A promise in their pockets

Don't stand on ceremony. More Indian millennials are picking up the tabs for their own weddings. The soirées are smaller, more intimate, but there's money left over for ever after. See how four couples pulled it off

- Anushree Chatterjee

At wedding season this year, don't be surprised if some receptions have fewer than 100 guests. Don't balk if the décor and buffet are pared down. And do congratulate the bride and groom a little extra if other frills are missing. They've probably funded the whole shindig out of their own pocket.

Even as big weddings remain the norm, more Indians are opting to self-finance their weddings, with zero financial input and expectations from the parents. A survey conducted by loan provider IndiaLends and matrimony website Betterhalf late last year polled 2,100 people between ages 21 and 35.

About 70% of them said they wanted a traditional wedding ceremony but would like to fund it themselves. The new #CoupleGoals: Financial independence and autonomy in how married life plays out.

Strategy and finance managers Sindhura Deverakonda and Pranjal Kalita met at work in Hyderabad and dated for four years before getting married in Visakhapatnam in December 2019. She's from Andhra Pradesh. He's from Assam. He was 30 then. She was 28. They knew that a union would be challenging for their families. "We didn't want unnecessary rituals and expectations of gifts on either side," Deverakonda says. Self-funding the wedding seemed like a good way ahead.