FLY OUT OF THE ORDINARY
Top destinations to make your wedding memorable
First there were weddings. Then came destination weddings. Now that Thailand, Jaipur and Udaipur have been done and dusted, in vogue are offbeat destinations. Families are becoming adventurous and I’ve had couples come to me with plans of a wedding in Ladakh, or hiking up a trail and staying in camps, or snorkelling their way to an abandoned island. While all these ideas sound exciting, there are a number of basic logistics that we as professionals need to plan, manage, and very often, this brings the excitement levels down by just a few degrees. But then, there are many locations which make for an offbeat celebration without having to trade in your wedding finery for a set of hiking boots. India offers options that range from the desert sands of Rajasthan to the foothills of the Himalayas. Internationally as well, there are countries such as Malta, Croatia and Azerbaijan that were earlier only dots off a geography map but have today become sought after destinations.
Budgets are not the only thing that hold people back from planning international weddings. Sometimes it’s just the sheer magnificence of a local setting that hits the right spot. The Raj Niwas Palace in Dholpur,
Rajasthan, is one such location which people have rarely been exposed to. An hour’s drive from Agra and equidistant from Gwalior, the kingdom of Dholpur is possibly North India’s best kept secret. The palace, can well be out of a Harry Potter castle, with its sprawling lawns and state- of- the- the art rooms, which give any five- star hotel a run for their money. The food, service and hospitality are exemplary and personally supervised by HRH Dushyant Singh, the Maharaj of Dholpur.
A wedding in the desert comes with its own challenges. From getting there to scouting out accommodation, it can be a trying ordeal. Not if you choose the Khimsar Fort, Rajasthan, though. Run by the ITC Hotels, the old palace has been converted into a luxury escape and offers itself as an ideal destination for weddings today, with sand dunes, tents and luxury rooms in the palace.
The foothills of the Himalayas, from
Mussoorie, Shimla and Nainital, all have some very quaint resorts and hotels that make for ideal small- scale weddings. Large meadows, with little brooks and lazy cattle grazing in the distance all make for the ideal wedding picture. The charm of the baraat dancing down a hillside and the pheras set against the backdrop of a setting sun in the mountains is a tough experience to top. Most of these hill stations can easily accommodate a wedding of about 300 to 400 people spread across hotels.
But if it’s an international destination you would want, then our latest finding is Malta. The three inhabited islands that make up the Maltese Archipelago are small, a little over 316 sq km, with an extraordinary history and a way of life that is uniquely Maltese. The islands boast of Neolithic temples that date back to 3600 BC and a walled city that continues to thrive today. Blending in perfectly are some beautiful modern day hotels and the entire experience is unparalleled.
While there are multiple formats that people follow in terms of guest hospitality depending on their family tradition and the culture of the country they belong to, any destination wedding within the country costs between ` 90,000 to a lakh per head onwards, while taking a similar experience internationally barring maybe a Thailand the same would escalate by about 25 to 30 per cent.