Last month, a young couple from New York City exchanged vows on a calm beach in Kerala’s ancient port town of Kollam on the Arabian Sea in a simple ceremony attended by close family and friends.
The bride and bridegroom, both Indian-Americans, had been dreaming of tying the knot on a palm-fringed beach for years.
“It was, in fact, the bride who wanted to have the wedding on a beach and the families quickly embraced the idea,” says Renjith Jacob, General Manager of the Quilon Beach Hotel, which managed the marriage ceremony.
“The beach was calm and the waves were breaking gently onto the shore against a setting sun. There were about 200 guests, all close family and friends from America and Kerala, who had gathered on the occasion,” recalls Jacob, who was part of the couple’s destination wedding planning. “It was an intimate wedding in sharp contrast to the big fat Indian wedding.”
Preference by travelling couples from the United States and Europe to small, intimate weddings by a beach, the backwaters, tea estates or even in a quiet countryside is shaking up India’s destination weddings market. Under the shadow of the massive forts and palaces of Rajasthan for long, Kerala, it appears, has grabbed the initiative in a fast-changing global market for less crowded natural destinations to tie the knot.
Many couples from abroad, and from several Indian states, are today arriving in Kerala, shunning the powerhouse picture-postcard wedding destinations of Italy, Singapore, Thailand, the Maldives and Malaysia for the state’s subtle, sun-soaked spots. Kerala’s wedding planners, who counted only a few one decade ago, are growing in numbers and confidence.
Shubha Mangalyam
The numbers, in terms of money, are huge, giving a glimpse of what is at stake. Global management consulting firm IMARC Group estimates the destination weddings market in the country to hit 25.7 billion dollars (about 224,255 crore rupees) by 2033 from 3.5 billion dollars (about 30,540 crore rupees) last year. According to the Union Ministry of Tourism, India currently accounts for only 1.8 percent of the niche global wedding and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) market worth 1.8 trillion dollars (about 157,058,20 crore rupees).
“Kerala is fast gaining popularity as a wedding destination,” says Sikha Surendran, Director, Kerala Tourism department under the state government. “Destination weddings are happening in Munnar, in the backwaters, isles in Alappuzha, tharavadu (an ancestral home) in Thiruvananthapuram or beaches across the state,” adds Surendran.
Kerala’s push for destination weddings goes back to 2022 when the state government launched an aggressive campaign, christened Shubha Mangalyam (Wish you a happy married life), to help its travel and tourism industry. The campaign, which pitched the state’s beaches, backwaters and hills as perfect venues for exchange of vows, went on to win the Golden City Gate Award at ITB Berlin, the largest tourism trade fair in the world.
“Our focus is on Europe, the United States and South East Asia to attract couples to tie the knot in Kerala,” says Surendran. “Rajasthan has grand palaces and forts that we won’t be able to offer. But we market our strength like the beaches, backwaters and hills.”
Return of the natives
A major reason for the recent spurt in destination weddings in Kerala is attributed to the return of the natives—Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from the state and outside, coming back home to wed.
“”A lot of migrants from Kerala settled abroad want to come back to the state for their wedding, in most cases with a foreign citizen as bride or groom,” says Hariharan B, co-founder of Kochi-based Impresario which boasts of planning weddings of actor Prithviraj Sukumaran and Supriya Menon, and actor Dulquer Salmaan and Amal Sufiya.
“Cross-cultural marriages too are a lot more common today than ever before,” adds Hariharan. “The other major segment is couples from outside Kerala from states like Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Delhi. There are couples from outside Kerala living abroad as well. Then there are many foreign citizens,” he adds.
Among the scores of destination weddings planned by Impresario include weddings of four Irish couples at the famous Kovalam beach near Thiruvananthapuram. The guest list had names as few as 70. “We call it intimate weddings,” says Hariharan.
Kerala’s wedding planners say couples usually ask for “scenery and greenery” and these days also ask for “eco-friendly locations”. “One of the destination weddings we planned two years ago by the backwaters in Kochi had a bamboo mandapam (stage) and an art installation inspired by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale,” says Bobby Elanjical, founder of Wedding Factory, the winner of several destination wedding global awards, including Best Sustainable Wedding Award in 2023 by EEMAX Global, a prominent apex body in the event industry.
Decor meets design
Wedding planners, who start preparing for a destination wedding at least six months ahead, mix aesthetics with sustainability, gauging Kerala’s global reputation as a responsible and eco-friendly tourism leader.
One of Kerala’s earliest destination weddings involving a couple from abroad was managed by Watermark Event Solutions by the backwaters in Kumarakom in 2015 when an American couple exchanged vows in a simple ceremony. “It was an intimate wedding designed by the renowned wedding designer Devika Narain set against the serene backwaters of Kumarakom Lake Resort,” says Anup Joy, co-founder of Watermark Event Solutions.
The emphasis on decor and design is elegantly stated. “The celebration began with a dreamy welcome dinner under a canopy of white paper lanterns. The mehendi with vibrant hues of orange and yellow drapes overhead and cheerful pink and orange florals added a festive charm. The wedding and reception embraced nature with cascading green foliage, suspended chandeliers…”
Wedding planners collaborate with the bride and groom in organising everything from logistics to make-up, flowers to salon and transporting costumes to wheelchair. “There is even a back-up for the back-up,” says Sidhesh K, Managing Director of Watermark.
Last week, the Kerala government backed a major Weddings and MICE Conclave in Kochi organised by the Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), a public-private partnership in the travel and tourism sector in the state. “Kerala offers an unmatched combination of natural beauty, cultural richness, world-class infrastructure and professionals. Here dreams are not just celebrated, they truly come alive,” state Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas declared while inaugurating the conclave attended by 65 exhibitors and 675 buyers from within and outside the country.
“This is only the beginning. We are going to scale-up destination weddings in Kerala,” says KTM president Jose Pradeep. In the six-month season (September-March), hundreds of destination weddings, both small and high-end, happen in the state, the segment’s progress hampered only by challenges like time restrictions on outdoor events, excessive rates of flight tickets to the state and rules prohibiting bringing own duty free alcohol.