The location and the venue in that location are probably two of the most prominent factors that will affect the cost of your destination wedding.
Indian weddings mainly occur during the saaya season, a time considered auspicious for hosting wedding ceremonies by the spiritual and religious calendars.
If it is during the peak Saaya season, then you might have to keep a higher wedding budget in mind, while a non-Saaya season or day wedding can often cost less and thus require a lower destination wedding cost.
Destination weddings always require travel and accommodation. During the residential wedding planning process, the only expenses are the venue's rent, F&B, and accommodation for the handful of guests coming from various cities to your wedding. Travel and accommodation costs are mandatory when it is a destination wedding.
The number of guests you invite almost always affects the total wedding cost, whether a destination or a residential wedding.
The amount you pay each wedding vendor also impacts the destination wedding cost.
Once you have considered the above aspects, your destination wedding costs will be more precise, and you can plan a more organized wedding budget that will not take you by surprise or burn an unexpected hole in your pocket.
We recommend allocating 45–50% of your wedding budget to venues and catering for all functions.
Purchasing wedding jewellery for the bride and groom is the next most significant investment. We suggest keeping this budget separate from the wedding planning budget or allocating a minimum of 15–18% of your budget to this cost.
Approximately 4–6% is suggested for honeymoon planning.
The ideal split for budget destination weddings should be around 5–7%, but some couples might also choose to go all out and spend 10–15% on thematic decor.
We suggest allocating 10–13% for pre-wedding or engagement shoots, wedding photography, wedding videography, and albums, owing to the importance of investing in professional services to capture timeless memories.
We suggest keeping this budget separate from the planning costs. On average, this should be around 5% for all events.
We suggest allocating around 5–10% for entertainment.
Brides should limit this budget to 3–5% to make room for other investments, such as invitations, wedding favours, transportation, ceremonial spending, priests', family, and in-laws' gifts, etc.
