Big, fat weddings: Indians spending Rs 10 lakh on just band baaja baraat

Gone are the days when white horses carried the groom while the baraatis would dance, throwing currency notes at him as various Bollywood numbers kept playing in the background.

According to an Economic Times article , “Themed Baraat is the new attraction in Indian weddings and people are spending even upto Rs 10 lakh just on the bridegroom’s procession.”

This is not limited to North India alone, where baraat is a tradition. The article notes, that though South Indian weddings don’t have the custom of baraat, they are now willing to pay wedding planners to arrange theme-based baraats.

And since this the land of movie lovers, it’s not surprising Bollywood-styled baraats are the favourite.

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Mumbai-based wedding planner Nikhil Bhide tells ET that he organised a vintage-themed baraat for a non-resident Indian based in the UK who wanted his baraat to be fashioned on yesteryear movies of Shammi Kapoor and Kishore Kumar. In the theme baraat that cost around Rs 8 lakh, men dressed in bow-tie suits while women wore retro styled sari and polka dotted frocks.

So, the next time you see a bridegroom coming in a vintage open jeep, women flaunting heart-shaped sunglasses and men wiggling their belts to the music of “Dabangg”, you know it’s not the shooting of a Salman Khan’s movie, but rather a real-life wedding.