The days of family organised wedding feasts are over, and fancy event managers have taken over tasks originally performed by relatives. Your friendly wedding planner will take care of the reception venue, marching band, caterer, make-up, wedding dress and everything else. And it has become big business because families are spared the hassle.

Bride-to-be Riya Basnet’s wedding is being organised by Nepal Wedding Planners. She decided to enlist a wedding planner as her elder sister had done so, and was impressed by the service. “My wedding is the biggest event of my life,” she said. “One has to take care of every little thing which is not easy. Wedding planners save you time and money.”

The period from mid-April to mid-May is peak season for weddings, and wedding planners are inundated with queries and bookings. They make arrangements for any kind of wedding—from big budget to economy—due to which the number of customers has been swelling rapidly.

Wedding planners also provide customised services according to the requirement of their clients. The major reason for choosing wedding planners is that they are experienced in arranging weddings, said Basnet.

Anup Ghimire, business consultant at Wedding Dreams Nepal, said, “Nepalis are ready to spend money when it comes to weddings,” he said. Wedding Dreams Nepal said their major clients were emigrants who have no idea about the requirements for weddings. Ghimire said that Wedding Dreams Nepal was fully booked for this season. According to him, the trend of hiring professional wedding companies has grown in recent years.

Wedding Nepal makes wedding arrangements for all types of cultures. Besides customised packages, the company offers standard and premium wedding packages, and prices for a standard package start at Rs1.5 million, said Rina Mishra, event coordinator at Wedding Nepal.

“The clients mostly focus on the decoration part,” said Tapashya Dhakal, event coordinator at Nepal Wedding Planner. Dhakal has worked on 20 wedding projects since she joined the company 18 months ago. People have started prioritising decoration, she said. The influence of Indian wedding ceremonies has impacted Nepali weddings, she said. There were no mehendi or sangeet functions before, but these activities are gradually becoming popular at local weddings. Similarly, there is an increasing trend of using horse carriages, DJs, lights and pre-wedding photography.

Ghimire said that there was a shortage of competent human resources in the sector. “A wedding project requires many workers, and they are not easily available,” he added.