Tying knot in GST 2.0: How India’s wedding economy is reshaping itself - SME Futures

When the Gupta family sat down with spreadsheets and guest lists, none of them had budgeted for a new line on every vendor bill: GST. The reform, meant to bring clarity and formalisation, has landed squarely on the most emotional and expensive aspect of Indian rites. For many couples, it has meant hard choices.

“When we started planning the wedding, we had a rough idea of the budget, but GST 2.0 has thrown all of that off,” says Rajat Gupta, the groom.

“Every single service, from the venue to the catering and even the photography, now feels more expensive because of the added tax. We didn’t want to compromise on the experience, but at some point, we had to make tough choices. Like moving the reception from Lucknow to Sitapur – to save costs. We cut down on the number of functions, reduced the guest list, and skipped a few extras, just to make it all work within the new costs,” he explains.

That lived reality of a family foregoing parts of their celebration so the day can still feel special is now repeating itself across towns and cities. India’s wedding economy is made up of thousands of small firms: tailors and textile houses, jewellers and goldsmiths, caterers, decorators, photographers and event managers. GST 2.0 didn’t invent the pressure families feel; it shifted how that pressure is seen and allocated. Vendors and buyers are now having more transactional conversations about itemised bills, and that changes choices.

Why this shift matters

GST 2.0 adjusted rate structures and made tax components more explicit on invoices. The reform has two immediate consequences for weddings.

First, visible tax lines change buyer psychology: when a tax appears as a separate line, it invites scrutiny. Second, redistribution of rates across categories creates winners and losers, which can sometimes be at the cost of traditional craft. According to vendors, the short-term effect is administrative pain and more haggling. The longer-term effect could be a cleaner, more accountable market.

Jewellery: Unchanged slab, new calculus

Jewellery might seem an odd place to start because its GST slab largely stayed steady.

Surya Jain of Aupulent says, “GST has not changed for the jewellery industry. We are still at 3%, like before. However, since it has reduced on other products, it leaves extra cash for customers to invest in jewellery.”

Jain’s point is instructive. Even when rates on gold don’t change, relative shifts elsewhere, like cheaper inputs for mass clothing, alter where families choose to spend. And shoppers are asking more questions.

“Yes, today’s wedding buyers are far more conscious of tax components. They want clarity, and explaining GST openly has actually helped strengthen trust in our brand. We’ve invested in ERP systems that integrate GST reporting and trained our teams to handle compliance smoothly. For B2B partners, we ensure that invoicing is seamless and error-free,” Jain elaborates.

For a brand selling IGI-certified lab-grown diamonds, the conversation also includes ethics and comparative value. “GST transparency often highlights the value advantage of lab-grown diamonds. Customers see not only ethical benefits but also clear cost efficiency compared to mined stones,” he adds. This explains why certain premium purchases remain resilient even as other parts of the wedding shrink.

Affordable bling: Making small-ticket items work

At the other end of the market, brands built on accessibility respond differently. Vedant Lukhi of Lukson, which focuses on value and design at low ticket points, says initial hesitation gave way to acceptance. “Initially, there was some hesitation as customers adjusted to seeing the tax component separately. Over time, transparency in pricing has built confidence, especially for entry-level wedding jewellery like bangles, earrings, and rings,” he says.

Lukson’s playbook is efficiency and perception management. “The focus is on efficiency, optimising vendor partnerships, leveraging technology for reconciliation, and maintaining lean inventory cycles. This allows compliance costs to be absorbed without passing them entirely to the customer, keeping jewellery accessible,” Lukhi adds.

He describes a practical adaptation: bundling pieces to shift attention from a single tax line to overall value. “Bundled gifting sets, such as earrings with rings or bracelet pairings, shift focus from individual tax lines to overall value. This enhances the customer’s perception of getting more for their spend,” he asserts.

Lukhi also leans on digital tools and fintech partnerships to smooth payments and reconcile accounts, making small interventions that reduce customer friction and help preserve margin.

Handloom sarees: Policy tension

If jewellery’s story is about perception and reallocation, handloom bridal sarees reveal a sharper tension between policy rates and cultural value.

“GST 2.0 has tilted the playing field in a way that hurts craft. Anything above ₹2,500 now carries an 18% tax, while synthetics and machine-made fibres are taxed at just 5%. The truth is a genuine handloom bridal saree can never be priced below ₹2,500. So, heritage craftsmanship is becoming artificially more expensive, while mass-produced alternatives are becoming cheaper. It feels like a policy that penalises artistry and rewards volume,” says Shriya Nagi of MRIDA, a luxury fashion brand.

