Rishikesh: The peach mandap drapes fluttered beside the gushing river, the Himalayas rising gently behind. On the flower-bedecked platform, the groom locked eyes with the resplendent bride and traced a circle around her forehead in a nazar utarna gesture, just as the DJ switched to Ishq Hai. It was a Bollywood-style destination wedding, but on a budget.
At the mid-range MJ River Resort in Rishikesh, couple Gunjan Goswami and Meghna Gupta arrived from Delhi with a hand-picked set of family and friends, a far cry from the great big free-for-all Indian wedding. There was band-baaja-baraat, but the groom strode to the rocky shore of the Heul River, a tributary of the Ganga, rather than riding in on a mare.
“We wanted to make our wedding memorable,” said 27-year-old Goswami, beaming in his white sherwani. “This is a once in a lifetime thing. We manifested a destination wedding and we did it.”
More and more middle-class couples like Goswami and Gupta are skipping the banquet halls for picture-perfect, pocket-friendly escapes. While Udaipur’s 5-star palaces and Goa’s beachfront resorts are still shaadi central for the rich, a tier-2 of destination weddings is on the rise. Places like Rishikesh, Jim Corbett, Khajuraho, Mussoorie and Solan are emerging as the affordable Plan B. The bills are more manageable but the backdrops are still Insta-worthy—mountain-facing decks, riverside mandaps, forest cottages, and ancient temples, but minus the high-end markup.
The destination wedding fantasy has become more achievable for the middle class. Small wedding economies are sprouting in these new hotspots. Planners, caterers, florists, DJs are now doing brisk business in places that once figured nowhere on the marriage map.
In 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged couples to “wed in India” instead of heading abroad. Desi destination weddings aren’t new, but they were long the preserve of the elite— from British comedian Russell Brand and American pop star Katy Perry tying the knot at Aman-i-Khas outside Ranthambhore in 2010, to Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas’ three-day spectacle at Umaid Bhawan Palace in 2018.
Now, a two- or three-star version of that fantasy is finally taking off. These weddings are smaller, more customisable, and often cheaper than traditional ones held at home, especially since the entire mohalla doesn’t have to be invited. According to polls by wedding planning platform WedMeGood, 60 per cent of Indian couples planned destination weddings in 2024, up from just 21 per cent in 2023.
“Destination weddings are no longer the privilege of the wealthy. Now the middle and lower middle-class dream about it and, in the last couple of years, it has showed on the ground,” said Vikas Tiwari, manager and wedding planner at MJ River Resort, who helped plan the Goswami-Gupta wedding on 3 March. “The banks of the river Ganga could be the next big thing in the wedding industry.”
In Rishikesh, about 25 resorts now offer destination wedding packages ranging from Rs 4 to 12 lakh. Even with top-of-the-line catering and décor, small-town destination weddings are usually under Rs 20 lakh
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Scenic vistas, spirituality, shaadi ecosystem
Gunjan Goswami hadn’t initially planned a destination wedding. The original idea was to get married in Madhepura, Bihar, in a traditional Mithila ceremony.
Both he and his fiancée are originally from Bihar, but, as Goswami put it, they wanted to break from a tradition “that had been going on for centuries.”
The couple—who met during a journalism course at Delhi’s Indian Institute of Mass Communication—initially considered the big-ticket favourites: Goa, Jaisalmer. But the quotes overshot their under-Rs 10 lakh budget, and the logistics were complicated. What ticked all the boxes—scenic backdrops, spiritual vibes, manageable costs—was Rishikesh, just 220 km from Delhi.
“I’m a mountain lover. It was my heartfelt desire to get married in the mountains. When we started searching, we found Rishikesh, a place with a beautiful landscape as well as connectivity,” said Goswami, standing near the vivah mandap just a few metres from the Heul river.
They booked the MJ River Resort and invited 100 guests from across the country for a two-day celebration. The package covered everything—food and stay for all guests, décor, DJ, and full arrangements for the ceremonies. All the Mithila rituals they wanted were included.
We are organising 4-5 weddings every month. Rishikesh, which has the image of an adventure city, will soon become a city of destination weddings
-Praveen Kumar, resort owner and wedding planner in Rishikesh
On the wedding day, the bride stood by the water in her richly embroidered red lehenga, posing for the camera. When the garlands were exchanged, friends and family tossed rose petals, marigold flowers and handfuls of iridescent confetti. The priest chanted Vedic hymns as the couple circled the fire, surrounded by guests in saris and sherwanis.
“The two days that we enjoyed with the people here will be remembered for the rest of my life,” he said.
Rishikesh has long attracted tourists for its yoga retreats and white-water rafting. Now, weddings are part of the mix. A 2023 WedMeGood report noted a “shift towards destinations like Rishikesh,” where the platform lists more than a dozen wedding planners, not counting the all-inclusive packages offered by hotels and resorts. There are also listings for at least 30 bridal makeup artists, over 20 photographers, and a growing network of decorators, caterers, and DJs. The temples are a bonus.
