Wedding Budget Calculator
Guests × functions × your city: the full shaadi budget, the loan EMI, and the cuts that save the most
Reviewed by the PaisaTools Editorial Team · Last reviewed September 2026
How to use: Pick the city, set the guests and the functions, then replace the example amounts with your own quotes. Set what you've saved; the rest shows as a loan EMI. Read the cut-list for the biggest savings.
Example300 guests in a tier-2 city, haldi, mehendi, sangeet and a reception, ₹900 a plate, ₹10 lakh saved and the rest on a 3-year loan at 13%.
Where is the wedding? · शादी कहाँ है?
Fills in a starting per-plate and venue amount. Replace both with your caterer's and hall's quotes.
The biggest lever: food, cards and gifts all multiply by it
Functions · रस्में
About 120 people, as a share of the wedding day
Ask the caterer for the all-in rate: counters, service and GST
Hall or lawn, mandap, lighting, tent. Smaller functions are counted at about a third of this
Everything else · बाकी खर्चे
Price it at today's gold rate plus making charges and 3% GST
Paying for it · पैसा कहाँ से
Whatever this doesn't cover is treated as a loan
Use the rate in your loan offer, not the 'starting from' rate
Your wedding, all-in
₹22,95,150
Per guest
₹7,651
Loan EMI a month
₹43,639
Interest on the loan
₹2,75,844
Where it goes
| Food · खाना960 plates × ₹900 | ₹8,64,000 |
| Venue and decor · स्थान और सजावट2 main + 3 smaller functions | ₹4,57,500 |
| Cards, return gifts, sweets · कार्ड, return gifts300 guests × ₹150 | ₹45,000 |
| Clothes, jewellery, photo, make-up, travel, band · कपड़े, गहने, फ़ोटो…the amounts you entered | ₹7,20,000 |
| Buffer for what's not on the list · छिपे खर्चों के लिए10% of the above | ₹2,08,650 |
| Total · कुल | ₹22,95,150 |
₹12,95,150 of it is borrowed: ₹43,639 a month for 3 years, and you pay back ₹15,70,994 in all.
The “log kya kahenge” cut-list
One change at a time, each worked through your whole budget. The biggest saving is first. Most of these are spent for the guests' eyes, not the couple's day.
Skip the separate reception · अलग reception नहीं
saves ₹4,62,000
A second main-day crowd costs almost as much as the wedding itself.
EMI down ₹15,567 a month; ₹98,398 less interest.
Invite 20% fewer guests · 20% कम मेहमान
saves ₹1,99,980
Food, cards and gifts all multiply by the guest count. The last fifth of a list is usually the one made for others.
EMI down ₹6,738 a month; ₹42,592 less interest.
Merge Sangeet into another function · संगीत को किसी दूसरी रस्म के साथ कर लीजिए
saves ₹1,76,550
Two functions on one evening share the venue, the food set-up and the guests' travel.
EMI down ₹5,949 a month; ₹37,602 less interest.
30% less on venue and decor · सजावट पर 30% कम
saves ₹1,50,975
Decor is photographed for one evening. A smaller hall or a day function cuts it without touching the rituals.
EMI down ₹5,087 a month; ₹32,155 less interest.
A simpler menu (15% less per plate) · सादा menu
saves ₹1,42,560
Fewer counters and live stations; guests remember the wedding, not the fourth dessert.
EMI down ₹4,803 a month; ₹30,363 less interest.
Why the list is hard to cut, and how families decide what is for them and what is for others: Paisa Aur Mann, chapter 6 (free, English and Hindi).
A wedding budget is mostly one multiplication: guests × plates × the per-plate rate, repeated for every function. Everything else (the hall, the decor, clothes, jewellery, photos) is added on top. This calculator keeps those parts separate, so you can see which one is driving your total.
It also does the part most budgets skip: whatever your savings don't cover is priced as a loan, with the monthly EMI and the interest paid over the tenure. The cut-list then tries one change at a time (fewer guests, a simpler menu, less decor, one function fewer) and ranks them by how much each saves.
Want the full 28-item list on paper? Download the free शादी का खर्चा list (Excel). Deciding what to give at other weddings? Use the shagun calculator. Saving up first? The wedding fund guide works backwards from the date.
Arithmetic only: plates = wedding-day guests × main functions + the smaller-function crowd × smaller functions; a smaller function's venue and decor is taken at about a third of the main day's; a 10% buffer on top. The loan is a level EMI on the reducing balance at the annual rate ÷ 12. No government body publishes wedding prices, so the city amounts are starting examples, not averages.
The amounts you enter decide the answer; vendors' GST, advance-payment timing and price changes before the date are not modelled. Shagun received is not counted as income. The loan ignores processing fees and assumes a fixed rate. Gold bought as jewellery keeps some value, which the budget treats as spent.
- How do I calculate a wedding budget in India?
- Start from the guest count, because food, cards and return gifts multiply by it. Food is plates × the per-plate rate, where plates add up the wedding day, the reception and the smaller functions (usually a smaller crowd). Add the venue and decor for each function, then the fixed items: clothes, jewellery, photo and video, make-up, guest rooms and cars, band and baraat. Keep at least 10% on top for the items nobody lists. The calculator does this arithmetic as you change any number.
- शादी का खर्चा कितना आता है?
- कोई एक सही आँकड़ा नहीं है: खर्चा मेहमानों की गिनती, रस्मों की संख्या, शहर और प्रति plate रेट से तय होता है। कोई सरकारी आँकड़ा शादी के खर्च का औसत नहीं बताता, इसलिए इस calculator में शहर के बटन सिर्फ़ शुरुआती अंदाज़ा भरते हैं। अपने caterer और hall के quote डालिए, कुल अपने-आप बन जाएगा।
- Is it wise to take a personal loan for a wedding?
- It means paying for one weekend over the next few years. At 13% for three years, every ₹1 lakh borrowed costs about ₹21,000 in interest, and the EMI starts the month after the wedding. The calculator shows the EMI and the total interest on whatever your savings don't cover, so you can see what trimming the guest list or one function does to it.
- Where can I cut wedding costs without cutting the rituals?
- Usually the guest list, the menu, the decor and the number of separate functions: the parts that are mostly for the guests' eyes. The cut-list below the calculator works out each one through your whole budget and puts the biggest saving first.
- शादी का बजट कैसे बनाएं?
- पहले कुल रक़म तय कीजिए, फिर मेहमानों की गिनती, क्योंकि मेहमान जितने ज़्यादा, खाना, कार्ड और gifts का ख़र्च उतना ज़्यादा। फिर हर रस्म का खाना और स्थान, फिर कपड़े, गहने, फ़ोटो जैसे तय खर्चे, और ऊपर से कम से कम 10% buffer। जो savings से नहीं निकलता, उसकी EMI भी देख लीजिए।
Related guides
- शादी का खर्चा list: 28 खर्चे, free Excel sheet के साथHall और खाने के अलावा भी शादी में दर्जनों खर्चे होते हैं, और सबसे ज़्यादा वही चुभते हैं जो list में नहीं थे। पूरी list, हिसाब के तरीके और एक free sheet।
- How much does an Indian wedding cost?One of the biggest cheques a family ever writes, and almost the only major expense nobody plans a fund for. What it costs, and the fix.