Indian Wedding: India or Thailand?
Updated: Sep 14, 2019
Welcome to the great Indian wedding showdown. As we talked about when deciding between America or India for your Indian wedding, location is important. In this week's post I'll look at the pros and cons of doing a wedding in the homeland versus the Thai-land. Here are 5 notes to keep in mind when deciding if you should have your Indian wedding in Thailand or India.
1. A Thai Wedding can potentially cost the same, or cheaper.
The big fat Indian wedding is no longer as cheap as you think.
A standard wedding at a Taj or Leela palace in Jaipur or Goa can cost you even more than the Ritz Carlton in any other country.
There is massive marriage competition, so if you're looking at the restort/five-star experience (as opposed to a marriage hall or simple venue), then I would argue feel free to look at Thailand as well. My cousin brother is getting married in Goa and my actual brother is getting married a week later in Bangkok so ask me in the comments a week from now and I'll update you on the costs.
Update: As of March 2019 the costs between a wedding in Goa and Bangkok/Phuket are roughly the same. You're looking at per-plate cost of around $50 USD per guests assuming a wide spread of food and drinks in both countries.
2. Where are the majority of your guests?
There is a joke amongst anyone who plans a wedding.
You'll hear it when your time comes.
And that joke is quite simply "If you want to reduce your headcount do a destination wedding."
If you're deciding between Thailand and India versus say America and India, chances are most guests are in India and South East Asia. If the majority are in India, and you want a majority to come...do it there. If SEA, you get the idea. If it's 50/50, and it makes sense, I would argue you do it in Thailand. You get a clever mix of food, we Indians love the spicy and you'll get all the comforts of India easily there as well. (For some reason I love the chicken tikka masala more in Thailand I have no clue why.) Plus nice beaches and all that jazz for Thailand where people can island-hop pre/post wedding.
3. Has anyone done your hotel before?
Hua Hin has honestly become an Indian wedding factory.
Specifically the Sheraton Hua Hin probably does a different Indian wedding every 3 days.
That's not a bad thing, it's just you'll have to make sure nobody really in YOUR CIRCLE has been there or done a wedding there recently.
We all want our wedding to be special, so make sure you ask around, take inventory of all the weddings in your family and plan accordingly.
4. Time of Year
Thailand is humid in December, but Delhi is freezing.
Goa is super expensive in January, and Chinese New Years keeps Thailand fully booked in February.
Keep all these in mind.
It will affect your flights, your hotel prices, availability, your guest's convenience. Don't forget major holidays' like Diwali and so on!
5. Luggage & Cargo
One tricky part about having a destination wedding is you don't really want to take back 90 sarees in a suitcase from Phuket to Mumbai.
So depending on what your wedding requires, whether it's outside vendors (your favorite band from Bangalore) or specific lighting and food requirements (yes, people do fly their favorite chefs from India to Thailand per wedding), make sure you factor all this in mind.
Bonus Tip: Indians love spicy food and one great way to stand out at your Indian wedding is to have an abundance of Thai food and Indian food which guests will rave about. But again, all up to you. I also love Goa for weddings!
So what do you guys think? Any questions? Give us a shout on Facebook or Instagram or comment below!