What’s to not like about weddings? The meals, the dance, the music, the gossip… However for these in search of a extra relaxed expertise with out maybe the disagreeable bump-ins, compelled conversations or lengthy queues for meals, there’s a brand new pattern on the block — pretend wedding ceremony occasions. It’s fairly merely a marriage with out the bride and groom or the attendant stress and pressures of the ceremony.
“Individuals need to gown up and go to a marriage. And at our events, we don’t need of us to easily flip up, have a number of drinks, dance and depart. We need to give them the whole wedding ceremony expertise — family-like bonding, nice meals, Insta-worthy photo-ops, and so forth,” says Ayaan Vaid, co-founder of Delhi-based occasions firm, Jumma Ki Raat. The corporate is without doubt one of the first to organise ticketed wedding-themed events in India. Since its launch in October 2024, Jumma Ki Raat has organised two pretend sangeet events, the current one held simply final week.
(L-R) Alisha Chouri, Nidhi Nair, Paras Chaudhari and Gaurav Joshi, founders of Mumbai-based Saddi Galli occasions firm.
New age partying?
Earlier this month, an invitation to at least one such ‘pretend wedding ceremony’ in Noida went viral on social media. The artfully designed invitation promised ‘stay band and dhol’ and a complimentary alcoholic beverage whereas asking visitors to be attired in conventional put on. Entry costs ranged from ₹999 to ₹1,499.
The concept appears to have takers throughout India — bar and restaurant chain Lord of the Drinks organised pretend sangeet nights at a few of its shops in Madhya Pradesh not too long ago, as did Bengaluru’s Raahi Neo Kitchen & Bar with a ‘Massive Fats Faux Indian Sangeet’. Bengaluru-based Third Place, Kolkata-based occasion organiser Blackout, and Auckland-based BollySphere have welcomed visitors to comparable occasions as properly.
A window into tradition
The pretend wedding ceremony pattern in all probability started within the U.S., the place South Asian scholar our bodies throughout campuses similar to College of Washington Bothell and Cornell College have been organising mock wedding ceremony occasions for years. “It’s a manner for college students to expertise South Asia past lecture rooms and textbooks,” says Avneet Mehr, a third-year scholar of biology and sociology at Cornell. This yr’s annual shaadi extravaganza (round two to a few days lengthy), full with a mock bride and groom, organised by Cornell’s South Asian Council, was attended by almost 500 college students, provides Mehr.
A mock wedding ceremony occasion organised by Cornell College’s South Asian Council in 2024.
Time to collab
While you stroll into a fake wedding ceremony occasion (with a mean runtime of 4 to 5 hours), there’s every little thing you should make it appear actual — elaborate decorations, marigold flowers, stay bands, mehendi artists, picture cubicles and even an ‘astro’ parrot selecting out enjoyable playing cards to find out the romantic destiny of the party-goers.
“Pinterest and social media pages of wedding ceremony planners are my go-to locations for analysis relating to décor concepts. I even picked up the concept for gol-gappa pictures on-line,” says Alisha Chouri, one of many founders of Mumbai-based Saddi Galli. The 2-month-old model has up to now hosted three ‘Rip-off Sangeet’ occasions in Nagpur and Mumbai. Goa, Kolkata and Miami are their subsequent stops. One in every of Saddi Galli’s pretend sangeet occasions, which was attended by almost 800 visitors, says Chouri, noticed the corporate deliver cosmetics model Lakmé on board as a hairstyling and make-up associate. Tickets for such occasions can begin at ₹299 and go as much as ₹7,000.
A hairstyling session at Saddi Galli’s pretend sangeet occasion.
At Third Place’s Sangeet Socials, collaborations take a musical flip. “A songwriter good friend of mine, truly launched his unique at our first Sangeet Social final week. It was a pleasant addition to the programme, to set the general vibe of the occasion,” says Anurag Pandey, founder and CEO. He says that these occasions, whereas being all about enjoyable and partying, should additionally lead to a curated, considerate and significant expertise. And to realize that, the Sangeet Social isn’t an ‘open for all occasion’.
As soon as the visitors (capped at 40) signal as much as attend the occasion (tickets are priced at ₹1,911 inclusive of meals, drinks, video games, and actions), they’re anticipated to take a character take a look at, after which they’re added to a ready record. “We organise the occasions in a manner folks can actually join. We use an algorithm to thoughtfully curate teams and preserve range and ensure the visitor’s participation a day earlier than the occasion,” says Pandey. It’s additionally maybe why the primary Sangeet Social occasion, which included video games like antakshari and a mehendi nook, stored issues sober. “At our occasion, folks aren’t simply dancing at a bar and heading dwelling drunk,” provides Pandey. Company additionally walked out with a shagun ka lifaafa (present envelope) that contained coupons to Barmen, the official drinks associate of the occasion.
Not only a Gen Z affair
It isn’t simply Gen Z flocking to such occasions for the promise of a great time. Vaid says their pretend sangeet occasions (tickets priced between ₹800 and ₹3,000) have had encouraging participation from folks of their 30s in addition to early 40s. “Truthfully, all of us need an excuse to decorate up and dance to Bollywood music. We don’t actually get that chance typically, particularly in a protected house,” says 29-year-old Delhi-based businessman Anant Gupta, who has attended all of Jumma Ki Raat’s occasions up to now.
A pretend sangeet social gathering by Jumma Ki Raat.
Mumbai-based businessman Stanley Lawrence, 55, made a bunch outing out of Saddi Galli’s Rip-off Sangeet occasion along with his mates and colleagues. “I used to be simply curious to know what this pretend sangeet was all about. However I didn’t really feel misplaced. Not as soon as did we see any of the youngsters there have a look at us and marvel why folks of our age have been on the social gathering,” he says.
Provides founder Chouri, “One of many barely older visitors we hosted even instructed us he had extra enjoyable at our rip-off sangeet than he did at his personal sangeet years in the past.
Ayaan Vaid, co-founder of Delhi-based Jumma Ki Raat.
However are we trivialising custom for the sake of a great time on the dance ground? It’s the precise reverse, argues Vaid. “We’re by no means disrespecting our tradition. If one thing like this was carried out overseas, folks would’ve praised it for selling Indian tradition,” he says.
For Chouri, who has different wedding-related occasion concepts within the pipeline already, there’s a lot the theme can do to quench the party-goer’s urge for food.
However Pandey says that the pattern would possibly run its course quickly, except considerate curation attracts focus. “When you simply host occasions, you gained’t have the ability to maintain it. However for those who curate it and add good themes to it, it’s going to stick round.”
The author and theatre artist is predicated between Bengaluru and Delhi.
Printed – July 25, 2025 07:20 am IST
