A wedding in Bengaluru, in 2026, costs somewhere between ₹15 lakh and ₹2 crore. That's not a cop-out range — it's the truth. The same city hosts a 200-guest community-hall wedding in Basavanagudi for ₹18 lakh on a Sunday morning, and a 700-guest three-day affair at Leela Palace for ₹1.6 crore the following Saturday. Both are beautiful. Both are right for the families they belong to.
What we've noticed, after photographing weddings across every venue tier this city offers, is that the couples who feel calm on the morning of the muhurtham aren't the ones who spent the most. They're the ones who understood where the money was going before they signed the first contract. This calculator, and this guide, exists for that.
Where every rupee actually goes
The proportions hold remarkably steady across budgets. A ₹25 lakh wedding and a ₹1.5 crore wedding spend roughly the same percentage on each category — the absolute numbers just scale up:
- Venue + catering — 45 to 55%. The single biggest line. A 5-star plate at ₹3,500 across 500 guests for 2 events is ₹35 lakh on food alone. Choose your venue tier first; everything else follows.
- Jewellery — 20 to 30%. The most family-specific line in any Indian wedding. South Indian families lean toward gold-heavy temple jewellery; North Indian and Marwari weddings often climb past 30%.
- Decor & flowers — 8 to 12%. Imported peonies and orchids push this higher; local marigold and rose mandaps stay lower without looking lesser.
- Bride & groom attire — 5 to 8%. Sabyasachi adds a zero; Mysore-silk and tussar weaves bring craft without the markup.
- Photography & cinematography — 5 to 10%. The only line item that survives the night.
- Everything else (invites, return gifts, transport, priest, cake, entertainment) — 3 to 6%. Small individually, sneaky in aggregate.
Why the calculator pre-fills everything when you pick a venue
Because budgets behave like ecosystems. The first time you build a wedding spreadsheet, you'll naturally drag the venue slider to ₹35 lakh and leave makeup at ₹25,000 — and the total looks reassuringly small. Until your MUA quotes ₹1.8 lakh and you realise nothing about a Leela Palace wedding actually costs ₹25k.
So when you pick Palace in the dropdown, the calculator nudges every other line — decor, makeup, attire, entertainment, transport, return gifts — to numbers your actual vendors will quote. You can still drag any slider; we just don't want the total to lie to you.
The Bengaluru-specific things nobody tells you upfront
1. Caterers quote pre-tax. A ₹2,200 per-plate quote becomes ₹2,596 after taxes and service. We've added a 10% buffer so you don't get surprised.
2. 5-stars and most 4-stars are exclusive on F&B. No outside caterer, no outside bar. That's why their per-plate is non-negotiable. If a specific Awadhi caterer matters to you, choose a convention centre or farmhouse first.
3. Weekday and Sunday weddings are 15-25% cheaper. Every venue in the city, every season. If your muhurtham allows it, ask.
4. Peak season (November to February) closes 8-10 months ahead. The good photographers, decorators and venues are gone by July for a December wedding. Budget early, book earlier.
5. Three days isn't 1.5x of two days. It's closer to 1.35x — because venue blocks, crews and decor props get multi-day discounts. The calculator models this automatically.
How we think about the photography line
This part is harder to write than the rest, because it's our line. So let us be plain: photography is the only line item on a wedding budget that compounds in value over time. The mandap comes down on Sunday night. The flowers are in compost by Monday. The guests forget what they ate by Friday. And the film of your parents seeing you in your jewellery for the first time — that gets watched on every anniversary, every grandchild's birthday, every quiet evening twenty years from now.
A 6% budget allocation isn't a vanity. It's the slice of the wedding that becomes a family heirloom. The calculator defaults to a photography tier matched to your venue — not because we want to upsell, but because a documentary crew at a community hall feels excessive, and an Essentials package at Leela feels apologetic. Match the storytelling to the setting.
See our wedding photography packages, our cinematic wedding films, or browse the portfolio for the rooms we've already shot in.
Working with planners, decorators and venues we trust
After 600+ weddings, we've quietly built relationships with most of Bengaluru's senior planners, decorators, MUAs and venue managers. We don't take referral fees — but if you're still choosing a planner or stuck between two venues, ask us on the WhatsApp thread after you submit the calculator. We'll share who we've personally worked with, whose lighting is forgiving for filming, whose timelines hold, and whose don't. It's the kind of thing only the crew that lives in the room with you all day actually knows.
What to do next
Move the sliders. Build a number you trust. Then drop your phone in the form on the right and we'll WhatsApp a clean PDF breakdown plus a photography quote calibrated to your venue, dates and ceremony list — within 6 hours. New couples who confirm within 7 days of receiving the quote get 10% off with code FFP10.
If you'd rather read more first, our Bengaluru wedding planning blog covers everything from pre-wedding photoshoots to haldi & mehndi coverage to engagement sessions. No pressure, no spam — just the same honest tone you're reading now.