Destination weddings: ‘A growing trend in India’

NEW DELHI: The idea of tying the knot with one’s soulmate in a distant dreamy land with exotic foods and clothes decidedly has a certain charm. The place could be far from home, across the seven seas, or simply a few hours’ journey to another city or state in India.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his latest “Mann Ki Baat” radio broadcast, encouraged couples to opt for destination weddings within India, industry experts said the trend of getting married away from home is becoming increasingly popular, both internationally and within India.

However, there are more such couples who look for romantic and historic landscapes within the country than abroad, they said.

Parthip Thyagarajan, CEO of wedding planner WeddingSutra.com, said around 10 per cent “high net worth individuals” opt for destination weddings and an even smaller percentage goes abroad for the occasion.

“Many more weddings are happening in Rajasthan, Goa, Mahabalipuram, Kerala and a few other destination wedding hotspots in and around Mumbai and Delhi. So, 10 per cent of high net worth individuals are having destination weddings and out of those only 10-15 per cent are having it at international locations,” Thyagarajan said.

In recent years, celebrity couples such as Virat Kohli-Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh chose to fly to Italy for their special day while others such as Kiara Advani-Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif-Vicky Kaushal tied the knot in India, but away from home.