Remember the rich American millionaire and his arm-candy in Bunty aur Babli who aspire to buy the Taj Mahal for the ultimate romantic wedding? Well, Steve and Julie of the United Kingdom were not quite as ambitious but close.

When they planned their wedding, the couple wanted to realise their long-cherished dream—to tie the knot at the ultimate monument of love: the Taj Mahal. So, they flew down to India, had a de rigueur Indian wedding, with the accompanying rituals, ceremonies and fanfare and then exchanged rings in the backdrop of the marble wonder.

Steve and Julie are not alone. As more and more couples from around the world look for unique ways to wed at exotic destinations, wedding tourism has become a multi-billion dollar global industry. Wedding tourism as a legitimate and upcoming part of the tourism industry is a phenomenon that has taken off worldwide in the past three-four years, with Britain, US, Australia and Japan sending out the largest number of couples worldwide to romantic cities for destination weddings, be it South Africa, Scotland, Thailand, Switzerland, the Caribbean, UAE or Sri Lanka.

Increasingly, India has been figuring on the agenda for this increasing tribe of adventure romantics. “India represents colour, culture and exoticism and all this is very appealing to couples on the lookout for exciting new wedding destinations,” says Jairaj Gupta, CEO, Shaadionline.

Take Anne Hawking and Robert Martin, graphic designers from Australia, who had an elaborate Indian wedding at a fort in Rajasthan, complete with Anne assuming the name of Chandni and arriving on a palki and Robert as Shergill lugging a prince’s armour. While their style was more exotic, for Sophie Kjeldsen and Luke Ormes, copywriters from UK, nothing less than a completely sanctimonious Hindu wedding with a pandit and mandap at a temple in Benaras and of course a Benarsi sari, would do.

... contd.