The Big Fat Indian Wedding

In India,spending on a wedding is equivalent to celebrating a festival. It involves lots of preparations, invitees and above all, it is important to ensure that none of the events are less attractive than the previous ones. So, as a financial planner whenever we receive wedding plan as a listed goal, we ask our clients to mainly ponder on following points to decide the cost estimate. 

Main expenses related to the wedding are as follows: 

a) Venue of Marriage – It is the one of the one of largest expense involved the ceremony. The cost of venue depends on following factors:

·Number of members to be invited in the program.

·City of main ceremony like metro cities, tier I cities or a destination wedding.

·If marriage takes place in a community hall or place of worship like church or gurudwara then the cost is limited and more or less like a donation/ charity.

·Beyond the main event any major program involved can be held back at home, building terrace or a small party plot or banquet depending on the members involved. Usually the invitees are less in these programmes than the main wedding day.

b)Entertainment – In case, if you intend to keep some musical programmes ahead of your wedding ceremony, define the requirement very clearly like

·You need to hire a professional dancer to choreograph the event.

·Call in a troupe of dancers for the programme.

·Do a small self designed skit.

·The musical sound systems required or if you want to have a bachelors/hen party, consider the DJ costs too.

c)Catering – Food is the most discussed cost of any marriage ceremony. It is necessary to allocate budget to this expense as it has maximum amount of wastage at end of all. So, numerically plan well the numbers. A well known caterer or a leading five star chef entourage could cost more than comparatively less known local food supplier. Also, include the after ceremony sweets in the cost. 

d)Clothing & jewellery – The expense on clothing, jewellery is largely contributable to the wedding trousseau, which has both high emotional value and also a huge monetary price tag attached to it. The cost is primarily more on the bride’s side or even could be evenly distributed between both the partners. The costs can be anything from regular tailor stitching expense or a huge label designer wear. 

Beyond, these major expenses, there are other expenses like the photography expenses, the honeymoon expenses, home renovation expenses or even grooming expenses to be taken care for. 

How do we plan for it?

Planning for an actual wedding usually starts six months before the event. However, what it required to be started years ago is the savings to spend on this event. Although even a personal loan can be taken to fulfil the goal but it is recommended that EMI should not extend beyond a certain percentage (around 5% of your personal monthly income).

Long Term Planning

·Planning a goal of wedding expenditure should be initiated only after planning for your primary goals of retirement and children’s education.

·If there is any jewellery expenditure anticipated to the wedding it is best to earmark your physical gold for the goal and make timely additions in it.

·Out of your stock portfolio, identify four –five scripts with a decent growth for your goal. It could help to match the speculative nature of the expense.

·Also, starting an NPS/PPF in name of child could serve as good booster in case to balance the risky assets.

Short Term Planning

·Fix the venue at earliest to avoid last moment price war.

·Usually the venue caterers are fixed making the cost of marriage more viable and sometimes, zero deposit on banquets. Always book with caterers a number less than the real number of guests.

·Make the travel booking for honeymoon in priority to benefit from fare discounts.

·If you prefer trendy clothing, its’ recommended to buy only the wedding day clothes and not shop for entire trousseau. The same can be gifted bought during the coming time frame.

·Make major gold investment in raw/tradeable gold that can be used going forward by the couple.

·Home renovations if not necessary, should be planned for a later stage of wedding. It helps as the couple can actually make changes as per their needs.

So, whenever you now plan for your or for your dependent’s wedding, please ensure that the expenses are well calculated. Lastly we would like to say, that it is a discretionary expense and sky is the limit for the dream wedding. But this dream for a day should not become a sore pain for your life. 


Regards
Saarthi Financial Planners
www.saarthifp.com


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