The AI-Powered Wedding

How Tech is Rewriting the Big Fat Indian Wedding

- Anushka Manik

I still remember my sister's wedding, almost a decade ago — a glorious blur of chaos.

The guest list was scribbled in a diary that kept disappearing, the florist went missing on the sangeet day, and the baraat playlist lived on three different pen drives (none of which worked when needed). It was peak Big Fat Indian Wedding energy — beautiful, emotional, and completely unorganised.

Cut to 2025, and your mandap is designed in 3D before a single marigold is ordered, your save-the-date is an augmented reality (AR) movie, and the planner’s WhatsApp is buzzing with Al-generated moodboards. Welcome to the phygital shaadi era - where tradition meets technology, and love gets a little help from the cloud.

The Indian wedding industry, currently valued at over ₹4.7 trillion, is undergoing its own digital renaissance. From QR-coded invites to budget-planning apps, technology is now the quiet (and efficient) plus-one behind the scenes. But the heart of the Big Fat Indian Wedding? That remains as emotional, and chaotic as ever. The Indian wedding services market alone was valued at USD 103.93 billion in 2024, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.3% through 2030. With roughly 8-10 million weddings yearly, the industry is the fourth-largest consumer category in India - behind only food and groceries and ahead of big-ticket categories like apparel or electronics. In 2024 alone, the core wedding season (October-December) generated nearly ₹6 trillion in business from an estimated 4.8 million weddings.

So, when designers and planners talk about 'going digital', they're not just indulging in shop talk - they're adapting to large scale tech interventions that have impact on the wedding industry and client experience.

Invitations, Reimagined