Indian weddings are considered to be a very pompous affair. Right from the lights, to the flowers; from the food to the photographer, everything has to be meticulously planned in order to make it an event to remember. Everything from the wedding venues to the cutlery you use are also important details of a marriage. But while deciding upon several other things, one thing that is of huge importance is the Wedding venues – where is the function going to be held?
Factors to be kept in mind while deciding wedding venues:
While deciding upon the wedding venues, several factors have to be considered, such as –
- Number of guests
- Venue rent
- Area/space for guests to be comfortable
- Photogenic venue
- Accessibility
But while all of this is being considered, the cost plays a major factor. It varies upon the location you choose. There are several options to choose from. One may go in for a hall in a hotel, a lawn, a huge ground, a palace or even a destination wedding – choices are endless.
One of the first decisions to be made before anything else is to finalize the venue details. During peak wedding seasons, it maybe extremely difficult to get a venue of your choice. Or it may so happen that the venue is available but the vendor may charge you out-of-the-world rates. In such a case, pre booking well in advance is a great option. It accounts for a hefty percentage of your wedding expenses.
As I mentioned earlier, during peak season, the prices tend to go up. An average hotel room may cost you around Rs. 1 lakh for a day, while a special destination or any resort could easily charge you several lakhs of rupees.
One tip that I can give you here is if you are a Mumbaikar, consider having your wedding in Lonavala. A wedding there would cost you Rs.1-2 lakh as compared to the Rs. 7-8 lakhs you would pool in Mumbai. Even Goa would be a better option during off season – prices would range between Rs. 4 lakh to Rs. 1 crore.
A hotel would be an expensive affair. However community marriage halls are also an amazing option. They charge between Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 80,000 and are good.
There are several destination wedding venues as well such as Udaipur, Jaipur, Goa, Agra, etc. These can be an extremely costly affair and are mostly considered by the slightly upper middle class people of the society. The cost ranges anywhere between Rs. 15 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.
Now that we have established the costs, let us take a look at some of the ways how we can control the venue costs –
- Go for a package
Several hotels offer you a package, wherein several services are provided within the package. This makes the costs go down to a great extent.
2. Choose a non-traditional venue
Choose a venue which is non-traditional to cut down on the venue cost.
3. Choose the off-season
Venue rents tend to be cheaper during the off-seasons. Hotels also tend to offer deep discounts during this period.
4. Go for the open-ground
An open-ground venue gives you the liberty to work with preferred vendors, thus cutting down the costs significantly.
Doing your research can help you have an amazing wedding at half the costs!
