TRAVEL

Marriage festivities are marketed to western visitors as the ‘ultimate cultural experience’

Saturday November 11 2023, 12.01am, The Times

The Join My Wedding website is for people travelling to India who “really want to immerse themselves in the culture and not just take photos of the Taj Mahal”

“You haven’t been to India, until you’ve been to an Indian wedding,” is the experience tourism firm’s tagline. It offers to pair tourists, from gap-year students to business travellers, with couples about to get married in a new trend.

Orsi Parkanyi, co-founder of Join My Wedding, believes that weddings are the ultimate cultural experience. “It’s an event where all the elements of a culture come together and are celebrated,” she said. “So it appeals to travellers who want to experience the culture in a more meaningful way … It’s for someone who really wants to immerse themselves in the culture and not just take photos of the Taj Mahal.”

Since the company started in 2016 more than 400 travellers have paid between £120 and £250