Wedding traditions of Delhi
The capital is the wedding market of north India, where Punjabi, Marwari, Bengali and Muslim weddings all find their venues, caterers and jewellers.
Delhi weddings are big, planned months ahead and often held in banquet lawns and farmhouses on the edge of the city. Families come from every part of India, so a single winter weekend can hold a Punjabi sangeet, a Bengali bou bhat and a nikah within a few miles of each other.
A wedding here
A Delhi wedding usually runs over several days: a roka or engagement, a ladies sangeet with rehearsed dances, mehndi, a haldi or chooda ceremony, then the baraat on the wedding night. The groom often arrives on a decorated mare with a band, and the bride enters under a flower canopy to the jaimala, the exchange of garlands.
Where weddings happen
Many couples marry in the large banquet halls and farmhouse lawns of south and west Delhi, in gurdwaras for Anand Karaj, in temples and in hotels. Guest lists of several hundred are normal, and families often say a wedding is judged by the food and the welcome as much as by the rites.
The season and the calendar
The busiest months run from November to February, when weather is mild and priests find many auspicious dates. Dates are chosen from the panchang by pandits. Summer weddings are fewer, and the monsoon months and the pitru paksha fortnight are usually avoided.
Wedding customs of Delhi
Hindu weddingThe fire rite with seven steps, held under a mandap.
BaraatThe groom's procession with drums and dancing.
MehndiThe henna evening, often with songs.
Anand KarajThe Sikh wedding ceremony in a gurdwara.Also part of it, and being written: Sangeet (A night of music and family performances before the wedding.), Chooda (The red and ivory bangles worn by a Punjabi bride.).
Communities and their weddings in Delhi
- Punjabi Roka, sangeet, chooda and the baraat, often with a lively dhol band.
- Bengali The gaye holud, the wedding in the evening and the sindoor khela.
- Muslim The nikah, the mahr agreed in advance and the walima feast.
- Marwari and Bania Long rites with a ghoridi and a formal tilak.
A wedding trail idea for Delhi
- Chandni Chowk and Dariba Kalan The old jewellery and silver lanes where families buy wedding sets.
- Karol Bagh A long established market for bridal lehengas and jewellery.
- Lajpat Nagar A busy market for wedding clothes and trousseau shopping.
- Gurdwara Bangla Sahib A well known gurdwara where Anand Karaj ceremonies are held.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, venues and wedding-season dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mehndi: AKS.9955, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Laavaan: Ashish 100, CC BY 2.0, source
- Baraat: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pnglife/, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Hindu wedding: Dinesh Cyanam, CC BY-SA 2.0, source