WeddingWire India, the Indian subsidiary of The Knot Worldwide, a leading online marketplace for couples and wedding professionals released insightful statistics on wedding planning. The survey conducted across 635 NewlyWed couples, revealed that 29 was the average age of people who got married during the pandemic. The pan India survey 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.

Safety measures

In 2021, couples enforced health and safety measures with keeping the guest list smaller being the top priority (82%), followed by providing hand sanitizer (75%) and requiring staff to wear masks (69%).

Wedding invites

In the new normal, new-age platforms like WhatsApp took precedence (76%) 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%). 

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% of respondents preferred celebrating physically with family/friends in attendance (with or without streaming element), while only 5% chose fully virtual ceremonies (ie. online civil ceremony etc.).

Vendor Selection

When asked about the top three vendors that they prioritized in 2021, couples chose Photography &  Videography (84%), followed by Hair and makeup artists at 74% and Mehendi artists at 70%, 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%), followed by travel time to the venue (61%), venue capacity (52%), and venue style (52%).

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% 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% 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% of respondents opted for it.

Rescheduling of wedding/reception date

With respect to wedding dates getting shifted, 37% 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% of respondents reported getting engaged in an intimate ceremony.

Talking about the survey, Anam Zubair, Associate Director of Marketing – WeddingWire India, a part of The Knot Worldwide, 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% 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.”

About WeddingWire India

Weddingwire.in is the Indian subsidiary of The Knot Worldwide, the world’s largest global wedding technology platform with over four decades of expertise in the wedding industry which is present in 15 countries and has been helping people in celebrating their life’s biggest milestones.

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