“Rishikesh is the city of Maa Ganga and is called Devbhoomi,” said Goswami. “We could not have found a better place for a wedding than this. It’s a spiritual feeling.”
And then there are the savings.
Discount destinations
The choice of a destination determines the financial damage. In Rishikesh, about 25 resorts now offer destination wedding packages ranging from Rs 4 to 12 lakh. Even with top-of-the-line catering and décor, small-town destination weddings are usually under Rs 20 lakh, according to wedding planners who spoke to ThePrint. That’s a fraction of what it would cost in top-tier destinations such as Goa, Kerala, or Rajasthan, where prices typically start at Rs 35 lakh.
“We are fulfilling people’s dream of having a destination wedding at a low cost,” said Praveen Kumar, owner and wedding planner at India Holiday Resort in Rishikesh. “We are organising 4-5 weddings every month. Rishikesh, which has the image of an adventure city, will soon become a city of destination weddings.”
Kumar offers a package for under Rs 5 lakh that includes not just DJ and décor but also accommodation and food for 50 people for two nights and three days. For 100 guests, the price goes up to Rs 10 lakh with four functions—haldi, mehndi, sangeet and wedding.
“We are able to do this in such a small amount of money because we do everything from wedding planning to decor. We do not have to hire any other agency,” he said.
Rajasthan offers a royal wedding setup, Goa offers beaches, Kerala offers greenery. But mountains, forests, and rivers are the next thing for people who are crazy (about nature)
-Faisal Khan, founder of Dazzle Decor Wedding
It’s a blessing for budget-conscious couples, but not without trade-offs. Loud DJ music and firecrackers aren’t allowed after 10 pm in hilly or forest zones. Still, that’s rarely a dealbreaker.
“People always want to have a grand wedding but budget plays the biggest role in it,” said Faisal Khan, whose wedding company Dazzle Decor Wedding has organised 15 weddings this season at Jim Corbett National Park. Packages there start at Rs 6–7 lakh and go up to Rs 25 lakh, depending on the number of guests and the scale of the functions.
The most popular venues are along the Kosi river, framed by the surrounding mountains. “People like Corbett because the weather’s pleasant, not too hot or cold,” said Khan.
A survey by travel aggregator Skyscanner found that over 80 per cent of Indians have either had or are planning nuptials away from home. The interest is strongest among Gen Z — with 50 per cent saying they’re considering a destination wedding.
Beyond beaches and palaces
A growing number of smaller towns and sites are muscling their way onto India’s wedding must-go list.
Each comes with a different pitch. Corbett has forests and wildlife, Khajuraho has temples and waterfalls, Mussoorie brings cool mountain air, and every one of them offers a setting that feels different from the velvet-and-chandelier predictability of urban venues.
Even the usual favourites are starting to feel a bit stale, according to Faisal Khan.
“Rajasthan offers a royal wedding setup, Goa offers beaches, Kerala offers greenery. But mountains, forests, and rivers are the next thing for people who are crazy (about nature),” he said, adding that now many states are looking for better locations and building infrastructure for the destination weddings. “Riverside weddings are a new trend. Couples want to get married close to the environment and wildlife so that the wedding becomes a memorable event.”
For guests, too, destination weddings elevate the experience.
Shashank Mishra, a 27-year-old PR professional from Delhi, attended a wedding in Rishikesh this month and said it was a world away from the usual chaos. It gave him a fresh appreciation for the shaadi rituals.
“The pleasure of being present at every important moment in a destination wedding makes it a lifelong memory. This is what happened to me,” he said, fondly recalling the moment when the bride and groom took rounds of the sacred fire in a riverside pavilion.
It helped that guests stayed in plush cottages and squeezed in a mini holiday. “Spending quality time with friends in a faraway city, in the mountains, with no other worries… this will stay with me for a long time,” he added.
And it’s not just memories that linger. These weddings leave the local economy better off, too.
Not everyone is equally enchanted. One riverside wedding video drew Instagram comments that ranged from praise to pollution concerns. One commenter wrote: “Ye ban hona chahiye, yahan ab bs log kooda hi kooda faila denge”
Weddings with a policy push
India sees over one crore weddings every year and has a Rs 10 lakh crore wedding industry, according to a 2024 report by financial services firm Jefferies. The average Indian, it noted, spends twice as much on a wedding as they do on education. And more and more of that money is now flowing into destination weddings.
A survey by travel aggregator Skyscanner found that over 80 per cent of Indians have either had or are planning nuptials away from home. The interest is strongest among Gen Z — with 50 per cent saying they’re considering a destination wedding — followed by Millennials at 33 per cent.
