Image source: vocso.com
The wedding industry in India is an ever-expanding business that has been experiencing some significant improvements with modernization. With such progress, you shouldn’t miss this opportunity of investing in this lucrative industry. Being an entrepreneur, you’re looking to kick-starting your own wedding aggregator portal, right? But you’re still unaware of the complete journey from a kickstart to a business empire. Am I correct?
But don’t worry because this guide is here to answer all your queries. Here you’ll get solutions on how you can expand your existing wedding aggregation business, or kick-start a new one from scratch. By doing so, you can extract more profit while implementing modernity in your services and workflow. This will eventually help you achieve an ever-growing customer base in the Indian wedding industry.
If you ever noticed the complete journey from ‘Mehndi’ to ‘Vidaai’, then you may have an idea about the complexities during those four days. Organizing an Indian wedding ceremony requires substantial responsibilities and the workforce, not just physically, but also mentally. As a solution, there are numerous wedding planning aggregator portals that can professionally organize an entire wedding event.
Marriages are made in heaven
This old adage signifies the importance of wedding ceremonies since the early days of Indian rituals. A wedding is a ceremony where two people, or perhaps, two lovers are tied in a knot, with the blessings from Lord Brahma. Wedding ceremonies are awesome, memorable, and once-in-a-lifetime events that everyone hopes forward to. Thus, it’s a dream for everyone to make it exotic, even after the party is over.
But Indian wedding ceremonies can sometimes be hectic. Not because of the complexity of Indian rituals, but for the arrangements after ensuring the best experience for the guests. From planning the theme to decorations to managing the band performance, to serving the guests, everything must be neatly organized.
Organizing everything from head to toe, without any hassle, is quite troublesome. That’s where one should engage a wedding planner. A wedding planner is a professional or a group of professionals who assists with the planning and management of their client’s wedding. Weddings are significant events in anyone’s life, and thus, most people agree to spend considerable amounts of money, just to ensure their wedding ceremony is neat and well-organized.
Not everyone is aware of each necessity in wedding events. Thus, wedding planners play an essential role in ensuring the perfection of any wedding event. The Indian wedding space is now a multi-billion dollar industry with ever-growing business engagements. The market is enormous, especially in the USA, India, China, and Western Europe. Popular wedding portals to organize and manage wedding events had been present ever since 1997.
These statistics are quite interesting because, during that year, people who had internet access consisted of less than 0.1% of the total population. And today, with new technologies emerging every day, the internet and smartphones have brought some significant changes in the culture of the Indian wedding. New startups and businesses are rising to match the expectations and tastes of this new generation.
You might think wedding aggregators execute everything on their own. But this is not always the exact cause. A popular wedding planning aggregator is tied in business with several small-scale vendors like decorators, caterers, lighting suppliers, flower vendors, and more. And this is not just bound in one city/state. Wedding planners from Delhi can have suppliers from Kolkata too. This ensures the maximum quality of materials without the involvement of logistics.
Let’s now have a deep dive into the flourishing industry of wedding planning aggregators. We’ll discuss how the internet is changing this industry, who are making their fortunes in this industry, what services do they offer, and the total deployment cost of wedding planning portals. Like I said earlier, you’ll get answers to all your questions regarding organizing an auspicious wedding ceremony.
Growth of the wedding industry in past decades
The online wedding aggregation industry is evolving, parallel to the growth of the internet and smartphones. That’s why, compared to the past decades, this industry has experienced some considerable economic growths as the average expenditure after wedding ceremonies have increased dramatically. On average, people in India spend almost 20% of their lifetime income just after their wedding ceremony. Therefore, you can understand why several startups are looking for a fortune here.
Nowadays, Indian weddings have one primary goal. That is to ensure a memorable experience by focusing on the maximum opulence possible. Recently, Indian weddings have started to become more modern and sleek. Everything is all about satisfying the guests. That’s why destination weddings are becoming a thing now to showcase as supremacy as possible. Let’s now look at some vital statistics that clarify the growth of the Indian wedding industry in past decades.
The Indian wedding industry is the second-largest on the planet, following the US. With an estimated worth of $50+ billion, there are some prominent opportunities for the Indian wedding industry to prosper. However, this amount was less than $10 billion, only a decade back. More than 10 million wedding events take place in India each year, which calculates to 30,000 wedding events each day. This provides an endless stream of customers for wedding planning aggregators to serve.
Especially during the winter season, there’s a spike in wedding ceremonies. Therefore, every manufacturer and dealer involved in wedding-related goods eagerly waits for this season to push their business. In major cities in India, the total expenses of arranging a wedding ceremony can spike up to $300,000 that lasts not more than a week. It’s just an average value, and there’s no upper limit though.
It’s speculated that by the end of 2021, the Indian wedding aggregation industry can reach $80 billion worth of value. And the cool thing is that it may even surpass the US. Based on this immense growth, wedding planners have already started to bump up their consultancy fees up to 15% of the total wedding budget.
How is the web changing the wedding and event industry landscape in India?
