You are invited to a wedding in India?
Make the most of it — and explore India before or after the wedding on your own 1–2 week journey!
More and more people in Europe are getting to know Indians — as fellow students, colleagues, or through international projects. When weddings take place in India, the celebrations are often grand, with hundreds or even more than 1,000 guests. Not only relatives are invited, but also friends and acquaintances. Perhaps you, too, have received an invitation.
What now?
If time and budget allow, definitely accept the invitation — and be sure to plan a few extra days for your trip!
Indian families usually take wonderful care of their foreign guests, arranging accommodation and often even offering a small sightseeing program. But if you’re already there, why not take the opportunity to discover even more of the country?
An Indian Wedding
Weddings in India can vary greatly — depending on the region, religion, and family background. Whether in the mountains of Ladakh, the palaces of Rajasthan, the beaches of Goa, or in major cities like Mumbai, each wedding has its own unique style.
They do, however, share one thing in common: the celebrations are colorful, festive, and often lavish. Large numbers of guests, magnificent attire, music, dancing, and delicious food shape the days surrounding the wedding. The festivities often extend over several days, including pre-wedding rituals, henna ceremonies, and lively evening dance celebrations.
As a guest, you are warmly welcomed! Even distant acquaintances are included, well cared for, and drawn into conversations. Indian weddings are not just a celebration for the bride and groom, but a major social event where families, friends, neighbors, and often entire communities come together. They are an expression of tradition, identity, and joy for life — vibrant, colorful, emotional, and unforgettable.
An experience that will stay with you for a long time!
Travelorganization
A large Indian wedding often lasts several days, and sometimes there are gaps between the celebrations or before and after the hosts’ organized events. This is a great opportunity to plan an additional 1–2 weeks of your own itinerary — which we can coordinate to fit smoothly with the wedding schedule.
- If you’d like to shop for local attire beforehand
-> we go shopping with you. - If you’d like to have more insight into indian life
-> we organize Homestays and encounters for you. - If you like to take care of your body afterwards
-> we arrange an ayurvedic treatment for you. - If after all these celebrations you long for silence
-> we abduct you to the quiet places in India. - If there are more attractive destinations nearby the wedding
-> we create an appealing itinerary - If you like to spot the indian animals
-> we’ll send you out on a wildlife-spotting and/or birdwatching excursion - If you want to dive deeper into spiritality
-> we organize encounters with yoga teachers or visits of special places. - If you feel like more activity (in nature)
-> we suggest you hikes, trekkings or cycle trips. - If you are interested in handicraft
-> we visit with you manufactures and wonderful shops. - If your memory card still needs more amazing photos
-> we take you to impressive motives.
PMaybe it should be a combination of these experiences? Rely on our ideas and excellent organization, and …
… just enjoy the trip around the wedding!
Wedding in Delhi with sightseeing programme
K. and F., a couple from Bavaria, were invited to a wedding in Delhi — including an additional sightseeing program with the Taj Mahal, palaces, and more. They came to us with the wish to experience even more of the country and its people afterward. So, we sent them off into the desert…
Here is their story:
The wedding celebrations began with a meet-and-greet pool party at our hotel. The food was delicious, the people friendly and open, and dancers from Rajasthan entertained the guests. The wedding itself was a bit long-winded, as you might expect, but naturally very interesting for us. Our traditional Bavarian dancers then performed a Schuhplattler with the groom in his “wedding outfit,” which was highly entertaining for the Indian family. They were also quite amazed when they watched us doing a couple’s dance — I suppose it’s not customary in India for men and women to dance arm in arm.
The tour was exhausting — palaces, temples, and more in abundance — but of course very interesting and well organized by the wedding couple. However, we also experienced firsthand here that in India, time doesn’t seem to be a priority. Everything was delayed by at least 30 to 90 minutes, which seems to be completely normal for locals.
Our desert tour began with meeting Bhawani, who was immediately likeable, even though he initially seemed a bit reserved — something that changed over time. Well, he didn’t really know what was coming his way. 🙂 He took us to a mayor who is a Bishnoi, a community we had already heard about here in Germany. We asked him whether they actually live here too. This faith-based community is known for protecting animals and defending their rights.