Every year, around 5,000 destination weddings take place abroad, with an estimated Rs 50,000 crore spent on them.
Not everyone, however, can afford Ambani-style cruises, Tuscan villas like Virat and Anushka, or even the royal setups of Rajasthan. But mid-range mountain mandaps are within reach. And that’s where the new growth lies.
Wedding planner Khan credits Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this boom. A senior Uttarakhand forest officer echoed this view.
“Prime Minister Modi had called for destination weddings. The Uttarakhand government is very active in this regard and is constantly looking for new destinations,” he said. “However, since the forest and river areas are sensitive zones, we constantly monitor the resorts.”
The economic condition of the mountains is getting very bad, so I felt that I can contribute something to it. I could have spent money on the wedding in my village too, but I felt with a destination wedding I will be able to give a good experience to my family as well
-Gunjan Goswami
On 6 March, during a visit to Uttarakhand’s Harsil Valley, PM Modi again urged Indians to look closer to home for weddings.
“Why go elsewhere when we have everything here? Spend your money in India. And what could be better than Uttarakhand? I encourage people to prioritise Uttarakhand for winter weddings,” he said.
Shortly after, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a high-level meeting directing officials to improve infrastructure and identify new wedding spots across the state.
“Uttarakhand’s natural beauty, scenic landscapes, and spiritual aura make it a perfect destination for weddings. Promoting destination weddings will significantly boost tourism and the local economy,” said Dhami.
For Raghubir Singh, who has been running BMP Weddings in Delhi for the past 35 years, destination weddings are already giving a major fillip to the local economy and employment.
“Everything from decor to food is bought from the local market and all the arrangements are done by local people,” he said. Destination weddings, in his view, aren’t just about ambience—they also help spotlight India’s cultural richness and natural beauty, and could even spark global interest.
This optimism isn’t limited to Uttarakhand. Last October, at the first Wedding Tourism Summit & Expo, Tourism Minister Gajendra Shekhawat said wedding tourism could help push India toward a $1 trillion economy.
“With proper use of wedding infrastructure for other events, we can multiply its usage beyond the 70-75 days of the wedding season. If we harness our country’s geographical and cultural diversity alongside this growth, the tourism and wedding industries could be key drivers toward building a $1 trillion economy,” said Shekhawat.
Goswami, for one, said he had economics in mind too when he picked Rishikesh.
“The economic condition of the mountains is getting very bad, so I felt that I can contribute something to it,” he said. “I could have spent money on the wedding in my village too, but I felt with a destination wedding I will be able to give a good experience to my family as well.”
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Hashtags and happily ever after
Sweeping drone shots, panoramic pheras, couples mid-twirl under a petal shower—Instagram has become the digital dreambook for modern Indian weddings. And now smaller towns like Rishikesh and Jim Corbett are getting their moment in the sun, helped along by celebrity endorsements.
In March, wedding planner Praveen Kumar arranged the engagement of moto blogger Anurag Dobhal—aka UK07 Rider, with 7.9 million Instagram followers—at a Rishikesh resort. In December, Tamil actress Ramya Pandian chose the same town for her Ganges-side wedding. And last year, TV actors Surbhi Jyoti and Sumit Suri, of Qubool Hai and Ishqbaaz fame, tied the knot at a luxury resort in Jim Corbett National Park.
Wedding planners Faisal Khan and Vikas Tiwari said couples now come in asking to recreate what they’ve seen online. “When celebrities get married at these places, other people are influenced by it. A lot of inquiries come in after the photos go up on Instagram,” said Khan.
Instagram’s endless stream of influencer marketing, wedding reels, and hashtag trails—#destinationweddingindia, #indianwedding—has only intensified the pull of far-flung, film-ready venues. Some resorts even throw in a Ganga aarti to give weddings a spiritual high.
Not everyone is equally enchanted. One riverside wedding video drew Instagram comments that ranged from praise to pollution concerns. One commenter wrote: “Ye ban hona chahiye, yahan ab bs log kooda hi kooda faila denge” (This should be banned. Now people will just litter all over the place).
Still, that hasn’t stopped wedding planners from selling the dream. Several now advertise full wedding packages for Rs 4–5 lakh.
“Create unforgettable memories surrounded by stunning landscapes and exquisite venues,” read one ad for a destination wedding in Rishikesh. Another waxed poetic: “Where love meets the sacred flow of the Ganges”
One of Praveen’s Kumar’s own videos stitches together clips of couples in wedding finery walking through flower arches, strolling by the river, and gazing into the misty mountains. It’s all cinematic romance, except for the “Just Rs 5 lakh” on screen and then Kumar and his associate cutting in: “Destination wedding karani hai? Aa jao kara denge. Itne kam budget mein kara denge ki kisi ne socha nahi hoga”—Want a destination wedding? Come, we’ll arrange it. And at such a low budget, no one would’ve imagined it.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)