Ever since the revolution of computers and the internet, it has been playing some crucial roles in modernizing society. The wedding industry isn’t an exception either. Being a $50 billion industry, the Indian wedding industry is an integral part of the Indian economy. Thus, there’s no excuse for technology, not to have a share. As I mentioned, it all started in 1997, is the introductory year for matrimonial sites. Before that, matchmaking was severely shattered and relied mostly on traditional matchmakers or ‘Ghataks’.
The next noticeable improvement occurred in the wedding planning aggregation space. Whereas previously, material vendors were popular, only mouth-to-mouth. In today’s internet revolution where creating stunning websites and blogs are a piece of cake, material vendors have moved towards developing their online presence. This not only builds a platform to showcase their business but also helps to contact them.
Most of them have partnered with wedding planning aggregators to ensure the maximum flow of customers towards their business. This gave birth to another space of professionalism, and that is vendor aggregation. This brings all material vendors under one roof, from where couples can book everything in one package. This has helped them save some time, effort, and money as well.
Even custom software and mobile applications are available to schedule events, manage supplies, and communicate with crucial members who are looking after specific departments like catering, decorations, lightings & DJs. Paying for the bills is also seamless with numerous digital payment portals. The more technology has evolved, then it’s been more convenient for couples to arrange their wedding ceremony, without getting tangled in the complexities.
The next big leap is social media platforms, where matchmaking sites are also important. Previously, it was a heck of a challenge to distribute invitation cards among guests. This ended up people traveling thousands of kilometers to a relative’s home. All thanks to the internet, beautiful digital wedding invitation cards can be sent to other parts of the world with messaging services.
The ability to share your experiences at the wedding party is another gift from technology. Especially Facebook and Instagram have made it possible to share memories of what you’ve experienced. This also opens a window for the couple’s friends and relatives to enjoy the ceremony, without being physically present.
Capturing precious memories through the camera had always been present, but not as drastically as we see today. Recently, there’s another trend of live streaming the wedding event on Facebook and YouTube. Forget about posting photos and videos, people can now enjoy it live from anywhere. All these technological advancements benefit the wedding industry to become more pleasurable for everyone.
Best wedding planning aggregator portals in India
The ease of developing beautiful websites has allowed wedding planning aggregators to have an online approach towards their customers. Wedding planning aggregators are in a business partnership with numerous material vendors for the necessary supply of anything from decoration and lighting stuff, raw food items, flowers, and furniture arrangements.
This has also helped the vendors to expand their business throughout the country. In most cases, it also brings down the overall expenses after vending materials. The experience, knowledge, and professionalism of wedding aggregators ensure nothing will be compromised throughout the entire wedding event.
The Indian wedding industry is both flourishing and economically profitable. Thus, several startups have tried their fortunes in this ever-expanding industry. Well, many have succeeded too. Here are seven such startups that are doing marginally well in the wedding and event aggregation space in India. So, let’s read their success story.
The Wedding Rose
The Wedding Rose is a luxury wedding planner, operating mainly in New Delhi/NCR. Founded in 2008, they provide venues and top-class Indian catering services from New Delhi and nearby places. With more than 500 page views each day, The Wedding Rose is one of the most popular wedding planning aggregators in Delhi NCR. As a customer, you can expect all sorts of stylish wedding arrangements that will definitely steal your guest’s attention.
360Venue
If you’re looking for top-notch and luxurious wedding destinations and banquet halls in your city, then you must consider 360 Venue as your wedding aggregator. They aim to provide the convenience of making a quick reservation at your chosen banquet hall. 360 Venue is a one-stop solution from booking venues to vendor services. With a team of professionals, they aim to help their clients find the perfect venue for any kind of program, including wedding events.
ZoWed
According to ZoWed, a wedding is a week-long marathon backed by months of significant planning. Serving hundreds of guests according to their satisfaction and keeping two families entertained, is quite challenging. That’s why they deliver the richest services in wedding aggregation with their team of most experienced professionals. With top vendors around the country, they ensure the best quality of decorations, catering, and event management, all by staying under your budget.
7x Weddings
7x Weddings is another aggregator that offers best-in-class services at an affordable price. With ten years of experience in the wedding space, they’ve served more than 250 wedding events and covered 15 destination weddings. They excel in delivering each service as neatly as possible. Their offerings include wedding decoration, destination weddings, entertainment activities, food and beverage services, transportations and logistics, vendor management, make-up artist bookings, and much more.
Set My Wed
Unlike most other wedding planning aggregators, Set My Wed operates throughout the nation. They aim to transform your wedding days into the best days of your life. With a professional workforce and trusted vendors around the country, they ensure top-notch services to impress your guests. They have arrangements for photographers, DJs, make-up artists, and many more. You can learn more by visiting their stunning website and viewing their exotic photo galleries.
Dreamz Wedding Planner
Just tell them about your dream, and they’ll make it real. Dreamz Wedding Planner is one of the most premium wedding planners in India for its destination wedding services. They provide wedding services in Goa, Jaipur, Agra, and Andaman & Nicobar. Not only these, but you can also choose your preferred destination, and they’ll arrange it there too. Their wide range of hand-tailored wedding packages can both match your expectations and your budget.
