One bride in Greater Noida insisted on taking her pheras in a racing car. Another in Jaipur wanted to enter a helicopter—never mind that the venue didn’t have a helipad. Khan recalls flying a vendor from Kolkata to Goa on the morning of the wedding to source a specific kind of jaimala unavailable locally.
Hyper-personalisation has reached astonishing levels. From flying in Kunafa from Dubai, chicken chips from Thailand, welcome drinks from Sri Lanka, to a client demanding that “every serving staff should be a Russian female,” the list grows longer every season.
The rise of ‘Ask For Anything’
In India’s booming luxury wedding industry, there is no such thing as a “normal” request anymore. From chartering helicopters without helipads to staging ceremonies in –25°C mountain blizzards, modern couples are rewriting the rules of extravagance. Social media has become the ultimate mood board—and the pressure to go viral has pushed wedding planners into a world where unusual, eccentric, and downright unbelievable demands have become just another day at work.
To explore this new landscape, indianexpress.com spoke to wedding planners shaping India’s most ambitious weddings: Mohsin Khan (Founder, Vivah Luxury Weddings), Shashank Gupta (Founder, TailorMade Experiences), and Rajat Tyagi (Founder, Wed India) share their stories demonstrating just how far modern couples are willing to go to make their big day extraordinary.
Bizarre wedding requests (Photo: Freepik)
Blame social media
Both Khan and Shashank Gupta agree on one thing—Instagram has permanently changed the wedding game. “The pressure of making a wedding go viral is real,” says Gupta, whose clients now hire entire social media agencies just for the wedding.
Requests that once shocked planners no longer do. Couples want originality, spectacle, and something never seen before on the internet. TailorMade has executed everything from moving mandaps to Japanese-inspired installations, and even decor made entirely of tiny objects forming a sacred figure, adds Shashank.
Story continues below this ad
One of Khan’s strangest requests? A couple who wanted fake candid photos staged with hired actors — and demanded a social media blackout until their official pictures dropped. Rajat Tyagi’s teams have been asked for impossible cinematic shots—like snow photos when no snow exists, or shoots in remote deserts and no-man’s lands.
Unreal expectations
Some demands are theatrical. Some are logistical nightmares. Some — like a baraat on elephants and camels, or a baraat arriving entirely in vintage cars — border on surreal.
But “nothing compares” to what Rajat experienced. Here’s why:
The Kaza winter wedding
A couple wanted to get married in Kaza, Spiti Valley, in the dead of winter—at a temperature of -25°C. The planners survived blinding whiteouts, black ice, and multiple near-death moments during recce. Just hours before the wedding, violent mountain winds ripped apart the decor. The team abandoned aesthetics and went into survival mode, working only to ensure the wedding could happen safely.
Story continues below this ad
“We treated the wedding like a high-altitude expedition,” Tyagi recalls. From snow chains and emergency supplies to thermal mandates for guests, every step required military-level precision. The only lifeline: extremely reliable local partners who knew the terrain.
For Tyagi, though, nothing is “bizarre”—only ambitious. “It’s not absurdity; it’s the altitude of ambition,” he says.
The list is endless
Among the three planners, the list of unusual requirements could fill a book:
Decor that defies logicEiffel Tower-themed wedding
- Heaven-on-earth staircase mandap
- Massive earthen pots sourced and prepared in 10 winter days
- Architectural illusions created using view blockers
Food whims from every continent
Story continues below this ad
- Kobe beef
- Authentic Italian lamb flown in with the chef
- Entire menus with chefs and serving staff flown in from seven countries
Unpaid emotional labour
Clients often expect planners to be:
- family counsellors
- missing-guest chasers
- wardrobe-fixers
- personal shoppers
- last-minute gift arrangers
Meeting demands
However, all three planners view these extreme demands as opportunities. As Rajat puts it, “Every unusual wedding is proof of what sets us apart. It forces us to grow.”
Gupta sees it as the foundation of TailorMade’s identity—hyper-personalisation is their niche. While Khan believes the bar is rising every year, driven by aspirations, global exposure, and the evolution of the wedding industry.
The future? Tyagi predicts immersive, multi-sensory weddings in remote canyons, historic ruins, deep forests, maybe even underwater.
Story continues below this ad
“For us, it’s never about the bizarre—it’s about making someone’s dream real, no matter how high the altitude or how wild the imagination,” he concludes.
Drawing boundaries
All three planners have firm boundaries.
They refuse:
illegal arrangements
unethical guest exclusion
disrespectful or hostile behaviour
unsafe setups
budget–vision mismatches
And as Gupta emphasises: “Arranging illegal things or girls—complete no.” Rajat adds: “Our team’s safety and dignity are non-negotiable.”
Bizarre wedding requests (Photo: Freepik)