Meet The Millennials Who Foot Their Own Wedding Bills

But times are changing, even if in a small way, as the younger generation has different ideas. A new breed of young couples is taking charge of their wedding expenditure, either fully or at least the bulk of it, for various reasons.

A  recent study conducted by IndiaLends, an online marketplace for credit products, shows that 42 percent of the 1,200 millennials surveyed across 20 cities plan to self-fund their wedding. The number was even higher for women - 60 percent of those surveyed showed interest in paying for their weddings.

Financially independent, not burdening parents

Moneycontrol spoke with a few married and soon-to-be-married couples on what got them to self-fund their wedding and what worked.

Some didn’t want to burden their parents, while others wanted the freedom of organising the wedding their way. The bride’s jewellery, however, is something that parents continue to save for, even in these cases.

For the very social Bhargava and Dadhich, the desire to give the right wedding party experience to their friends meant that they handled the finances themselves.

According to many of these couples, what also worked was a long courtship before they got married. “Ours was a love marriage. We were making all the decisions, so the finances also came into our hands. In an arranged marriage, the parents decide everything,” says Bhargava.

Chhabra, who had an arranged marriage, however, presents a different viewpoint. She met her future spouse on shaadi.com, and says, “It’s very important to keep things clear and set the right expectations from the initial stage itself. This helps avoid any misunderstandings.”

Marriage? Yes, but education first

Even some financial advisors we spoke to said that planning for children’s weddings is no longer a top priority for parents.

Kalpesh Ashar, a certified financial planner, says that even when planning for their children, parents are now slowly shifting their priorities. “Children’s education is the primary goal for a majority of parents. Apart from that, some are setting aside a few assets (a flat, or fixed deposits or equity investments) for their daughters as a safety net in case the marriage does not work out. But very few new-age parents are setting aside a large sum for weddings,” he observes.

Renu Maheshwari, a SEBI-registered investment advisor and founder of Finscholarz Wealth Manager, agrees: “Education gets the highest priority. While those with daughters still want to provision for a wedding, increasingly, we are also seeing many budgeting for weddings only if they have a surplus after planning for other goals.”

Pratibha Girish, a certified financial planner and founder, Finwise Personal Finance Solutions, however, offers a slightly different perspective. She says, “The majority of the parents are focused on an overseas higher education to start with. But as time passes, they start increasing their allocation to marriage and even make some adjustments to their retirement corpus, though not to the extent of jeopardising it.”

As more and more young couples take control of their wedding expenses, more parents will perhaps be able to set aside a larger corpus for retirement.

Saving and investing

So, how do these couples plan for their wedding expenses? According to a few, while they didn’t do it as part of a conscious plan, they had accumulated savings over several years of working.

Others, such as Dhanesh Kandhari, a public relations professional, had about 2-2.5 years to save for his wedding this December. “I continued to save 70 percent of my income even as my salary went up.” Talking specifically about this year, he says, “In the last year, I have not been investing much, except in FDs. I have been sceptical of equity given the way markets have been. I wasn’t sure if, at the time of exit, I would make a loss or not.” This, in simple words, is called asset allocation; a skill that Kandhari used smartly as he neared his financial goal.

Suresh says his investment background has proven helpful. “I started investing in crypto in 2014. I accumulated enough bitcoins and sold five of them for our wedding in November 2019. Had I waited a year longer, I would have had to sell only one bitcoin,” he quips.

Keep expenses under control

Offering tips to other couples planning their wedding expenses, Majee says it helps to start early. “We started the wedding preparations a year in advance. So, we had ample time to figure out what fit our budget.”

Chhabra talks about how hosting functions within a day’s gap and at the same venue, and staying away from wasteful rituals such as the bride’s parents gifting the newly-wed couple brand new household items, helped. Kandhari’s smart move in the past few years has been to buy gold during the Shradh period. This is traditionally considered to be an inauspicious period and is, therefore, a time when gold prices tend to be lower.

Almost everyone talked about the importance of having a budget in place and a buffer of up to 20 percent.

And finally, Maheshwari has this advice for all young couples. “I have seen many youngsters from humble backgrounds taking personal loans to fund their wedding to keep up with the Joneses. They feel they are young and can repay it easily. But that’s financial illiteracy.” In simple words, avoid loans to fund your wedding.

So, what does data show on how millennials are planning to fund their wedding? The IndiaLends survey shows that of those wanting to self-fund, 41.2 percent plan to use their savings, 26.1 percent are considering personal loans, and the remaining 27.7% are undecided.