So how much does a typical Indian Wedding Cost ?

I was reading Detroit Free Press Staff Writer ERIN CHAN DING's story titled "Love proves the universal language at Indian weddings". (Detroit Free Press - 07/06/2008).

She covers an elaborate Indian American Wedding of Smitha Reddy (Bloomfield Hills) and Mike Hahn (Taylor, MI) (both University of Michigan alumni).

I don't want to get into details of the wedding which you can read here. What caught my attention is the sidebar to the story which reads

So, how much does a four-day Indian wedding cost?

Smitha Reddy's parents, who took care of the costs, do not want to be specific about how much they paid for her wedding. But Smita Desai, co-owner of Mandavo South Asian Wedding Planners in Troy, says a typical traditional four-day wedding costs between $50,000 and $75,000. The more elaborate ones climb past six figures.

"Indian weddings are really expensive," she says, noting that a four-day affair includes four or five meals and numerous garment changes. (Smitha had six saris and two ghagras, which are detailed, hand-embroidered bridal dresses.)

Desai's mandap packages range from $3,000 to $6,000 and include arches, statues and seats in addition to the wedding canopy.

Wow! $75,000+ (maybe six figures also). That is for some of us an entire 401K wiped out. Is that really a typical wedding cost?

So how much did your wedding cost?

Naveen Sharma a popular Indian DJ from Michigan who is getting married later this year emailed me with this response

my dad gave me a budget of 20,000, and i am going to pay the rest, and i am at 27k right now, the price of 50-75k, is for all the functions, and 3-4 days, and different outfits, and a bunch of crap you dont need but for a wedding ceremony + reception, all in one day, 200 - 300 people, you can do within 20-25k