Bridal shows hit the road

Come September, it's going to be a jamboree of a different kind. All set to cash in on the over Rs 10,000 crore wedding industry, bridal showcases have begun to tom tom their one stop shopping destinations that offer services ranging from designer trousseaus, jewellery, personal and home accessories to beauty and wedding management, and not to forget, fortune telling.

Planned around life's mega event, close to half-a-dozen events are lined up across the country.

The six-year old Bridal Asia, the brainchild of Sandeep and Jaideep Gurwaara of Services International event management company, will take off on September 21 in Delhi.

According to Diivyaa Gurwaara, chief executive, the exhibition saw about 30,000 footfalls last year, with a whopping 25,000 converting into over Rs 70 crore of business. It fetched the company a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore.

Marwar magazine's (Arpan Publishing) Mega Wedding Show in Mumbai is scheduled for the first week of September. Last year, the five-year old event managed to get over 15,000 footfalls and raked in revenues of over Rs 10 lakh from the show.

Others like the Times group-promoted Femina Bridal Show claims footfalls of 50,000.

Its show is slated for October in Mumbai and Delhi. Also, in the fray are Delhi-based Vibha and Bride & Groom organised by the eponymous magazine.

The events bring in designers from the US, the UK and across the border. From Italian designer wear for men to Lebanese chocolates to Turkish silverware to exotic curios from Thailand, not to forget designer trousseau for women, they will have all. On offer will be India's niche textile crafts alongside couture from fashion stalwarts and jewellery from some of the big names.

Why are they doing this? Quite simply, to leverage the money that is splurged on marriages.

Take a look at the target audience. Even as glitzy wedding balls were set rolling by the Bharat Shahs, Mittals and the Roys of Lucknow, now, with increasing spending power, middle class families are seeking the flavour and ambience of elite weddings. And they don't mind overspending to get it.

Gurwaara points out to how a double income family making Rs 50,000 a month marks about Rs 30 lakh for a wedding and invariably ends up spending much more.

The average cost of a simple wedding has gone up to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2 lakh two years ago, says Pritti Kumar, director, Mega Wedding Show, adding that budgets go beyond Rs 10 crore and more for the super rich.

"Weddings are getting more personalised and lavish," she adds. With over 15 million weddings a year becoming a means to flaunt people's aspirations and status, it looks all rosy for an industry that's galloping at 20 per cent annually.

Whoever said that marriages were made in heaven?