Gātha works as an overseas wedding planner in the way most NRI families need: it plans your wedding in India while you live abroad. Reviews run on video, designs arrive as digital drawings, and an on-ground team works at the venue. The planning fee starts at Rs 2,00,000 for weddings of Rs 30 to 60 lakh.
International wedding planners: what Gātha does and does not do
Families searching for international wedding planners often mean one of two things. Some want a planner in the country where they live. Others live abroad and want someone in India to run the wedding for them. Gātha is the second kind. It is a boutique planner and atelier in Pune, Maharashtra, and it plans weddings in India for families abroad.
The Gātha site also states that the team designs celebrations at international destinations for families abroad. This page is about weddings held in India. If you need a wedding held outside India, say so in your application and the team will tell you plainly whether it is a fit.
Two limits apply to every brief. Gātha does not take weddings with a total budget under Rs 30 lakh, and it does not offer venue booking on its own. It takes a limited number of weddings each year and reads every enquiry personally.
How an overseas wedding planner works from a distance
Planning across time zones only works if the process is built for it. This is the order in which Gātha runs a wedding for a family abroad:
- The family applies on the application page with dates, scale and the investment in mind.
- The team checks the enquiry against the dates still open and replies within two working days.
- If there is a fit, a call follows. Review calls are arranged around your time zone.
- Venues are scouted by the team and shown to you in virtual walkthroughs.
- Design is shared digitally: moodboards, palettes, 3D layouts and drawings, reviewed together on video before anything is built.
- A digital planning dashboard keeps decisions, vendors and guest details in one place that the whole family can see.
- An on-ground team handles set-up, vendors and the days themselves.
Artists, caterers, photographers and other vendors are managed through one point of contact. That matters more when you are abroad, because there is no one who can pop over to check a stage.
Planning a wedding of Rs 30 lakh or more? Share the shape of your celebration and the team will read it personally.
Begin your application →What the family decides, and when
Distance does not remove decisions. It changes when they have to be made, because a delayed answer costs more when everything runs on video and shared drawings. The table sets out the order that works.
| Stage | What the family decides |
|---|---|
| At the start | Date range, city, rough guest count, the functions to be held and the overall investment in mind |
| After the venue is chosen | Which functions use which spaces, the mood and palette for each, and who from the family signs off designs |
| Midway through planning | Guest list with arrival details, rooms needed, menu preferences and artists |
| Final weeks | Seating, running order, family roles in the rituals and any last changes to the schedule |
Six to twelve months ahead is ideal for a full wedding. Peak-season and destination dates are often closed a year ahead, so date and city are the first things to settle. Shorter timelines have been handled, and the team says honestly what is possible.
Guests flying in: hospitality and arrivals
Relatives travelling from abroad rarely arrive together. They land on different flights over several days, with jet lag, luggage and elders who need a quiet room more than a welcome speech. The planning job is to gather arrival details early, match each guest to transport and a room, and make sure someone is there to meet them.
Gātha's guest hospitality service covers welcome hampers, check-in desks and room coordination, travel desks and a guest relations team. For a wedding with a large overseas contingent, the travel desk and the check-in desk usually carry more of the day than the stage does.
Guest travel, stay and transport coordination is part of the destination and NRI service. The full list of what Gātha offers is on the services page.
Which city for an NRI wedding in India
No city is best for every family. The choice depends on where most guests are flying from, what time of year the family can travel, how comfortable the elders are with long road journeys, and what the ceremonies need. Gātha plans for NRI families marrying in Maharashtra, Goa or Gujarat, and the site says the team designs celebrations in Mumbai, Jaipur, Udaipur and Goa among other places.
For a family that wants a coastal wedding with guests staying in one place, a destination wedding in Goa is one option to weigh. A family with roots in a particular city may do better marrying there, even if it is less of a destination. The page on choosing a destination wedding planner lists what to ask any planner before deciding.
Questions to put to any planner when you live abroad
A planner you cannot visit has to be judged on how the work is organised. These questions show quickly whether the answer is a method or a promise.
- How are venues shown to us, and by whom, when we cannot walk through them ourselves?
- In what form do designs reach us, and what must we approve before anything is built?
- Who is on the ground at the venue during set-up and on each day, and who do we speak to before that?
- How are review calls scheduled across our time zones?
- What does the fee cover, and what sits in our own budget?
- Which dates are still open, and how soon do we need to commit?
They are fair questions for the first call. The call is where your family judges the team, as much as the team judges the brief.
Fees for planning an NRI wedding
Gātha's planning fee is tiered by the overall investment in the wedding.
- Rs 2,00,000 onwards for weddings of Rs 30 to 60 lakh
- Rs 3,00,000 onwards for weddings of Rs 60 lakh to 1 crore
- Rs 5,00,000 onwards for weddings of Rs 1 crore and above
The fee covers design, planning and direction. Venue, décor and vendor costs sit inside the family's own budget and are shown transparently. This page does not give a general cost for a destination wedding in India, because no figure has been confirmed and the range is wide. The guide to wedding planner cost explains how to read a quote and what to compare.
Questions people ask
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Updated 2026-10-30