- Indian couple Carlita Nair and Sanjay Balgobin were married last year
- In total, they spent almost $2 million on the five-day event in Orlando, Florida
- The biggest costs included event space and catering for 400 guests
An Indian bride has shared the eye-watering price of her epic five-day wedding, which included dropping $700,000 on decor and $130,000 on catering.
Carlita Nair and her husband Sanjay Balgobin, who work in real estate, were married in a lavish, traditional Indian wedding in Orlando, Florida in 2022.
Around 400 guests were invited the luxe event, which spanned over five days and cost a whopping $2 million dollars.
No expensive was spared at the incredible wedding, with the ceremony held at the Ritz Carlton in Florida, and the reception the next day at the JW Marriott – both decorated with lavish florals and complete with unique entertainment and performances.
All of the traditional prewedding events – the haldi, mehndi, and sangeet ceremonies – were held in Sanjay’s parent’s backyard, where they constructed a 12,000-square-stricture to host everyone.
According to Carlita, choosing locations for an Indian wedding in Florida can be particularly difficult, due to lack of resources for South Asian community events.
‘There are maybe one or two fantastic South Asian wedding planners, but they were booked on our event days,’ Carlita explained to Insider.
Wanting to serve traditional food, the couple chose the Ritz Carlton because there is an Indian chef who will flies to Ritz Carlton’s around the world to cater for Indian weddings.
She added they also wanted to get married indoors, as their traditional wedding outfits were heavy, and the weather was already warm in Florida.
In total over the five days, $700,000 in total on decor alone for the luxurious wedding and reception, and an extra $100,000 for the pre-wedding events the day before the wedding festivities kicked off.
In the videos shared to social media of the event, gorgeous, bright floral arrangements can be seen draped from the ceiling and along the sides of the curved runway.
Carlita had multiple epic looks for the extravaganza. Her wedding outfit weighed a huge 50 pounds and she waited five months for it to arrive, paying $9,000.
Her husband’s outfit was still weighty at 15 pounds, costing $5,000.
Her next look was her wedding lehenga, which weighed 14 pounds and cost $15,000.
Carlita’s white reception outfit is was made by Indian designer Manish Malhotra.
‘He’d just dropped a collection right before the wedding, so my outfit was straight off the runway with a custom blouse. It cost $21,000,’ she said.
The blushing bride she knew there were going to be a lot of people attending, and it was going to be a big wedding, so she chose her outfits accordingly.
‘I knew my outfits had to bring the presence that I needed for such a grand event,’ she said. ‘I spent around $38,000 in total on my outfits alone.’
Her bridal makeup was done by her long time makeup artist, whom she flew out for from Alberta, Canada.
In a TikTok, Carlita said a lot of non Asian people didn’t understand her wedding could cost so much
Although Carlita admitted the lavish event cost more than they were expecting – claiming they were slapped with some hidden fees from their vendors that they weren’t expecting.
‘Just be careful of vendors and people in the wedding industry are not straight up with pricing,’ she wrote on social media.
There were a few things included in their traditional wedding which were an extra expense – but worth it in the couple’s opinion.
One of this things included quality entertainment – hiring two Indian Caribbean celebrity performers, Ravi B and Savita Singh and even having LED robots that were a hit on the dance floor.
Other additions to the parties included drummers on stilts, and a fire show.
‘We even considered getting real-life elephants and tigers, but they were too expensive,’ Carlita said.
‘Our whole family came out to help us for our wedding, including financially, during the planning process, and with the small details,’ Carlita explained.
She continued: ‘In Indian culture, the bride and groom often aren’t obligated to pay for the entire wedding, and cousins and aunts buy things here and there.’
Sanjay is also the only child and has a big family, so he really wanted to throw a grand celebration for everyone.
Currently, the couple live with Sanjay’s parents in Florida, which Carlita notes, is very traditional in South Asian culture.
