The Wedding Pie: WeddingSutra's study on why everyone, from MBAs, CAs, and Bollywood stars want their share

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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 8: There was a time when the idea of a well-educated or professionally qualified individual making a career in weddings was unheard of. But fast-forward to 2025, and India's $75 billion wedding industry has become one of the most dynamic and competitive business sectors, attracting serious professionals, from MBAs and chartered accountants to engineers, designers, and Bollywood's biggest names.

Take the wedding of businesswoman Seema Singh's daughter last month, where Shahid Kapoor performed on stage while Karan Johar and Sushmita Sen entertained as emcees. It wasn't just a star-studded affair -- it was a meticulously orchestrated production with dozens of specialized businesses working behind the scenes, from catering and hospitality to design and decor, entertainment, content creation and social media agencies.

Parthip Thyagarajan, co-founder and CEO of WeddingSutra.com, says the industry has evolved far beyond mandapwalas and florists. Today, the wedding ecosystem is a magnet for ambitious entrepreneurs, large-scale event management companies, and talent agencies. There are few formal barriers to entry, but the stakes are high -- couples and families demand seamless execution and are looking for creative ideas at every step.

Achint Nag, founder of Krayonz Entertainment, knows this firsthand. Two decades ago, he was organizing club nights and corporate conferences, with little thought of entering weddings. But in recent years, his company has expanded into the luxury wedding space, orchestrating destination weddings in Rajasthan's palace hotels and at luxury beach resorts across the world. Nag points out that every major corporate events firm now wants a slice of the wedding market, drawn by its high-margin opportunities and relationships with rich and famous Indian families.

It's not just creative entrepreneurs making waves. Finance professionals, corporate strategists, and family business inheritors are stepping in to meet the demand. Neha and Darshan Shroff, co-founders of Momente Wedding Planners, left high-powered finance jobs in the UK to launch their business back home in India. Neha Shroff, a chartered accountant, says their success lies in combining creativity with business rigor. Destination weddings for 500 or more guests aren't just about beautiful setups -- they require deep expertise in contracts, compliance, vendor management, and money movement, sometimes across hundreds of suppliers.

Photography, design, and personalization have also exploded into specialized micro-industries. Hardik Gada, co-founder of SeventybyTwo Wedding Stories, comes from a family of photographers and graphic designers but carved his own cinematic, brand-driven niche in wedding photography. His wife, Rima, an MBA in finance, brought in the operational backbone to scale the business. Yogi Trivedi's Oragraphy, now an internationally recognized name, began when he rented a camera for a cousin's wedding -- today, it's a powerhouse. In Kolkata, Studio13 founder Neha Jhunjhunwala crafts elaborate invites and stationery that serve as the storytelling blueprint for high-profile weddings. She says their work is no longer about 'just an invite' but about creating a visual and emotional signature for the entire celebration.

"Entrepreneurs are finding room to launch everything, from guest management apps and mobile spas to highly curated gifting solutions and live event experiences," says Harshal Kothari, Founder of Rising Events. He adds: "Hotel veterans who once competed for top hospitality jobs are now shifting into the wedding space, seeing it as an exciting, fast-moving industry with global appeal and premium clientele."

What makes weddings such an attractive business bet is that they are recession proof, and as was seen in 2020, pandemic proof. Even if the in-person guest list shortens, those who can do everything possible to ensure that elaborate invites and even food parcels and sweets reached the homes of those they wanted to seek blessing from.

Once a destination is deemed wedding worthy, its fortunes change, explains Harshal Kothari: "Wedding worthy means the destination ranks high on many counts -- hospitality, good connectivity, availability of local vendors to meet infrastructure needs, and most importantly, luxury stays that speak volumes about the families of the bride and groom."

A combination of tradition and transformation, Indian weddings will always be built on strong cultural foundations -- but they're also evolving, creating space for specialists across sectors, all converging to serve one of the most resilient consumer markets in the country. As Thyagarajan puts it, India's wedding ecosystem is no longer about just putting together a pretty event. It's a business where trust, innovation, and a deep understanding of 'return on experience' determine an entrepreneur's success.

About WeddingSutra

Founded in 2000, WeddingSutra.com serves as the ultimate guide for couples and their families, connecting them with top-tier wedding planners, caterers, entertainers, photographers, makeup artists, decor designers, and more, to create truly unforgettable weddings.

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