‘Muhurat’ or ‘saya’ is common practice in India to determine an auspicious or favourable time to get married. Muhurat dates spike demand for wedding venues during the specific date and time, with families making bookings nearly one year in advance to ensure that they get the venue of their liking. However, a recent data from Weddingz.in shows that the trend is seeing a shift and weddings are now extending beyond Muhurat dates.
In 2022, 57% of wedding venue bookings during busy season of November & December were for non-muhurat dates. This is a 1.7X jump from pre-Covid levels of 2019 where only 34% of weddings were booked for non-muhurat dates. Most bookings for weddings during non-muhurat dates came from Pune, Jaipur, Delhi NCR, Nagpur & Mumbai. Over the years, there has been a gradual increase in wedding venue bookings for non-muhurat dates with 46% in 2020 & 50% in 2021.
Speaking about this trend, Aditya Sharma, Business Head, Weddingz.in said, “The younger lot, as we have seen, breaks many common practices and norms and bookings during only specific muhurat dates is one of them. Wedding during non-muhurat days are also cost effective.”
Weddings in India are estimated to be a $50 billion industry. According to industry reports over 32 lakh weddings were solemnized between November-December 2022.
