"Having total strangers at our wedding was an exciting prospect."
Big fat Indian weddings are quite an experience to be a part of.
If you haven’t received an invitation, now’s your chance to attend, but at the price of a ticket.
The founders of an Australia-based startup, Join My Wedding, offers an opportunity for foreigners to ‘Discover & attend unique weddings across the Globe’.
Those who wish to attend one can run a simple search for the date, location and wedding type.
They can either register with the website or log in via Facebook.
Ticket costs start from around US$300 (£229). Guests have the option to pay with their credit cards or via PayPal.
For those looking for ways to cover the cost of their wedding, they can register details of their big day on the website and encourage people to attend.
Couples can even invite friends and family to help finance their extravagant Indian weddings. Latest figure show these cost an average of £58,000 in Canada and £191,000 in the US.
So, where did this fascinating idea develop from?
Marketing Head Pallavi Savant explains the idea sprung when their strategy head, Márti Matécsa, attended a wedding in Tamil Nadu in 2012:
Speaking with the Deccan Chronicle, Pallavi recalls: “She (Marti) was very enamoured by the wedding, the flowers, the jewellery and the colours.
“Weddings in the West are rather limited in terms of rituals, and are on a much smaller scale than Indian and Asian weddings.”
Márti then joined hands with her friend and entrepreneur, Orsi Parkanyi, and Pallavi to provide the unique service.
The idea of complete strangers attending one’s marriage ceremony has intrigued several soon-to-be married couples.
Namrata Nataraj and Nitin Bathi, who are selling tickets to their special day for $300 per person, say:
“We’ve not seen anyone selling tickets to their wedding ever. So, having total strangers at our wedding was an exciting prospect.”
Join My Wedding charges a 15 per cent commission fee. They currently offer services in cities like Udaipur and Mumbai.
They have ventured out to weddings in Russia and some Eastern European countries as well.
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