve.

4. Research

When the wedding shehnai starts to play, even from a distance, the entire world falls into place to make this happen. Everything becomes about the wedding. There are tonnes of people telling you about some guy who makes the best “motichur ke laddoo” or about the place their aunt’s sister’s friend got married. When there are so many people telling things about their life and about things they know, it can cloud your vision. You need to be on the top of the game.

You need to start going out there and scouting the kind of place that fits all your needs. Does it meet your budget? Does it match your liking? Does it serve the food you want? You and your family members should be in full sync with this. And start looking. This choice is not the toughest. You might find a place which has everything on your checklist but does not have a certain kind of thing. This is where you have to prioritize. You need to sit down with your family and decide what works out for you.

The search itself is not too difficult. There is the google search engine, there are tonnes of ads and apps that can help you get here. Just look at as many options as you can. So that picking one is more natural.

5. Decide

This is the time of decision. We know that this is a day you have all been waiting for a long time. So, choose. Forget everything for one second and go with what your gut is telling you. The instincts are usually on point. Once you make this difficult decision, a lot of your stress is going to release.

This is our formula for finding the most ideal venue for your wedding. There are a lot of smaller factors that come into this decision. But these are the broad, integral ones. This is the place you will make memories that will be etched in your mind forever.

At the Raj, we understand the value of your celebrations and make sure your event is planned the perfect you want it to be. Ar the Raj, get treated as royals and celebrate like royals!