Sloshout
Wedding events are just another feather in their hat. Moreover, they offer services like birthday parties, corporate parties, family festivals, and more. On their website, simply select your city and the service you want, and they’ll wow you with their exotic, as well as affordable services. Sloshout is also famous for destination weddings with its scenic venues across India. Just tell them about your event, and they’ll organize it as you have never seen it before.
Features of wedding aggregator portals
Above all, wedding planning portals bring together groups of wedding material vendors under one roof. This not only benefits individual vendors to proliferate their business but also assists their customers to book everything under one single package. Such conveniences entirely eliminate any hassles that are caused while booking individual vendors separately.
Reading behemoth chunks of paragraphs is hectic, so let’s not go there. Instead, with the following bullet points, let’s see what features and handy functionalities do successful wedding planning portals offer.
Front End
- Searching vendors by category, budget, and event type
- Searching wedding services/vendors via location and radius
- Maps Based Browsing & Search
- Comparison Options
- Booking & Enquiry
- Eye-catching gallery of photos & videos of venue & services
- Review and rating options
- Easy and secure payment services
- Event reservation and management
Vendor Panel
- Management of multiple services and/or locations
- Upload Multiple Images, Videos & 360
- Manage Package Offers & Pricing
- Manage Amenities
- Booking Calendar
- Leads Management
- Area Selection
Back End Panel
- Vendor Management
- Booking/Enquiry Management
- Lead Costs Management
- Location Management
- Area-Lead Costs Metrics
- Rating Management
- Category – Dynamic Filters Management
General
- Lead Capture
- Lead Matching Algorithm
- Lead Escalation metrics
- Radius Search
- Dynamic Search Filters
- Dynamic – SEO Friendly Pages
- Responsive – adaptable to different screen sizes
- Strong reporting dashboard
- Analytics
- Ease of future scalability – e.g. adding new vendor/service
Planning and development of a wedding service portal
So, after knowing about the business opportunities in the Indian wedding industry, you’re probably thinking of testing your fortune in this space, right? Well, for this you’ll need a robust portal, using which you can showcase your services to your potential customers. This will also assist you in managing your sources and vendors.
Being present in the Indian wedding industry, you can either opt for a website or a mobile application, or both. This will act as your wedding portal to showcase and highlight your services before your customers. With emerging technology that’s getting simplified day by day, it’s now easier to build your personalized website or app. Let’s penetrate deeper with the following step-by-step guide.
Step 1: Designing your portal and feature implementations
Have you understood the features of wedding aggregator portals? Because that contains the most important services that one successful wedding aggregator portal must implement. You may also come up with new ideas, or exclude ones that you feel aren’t appropriate for your business.
Step 2: Developing the app/web portal
Now, it’s time to engage an app/web development agency to bring together your pieces. Not just adding handy features, but the UI design of your app/web portal helps in attracting more customers. Thus, make sure you’re getting seamless UI elements, easy navigation, and especially, multiple language support.
Step 3: Deploying your app/web portal on the internet
Is Portal development done? Now all is left to deploy your website to the internet and your application to the app stores. With a smart digital marketing campaign, you can build a potential infrastructure for marketing, showcasing, and highlighting your services in the space of the Indian wedding industry. It’s now more comfortable for your customers to know and book your services with one click.
Step 4: Post-development management
Make sure that your team is updating the app/web portal with the latest information, services, and announcements. Updating current rates, replying to customer queries, and assisting them with their decision are some of the crucial challenges that one needs to undertake as a full-time responsibility.
The development cost of a wedding planning portal
The development cost relies on the number of hours invested, features and technologies implemented, and service charges of the developer agency itself. As I mentioned, wedding planning portals can either be web applications or regular mobile applications. If you choose web applications, the development cost is relatively low, as resides around $5,000 for an eye-catching and stable website.
On the other hand, if you prefer developing a mobile application for Android or iOS platforms, then you might end up spending some extravagant amounts. With standard functionalities, the development cost for an Android app is around $15,000. This number can spike as high as $30,000 if you’re developing for iOS platform. Because iOS is closed-source and requires extensive knowledge and development tools.
If you wish to build all three of the portals mentioned above at once, which is the most suggestive, you’ll need to spend around $40,000 only. Furthermore, the charges will increase after domain hosting fees, and paying for app debut on popular app stores like Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
Conclusion
As you just read from the above lines: the wedding industry in India is ever-growing and flourishing with endless opportunities for business. You should definitely test your business fortune by becoming a wedding planning aggregator on your own. And in this case, too, you’ve to design an online approach towards your customers.
I’ve already discussed everything including the importance of the Indian wedding industry, its growth in recent decades, its business opportunities in the near future, and how you can expand your existing business into this lucrative industry. So, what are you waiting for? Get off your couch, start preparing your hopeful business model and dominate the Indian wedding industry being a prominent wedding aggregator.
