VIKAS GUPTA is getting married soon. But to his chagrin he discovered it’s a very expensive affair. Here’s why!
The same choreographer who gave a quotation for 3 Lakhs did the exact same work for my wedding at 70K, made me wonder how many loopholes are there in planning a wedding and how much can you negotiate.
I was surprised to learn the huge profit margins in this recession proof industry. I wonder if there is anything like a “value for money” wedding. Varun Shah, who recently got married said, “ The hotel takes the details of the wedding when you make the first call and after understanding our high interest level in their venue they will escalate the prices. They also take the names of the bride and the groom so that if you approach through a different source they give you the same or higher price. Moreover, after we have finalized their venue, they will come up with hidden costs and exclusions even after our best efforts”
India has only 42600 tax payers who show their income as being more than 1 crore, yet you can find several weddings every season for which the budget goes a lot more than that, most of which in settled in untaxed cash. This wedding industry is indeed very big.
Weddings are services and experiences, its more emotional than practical business. Many people have the “I want the best for my wedding” or “My wedding should be different “attitude. Numerous deep pocketed businessmen want the whole city to talk about the wedding for years and thus this “show off “ makes them pay extra. Moreover, there is no standardisation or MRP price in these people oriented services. Each service can be customized or can be made to look customized and hence the same product can have different value for different families. As one of the decorators said, “In weddings even 5 lakhs on decor is more and even 50 lakhs is also less”.
Decor is like an art. Don’t expect them to charge you cost plus pricing. Most of the decor companies just make minor changes in the props and
lightings in what they already have, and make them look different, and they say that it is made exclusively for your wedding and charge the full amount. Taruneet said,” the decorater quoted 3 lakhs for the decor and I started from 30K and finalised at 90k”
Seasonal business: Diwali to Holi (November to February) every year are the peak season for weddings, mostly because of the Hindu calendar dates, but also to enjoy winter weddings. This makes the vendor get a rush of clients only in one season which allows them to charge more, and also they are in pressure to extract entire year’s profits during the “season” times. Hence the way to save some money on the wedding is to start early, mostly during non peak seasons so that we have time to negotiate and we also the vendors are available at reasonable costs.
Most big fat wedding clients are businessmen and thus have no experience of organizing an event which makes them dependent on event managers. There is no website or single shop to find everything at commercial price under one roof- perhaps that s a good business idea! Event management companies or wedding planner charge management fee and promise to provide the best wedding at best price. Whereas most event management companies have their cut for recommending vendors to the clients. Mahesh Patra, a wedding Photographer said, “The event management company charges 10%-30% commission from the photographer to recommend him”. Another event manager said,” we mostly trade; we first get approval from the client at X price and then negotiate with vendors and find the cheapest source”. Hence, constant comparing with other vendors is also important to get correct price discovery.
A lot of times the groom and the bride side are not very open to discuss their requirements or expenses and sometimes even communicate through the event organizers, for example, an event organizer will say to the bride side that the groom is very interested in this decor or this act and request the bride side to go for it.
The jewelry especially diamonds are the biggest drill on the pocket at any wedding. This industry completely works on trust. Trust that they will get good quality diamonds that stands out and trust that they can exchange it at anytime. Moreover a lot of people buy jewelry from relatives (usually ladies trade as a side business) which i think sometimes put them in social pressure which they pay extra. An easier and safer way is to go for branded jewelry and negotiate hard on the making costs.
Evergreen performers like Honey Singh, Mikka Singh and recently Kapil Sharma are the biggest interest for wedding performance this year who charge from 20 lakhs to 50 lakhs per wedding and most event managers keep big cuts in between.
Spending on weddings is a personal choice based on financial appetite, interest, social obligation and so on. But planning early and negotiating hard will make your wedding the talk of the town.
