Weddings in India are festive occasions and usually celebrated with extensive decorations, color, music, dance, outfits and rituals that depend on the community, region and religion of the bride and the groom, as well as their preferences.
, Amy Yee, The Financial Times, May 17, 2008 India celebrates about 10 million weddings per year, of which about 80% are

Hindu wedding A Hindu wedding, also known as (, ) in Hindi, () in Marathi, () in Bhojpuri, () in Bengali, () or () in Odia, () in Tamil, () in Telugu, () in Kannada, and ''kalyanam'' (, ; ) in Malayalam and other languages, is the traditiona ...

s. Approximately 90% of marriages in India are still arranged. Despite the rising popularity of love marriages, especially among younger generations, arranged marriages continue to be the predominant method for finding a marriage partner in India. A daughter's marriage can often be the most costly event in the life of an Indian family, with some estimate indicating that families spend more than six times a family's annual income on the wedding. Most of these costs go towards dowries and the wedding celebration. Scholars have characterized these expenditures as being strongly shaped by

social norms A social norm is a shared standard of acceptance, acceptable behavior by a group. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into wikt:rule, rules and laws. Social norma ...

and by desires to signal

social status Social status is the relative level of social value a person is considered to possess. Such social value includes respect, honour, honor, assumed competence, and deference. On one hand, social scientists view status as a "reward" for group members ...

Ceremonies in Hinduism

While there are many festival-related rituals in Hinduism, ''vivaah'' (

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

) is the most extensive personal ritual a Hindu undertakes in his or her life.Hindu Saṁskāras: Socio-religious Study of the Hindu Sacraments, Rajbali Pandey (1969), see Chapter VIII, , pages 153–233The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, James G. Lochtefeld (2001), , Page 427 Typical Hindu families spend significant effort and financial resources to prepare and celebrate weddings. The rituals and process of a Hindu wedding vary depending on the region of India, local adaptations, resources of the family and preferences of the bride and the groom. Nevertheless, there are a few key rituals common in

s – ''Kanyadaan'', ''Panigrahana'', and ''Saptapadi''; these are respectively, giving away of daughter by the father, voluntarily holding hand near the fire to signify impending union, and taking seven steps before fire with each step including a set of mutual vows. After the seventh step and vows of '' Saptapadi'', the couple is legally husband and wife.P.H. Prabhu (2011), ''Hindu Social Organization'', , see pages 164–165 Jain and Buddhist weddings in India, share many themes, but are centered around their respective religious ideas and texts.

Other religions

Indian Sikh marriages are conducted through a ceremony called

Anand Karaj Anand Karaj () is the Sikh wedding ceremony, meaning "Act towards happiness" or "Act towards happy life", that was introduced by Guru Amar Das. The four ''laavaan'' (hymns which take place during the ceremony) were composed by his successor, Gur ...

. The couple walk around the respective holy scripture, the

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib (, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (), its first rendition, w ...

, four times, and then perform the Ardās prayer & praise.

Indian Muslim Islam is India's Religion in India, second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, or approximately 172.2 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam in a 2011 census. India also has the Islam by country, third-larg ...

s celebrate a traditional Islamic wedding, with rituals including ''Nikah'', payment of financial dower called ''

Mahr In Islam, a mahr (in ; ; Bengali: দেনমোহর; ; ; ; also transliterated ''mehr'', ''meher'', ''denmohor, mehrieh'', or ''mahriyeh'') is the bride wealth obligation, in the form of money, possessions or teaching of verses from the Qur ...

'' by the groom to the bride, signing of marriage contract, and a reception.Three Days of a Traditional Indian Muslim Wedding
, zawaj.com

Indian Christian Christianity is Religion in India, India's third-most followed religion with about 28 million adherents, making up 2.3 percent of the population as of the 2011 Census of India, 2011 census. Christianity is the largest religion in parts of Nor ...

weddings follow Christian marriage customs and values. Among Protestants in India, the betrothal rite celebrates the engagement of a couple, with prayers being offered for the couple and engagement rings being blest by a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

. Among

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

n Christians, a day before the wedding, the Haldi/ Ubtan/ Mayun ceremony happens; in which turmeric paste is applied on the bride-to-be and groom-to-be. Among Goan Christians and South Canarese Christians the Roce ceremony is held, in which coconut paste is applied on the bride-to-be and groom-to-be. Among the Bombay East Indian Christians, the Umbracho Pani ceremony is held, a day before the wedding, in which water drawn from a well is used to bathe by the bride-to-be and groom-to-be. On the wedding day, the couple meet in the presence of a priest at a church. Passages from the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

are read out. The bride and groom take their marriage vows. The bride and groom then exchange

wedding ring A wedding ring or wedding band is a finger ring that indicates that its wearer is married. It is usually forged from metal, traditionally gold or another precious metal. Rings were used in ancient Rome during marriage. In western culture, a ...

s, symbolising their love for each other. Interfaith marriages in India, especially between Hindus and Muslims, have been the subject of legal constraints in some states, vigilante harassment, and fears of violence.

Marriage age

In the past, the age of marriage was young, often childhood or early teenage. The legal age of marriage 21 for males and 18 for females. However, the average age of marriage varies, with males typically marrying between 23 to 28 years of age and females between 20 to 25 years of age. Arranged marriages have long been the norm in Indian society. Even today, the majority of Indians have their marriages planned by their parents and other elder family members. Recent studies suggest that Indian culture is trending away from traditional arranged marriages. Fewer marriages are purely arranged without consent and that the majority of surveyed Indian marriages are arranged with consent. The percentage of self-arranged marriages (called love marriages in India) have also increased vastly, particularly in the urban areas of India such as

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Wedding industry

Weddings are a major business in India. According to a report by

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

in 2017, the Indian

industry is estimated to be around $40–50 billion. It is the second largest wedding market after the United States, which is at $70 billion. While the industry is very unorganised with small and medium scale businesses, there are also corporate entities who are trying to tap this industry. The prime factors for growth in the industry are the rise of middle class in India, an overall booming economy and use of social media. It is estimated that the cost of an Indian wedding ranges from ₹500,000 and ₹50 million (from US$6,747.14 to US$674,743.50). Indians are likely to spend one-fifth of their total lifetime wealth on a wedding.

Destination weddings

Many Indian celebrities choose destination weddings, and the masses take inspiration from them. Both domestic and international destinations are popular for weddings in India. The destination wedding industry in India was estimated to cross ₹450 billion in 2020.

Wedding photography

Pre-wedding shoots along with wedding photography have also become a big stake in Indian weddings. Average wedding shoots can cost from ₹15,000 to ₹100,000 per day.

References

External links

New York Magazine: "10 Things I Learned at My First White-People Wedding" By Beejoli Shah
September 26, 2014
Brass Bands: Tradition, Change, and the Mass Media in Indian Wedding Music (Baaraat)
Gregory Booth {{World topic, Weddings in, noredlinks=yes

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Indian wedding traditions