With Bhawani in Siana, it was extremely pleasant, and the men who work for him treated us politely and courteously — which initially felt a bit unusual for us, as we’re not used to being served in that way.
The desert tour went perfectly, and we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the landscape and the desert inhabitants. I (K.) even cried once, because it was so beautiful and I knew we would probably only experience this once in our lifetime. Above all, meeting the children in the desert touched me deeply.
We slept on the camel cart under the open sky and had some animal visitors on the first night: two bulls were bellowing and fighting right next to our sleeping spot, and later at night, something cat-like jumped next to me but quickly ran off, startled. The food in the desert was a bit repetitive (mostly rice with alternating vegetables and dhal), but honestly, we were so well taken care of and completely satisfied. The best part was always the fresh fruit, and we truly enjoyed every day.
I (K.) rode the camel Mumal for two days, and on the third day switched to the camel cart, because I couldn’t sit any longer. The camel handlers tried to teach us some Hindi and chatted with us, which was both funny and interesting for us. F. managed the entire tour and thoroughly enjoyed riding the camel Suwa.
It was a wonderful trip that we will never forget. We also got to know Suman and Mitu, Bhawani’s wife and daughter, and got along very well with them. Suman took great care of us and even accompanied us back to the hotel at night in a tuk-tuk, since our taxi didn’t show up.
Thank you for this incredible India experience — we will always fondly remember the people who welcomed us so warmly and kindly.
Wedding in Mumbai in 2 parts
J. and her mother H. were invited to a wedding in Mumbai, which takes place in two parts: first in Mumbai, followed by an invitation for guests to spend a night in Kolhapur. A few days later, further celebrations take place.
Since neither of them had ever been to India, they wanted an introduction to the country along with additional arrangements for the times in between and afterward — all within a manageable distance. So, we shaped their India trip to include Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Karnataka for a complete experience…
Here is their feedback:
First of all: it was absolutely wonderful! A truly horizon-expanding journey that swept away all our previous fears. The people were so incredibly kind to us! And we didn’t get sick either.
Even the start was fantastic – we came out of Mumbai airport and there was a friendly, smiling man holding a hand-painted welcome sign on fabric with our names on it. We were even allowed to keep it, and I’ve hung it up at home. We had wanted some kind of introduction to Indian life – and that’s exactly what we got! Right from the beginning, the warmth of the family at the homestay and Sunil, who showed and explained everything to us as we made our way through the huge city of Mumbai, were overwhelming. At times our heads were spinning a bit from all the impressions and information. Just the system of the dhobiwallahs and dabbawallahs – it was so fascinating to experience!
We also got help with shopping for the wedding, but we have to admit: we were rather underdressed! We were amazed at the magnificent outfits people wore at the wedding and how often they changed them. And all the jewelry! I think I would have brought more if I had known beforehand. The wedding was an experience in itself! The explosion of colors, the unfamiliar rituals and encounters, the delicious food, and again and again this openness toward us. Typically Indian, the program lasted longer than planned, so our poor driver had to wait a long time and we arrived very late at the next homestay. But no one showed any annoyance and we were warmly welcomed! Overall, the trip continued just as you had described – we were always passed from one person to another, everyone knew where we were and when to take care of us, and also when we needed some time to ourselves. The days were so full of experiences – and yet in the end we felt completely relaxed. People back home even told me I looked really refreshed. And that after a trip to India – who would have thought?
I can’t even say what our highlight was. Hampi was very special with its vast area and magical landscape full of rocks and ruins. It was great that we had bikes for a day, so we could see even more. Ajanta and Ellora – diving into Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism (we had a guide there who explained a lot to us). But really, the human encounters were the best part of the trip. And again and again, the delicious food! I completely fell in love with dosas, idli, thali, and other dishes. I’ve even tried making dosas at home in our crepe pan – not quite perfect yet.
One thing is certain: this won’t be our last trip to India! The country and its people absolutely captivated us. Thank you so much for the wonderful organization!