Your budget questions, answered.

For 150 guests in a metro city, plan for roughly ₹18–24 lakh total — about ₹12,000–16,000 per guest. Mid-size cities like Indore, Lucknow, or Kolkata cost 20–30% less. Your exact number depends on the venue, caterer, and season.

A typical metro wedding costs ₹12,000–16,000 per guest including everything: venue, catering, decor, photography, and entertainment. Goa is the outlier at the high end; Indore offers the best value at around ₹9,500 per guest.

Keep about 10% of your total unallocated as a savings buffer. Unexpected load-in fees, extra functions, and seasonal price rises are common, and a buffer absorbs them without stress. If you do not use it, it becomes a contribution to your honeymoon.

Venue and catering. Together they usually consume about half of a typical Indian wedding budget — roughly 23% for venue and 27% for catering on a balanced profile. Lock these two first, then fit everything else around them.

Use the recommended percentages: Venue 18–27%, Catering 25–27%, Photography 9–11%, Decor 9%, Clothing 6–8%, Music 5–7%, Invitations 3–4%, and Miscellaneous 3–9%, depending on your priority profile. Keep 10% as a buffer.

Together, aim for no more than half your total. Venue usually takes 18–27% and catering 25–27%. In metros, venue costs push higher; in mid-size cities you often get a larger, more flexible space for less.

Usually yes. The same wedding typically costs 20–30% less in cities like Indore, Lucknow, or Kolkata compared to Mumbai, Delhi, or Goa, because venue and catering rates are lower. Vendor quality is often comparable.

Twelve months out for the venue, and around six months out for the caterer — earlier in peak wedding season. Locking the big two early protects your budget from seasonal price increases and gives you the best availability.

Booking the venue before setting a total, adding guests after the catering quote is locked, allocating 100% with no buffer, ignoring peak-season pricing, and tracking deposits but forgetting the remaining balances.

Yes. Deposits are committed money — a budget that only counts the balance looks healthier than it is. Track both the deposit and the remaining payment for every vendor, and review budget versus actual monthly.

The core set is venue, caterer, and photography. Decor, music, and invitations are usually worth hiring professionals for key moments, but you can save by reusing structures across functions and using digital invitations.

Vowably calculates a category-by-category allocation from your total, guest count, and city. You can edit the amounts in the planner and import it into your budget module, where it lives alongside your tasks, guests, and timeline.