“When an 18% GST line shows up on a bill, it becomes a psychological anchor. For a bride or her family making an emotional, high-value purchase, that extra line of tax often invites questions about ‘Why so much?” Nagi adds. MRIDA’s response has been to turn price into a story.

“I use it as a teaching moment. Instead of staying on cost, I shift the conversation to worth and value. I explain what 100 hours of a master weaver’s skill looks like, what pure silk feels like, and how generations of artistry are preserved in that saree. Handloom is not about machine-like perfection, it’s about soul. Once clients see that, the saree is no longer just an outfit but an heirloom,” Nagi asserts.

But the brand also flags systemic burdens.

“There’s a misconception that most weavers are exempt. The Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) puts the compliance responsibility on the buyer when sourcing from unregistered artisans. This makes many brands hesitate to work with informal weavers. And if an artisan wants to sell across states, which is how they survive during exhibitions, GST registration becomes mandatory, creating another barrier,” says Nagi.

Services: Photographers, caterers, planners

Service providers are among the first to feel the pinch. Photo and video packages are being sliced: couples increasingly ask for shorter highlight reels and fewer printed albums; caterers report simplification of menus and a push for fixed-price, per-plate options. Event planners say the bargaining has shifted from themes and add-ons to line-by-line costs.

“I remember a tasting when the bride’s mother asked me to remove the live counter after she saw the renewed prices under the new tax line. Since then, we have redesigned menus into clear tiers, which were staple, premium and add-ons, so families can choose without surprises. It is more work, but people sleep easier when the bill is obvious,” says Om Vaidya of Om Ganpati Tent House and Caterers.

“Clients are asking us to trim expensive items, live counters, niche desserts and premium starters and focus on quality for the main courses. The bargaining has moved from negotiations on taste to negotiations on line items and add-ons. With the wedding season on the horizon, we have adjusted our demands to rope in more customers but looking at the feasibility of the process and the extensive work that we have to go through, there isn’t much margin left to make profits,” Vaidya adds.

Faced with that pressure, many caterers are trying to soften the hit for customers. “To cope, we introduced fixed-price packages, prepaid options and are even offering to accept partial payments after the event. We absorbed small tax bumps on staple menus to keep headline prices stable and partnered with a firm for easy EMIs so families can spread payments without feeling the sting immediately,” says Vaidya.

Photography and videography follow a similar rhythm.

“Couples now ask, ‘Can we keep the essentials and skip the extras?’ So, I split packages into must-haves and add-ons: basic ceremony coverage, a short highlight reel, and optional extras like drone shots or full albums. It keeps things honest and helps couples control the final bill,” says Sahil Peter of JRS Productions.

That demand for trimming has changed the way photographers design their offerings. “A groom told me, ‘We will skip the extra shoot day; just capture the main events.’ He had been shocked by the tax lines across vendors. I have started offering smaller, sharper packages, which include a compact highlight reel, key portraits and modular add-ons. The paperwork is cleaner too. Digital invoices and online payments mean we get paid faster, and that makes cash flow during peak season less nerve-wracking,” Peter elaborates.

The balance: short-term strain, possible long-term gain

GST 2.0 is tightening the screws, but it has also opened doors. Vendors who adapt by investing in transparency, digital invoicing and streamlined systems can access formal credit, partner with fintechs and platforms, and build trust with increasingly tax-conscious buyers.

“Adopt reliable billing systems from the start, create bundled or packaged offerings to offset tax visibility, and educate teams to treat GST as a marker of transparency rather than a barrier. Done right, compliance can strengthen brand trust,” Lukhi contends.

However, the reforms also highlight gaps that policy must eventually address. MRIDA’s Shriya Nagi warns that while compliance may professionalise the industry, it risks leaving behind the most fragile players — artisans, handloom weavers and small-town vendors who form the soul of India’s wedding economy. Unless safeguards are built in, she cautions, the sheen of efficiency could come at the cost of heritage.

For now, families like the Guptas are learning to navigate this new landscape with compromise and care. The spreadsheets look leaner: fewer functions, a smaller bar, and one less outfit. But they still bought a handloom saree, still called the photographer for the core rituals, and still made sure that the food was memorable. The big fat Indian wedding may be slimmer under GST 2.0, but it has not diminished by a long shot.