200

The amount in dollars two Australian travel bloggers paid to be included on the guest list for an Indian wedding.

The bloggers — Carly Stevens and Tim Gower — ended up partying with the 400 guests at Delhi-based Surabhi Chauhan’s big day thanks to a start-up called Join My Wedding, which is aiming to cash in on this “up-and-coming trend in the tourism industry“, according to cnbc.com.

Basically, it works like this: Indian couples list details about their weddings on the website, and international travellers can buy tickets to attend.

Most of the money goes to couples but, of course, the start-up takes a cut.

Orsi Parkanyi, a co-founder of the site, told CNBC: “If you think about it, there’s nothing more cultural than a wedding because you have every cultural element present: the local people, local food, customs, the outfits, the music … basically every cultural element is right there.“

The decision to focus on Indian weddings was because they are “worldfamous” and most non-Indians would not have a chance to attend one unless through personal connections, she said.

As it says on the site’s homepage:

“You haven’t been to India until you’ve been to an Indian wedding.”

See joinmywedding.com. ● L S.