M(AI)d of honor: AI becomes a member of the Big Fat Indian Wedding entourage

Artificial intelligence is becoming the newest addition to India’s big, elaborate wedding industry, helping planners, photographers and couples turn ideas into reality faster than ever before.

Traditionally, Indian weddings have involved large teams of planners, decorators, photographers and extended family members. Now, AI tools are joining that list. They can transform a couple’s vague request for “something different” into a detailed theme within seconds. From concepts like whimsical meadow and modern minimalist to vintage maximalist and celestial neo-noir, AI can generate descriptions and visuals, and instantly swap colour palettes, flowers or backdrops in digital renders. This has reduced weeks of back-and-forth discussions with vendors.

Vishal Punjabi, popularly known as The Wedding Filmer, who has shot over 500 weddings including those of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, and Sidharth Malhotra and Aditi Rao Hydari, says AI has become a major speed enabler. He uses it to sort footage, correct colours, clean up graphics and even create music. Recently, he produced a wedding track for a London-based couple in English using an AI-generated voice inspired by international singers, after facing difficulty finding the right vocalist.

Wedding planners are also seeing benefits. Tina Tharwani, co-founder of Shaadi Squad, which has managed celebrity weddings such as Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, and Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar, says AI helps her team structure presentations, summarise notes and organise information, especially in the early planning stages. However, she emphasises that weddings are emotional milestones and require a human touch. According to her, AI helps streamline drafting and formatting, allowing planners to focus on personalisation and ensuring every detail reflects the couple’s story.

Nitya Bagri, co-founder of A New Knot, says AI is useful in managing guest RSVPs, coordinating travel and visualising décor layouts. It also helps quickly modify presentation decks based on client preferences, such as changing backdrop colours or swapping flowers. AI tools have even been used to draft scripts for sangeet ceremonies.

Couples themselves are experimenting with AI. Arvind Nagpal and Juhi Sharma Nagpal from Chandigarh, who married in December, used Google Gemini to visualise different décor options before choosing sunset pheras in Kotdwar, Uttarakhand. They also used AI to design their wedding invitation before a designer refined it. The couple said the technology saved time and made decision-making easier. Their photographer used AI for quick previews and edits after each function, allowing them to see highlights the next day.

Photography workflows have also changed. Harsh Mehta, co-founder of The Photo Lab, says AI software now helps select the best images, remove duplicates and reject photos where subjects have closed eyes, enabling his team to edit up to 1,000 pictures a day. However, he notes that human review remains essential, as emotionally important moments may not always meet technical criteria.

Himanshu Patel of Epic Stories describes AI as a “silent assistant” that works behind the scenes to sort thousands of images. He believes that while AI will become a regular part of wedding processes, empathy, timing and emotional connection in wedding photography will always remain human.

Industry professionals agree that while AI cannot replace the emotional core of weddings, it is reshaping how they are planned, visualised and delivered. From mood boards and music tracks to guest management and photo editing, AI is steadily embedding itself into India’s wedding ecosystem, making celebrations more efficient while leaving the final touch to human creativity.