Big fat Indian weddings travel to exotic locations abroad

MUMBAI: Casino Square is popular among Grand Prix fans for being the best spot in Monaco to drown in the adrenaline-boosting, collective roar ofFormula One racing cars. Horses and elephants are not the kind of four-legged beasts one expects to see on this track. Over here, the word 'horse' is always paired with 'power' to talk about car engines and not about the animal whose female species leads the traditional North Indian baraat.

But on a nippy day in March last year, Casino Square changed gear and the thunder of race cars was replaced by a cacophony of noises that came from a fat, slow-moving Indian baraat. Riding a white mare, the Indian groom, the CEO of a luxury company, led a procession of guests, backed up by two elephants, all making their way to a five-star hotel in Monaco for an even fatter, Rs 44 crore Indian wedding.

Monaco may have not seen anything quite like that, but there are quite a few destinations across the globe where Indian weddings are not a rare sight. In the last three to four years, Indian weddings have not only been exported to unusual venues like Formula One tracks, but also to places conventionally preferred by couples in the West, like beaches, mountains and jungle resorts (in this context, the term, Indian wedding refers to couples who reside in India, but fly abroad with their family and friends to get married). These weddings are multi-crore events and evidently so, it is a niche segment. That is probably the only reason why foreign tourism bodies that are otherwise meticulous in data collection have not yet culled statistics to monitor the growth of the Indian wedding market. But there is enough anecdotal evidence that suggests that the past few years have seen a rise in Indian weddings made in foreign locales.

Last week, tourism officials from Mauritius flew into Mumbai with itineraries that included meetings scheduled with wedding planners. "In the last three years, at least 13 to 14 big Indian weddings with 200-1,200 guests have been held in Mauritius,'' said Micheal Yeung Sik Yuen, Mauritius's tourism minister. Though there are flights between India and Mauritius, Air Mauritius operated about five charter aircraft during these years to ferry the wedding guests. Though Mauritius does not attract as many Indian tourists, it has turned into a favourite wedding destination for the desis. So much so that last year, a special committee was formed by Mauritius to exclusively handle the wedding segment.

Another favourite wedding destination is South Africa, which has made its appearance on quite a few invite cards.

Hanneli Slabber, country manager, SA Tourism, India, said, "We probably receive 10-15 Indian inquiries per year. However, not all these are from Indians living in India, but from Indian couples living around the world. They include multi-cultural weddings where one of the couple is Indian."

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