How to Plan an Indian Wedding From Overseas With WedMap

When you're planning an Indian wedding from another country, the hard part usually isn't any single decision. It's keeping track of all of them: several events, two families' guest lists, a budget spread across a dozen categories, and vendors you mostly deal with over the phone.

WedMap was built for exactly that situation. This guide walks through setting up your wedding in WedMap, step by step, in the order that works best, and shows where each part of your planning lives.

Step 1: Create your wedding

Start by creating your wedding with both partners' names, the city and country, and the wedding type. If you're organising from abroad, choose Overseas Wedding.

Then pick a currency. WedMap supports rupees, US, Australian, Canadian and Singapore dollars, pounds, euros and dirhams, and every amount in your wedding (budgets, quotes, payments) is shown in the currency you choose. Pick the one you'll think in day to day. If most of your vendors quote in rupees, choosing INR means the numbers in WedMap match the quotes in front of you.

You can change any of these later from Wedding Details.

Step 2: Add every event

An Indian wedding is really a series of events, so this is where the planning starts. Go to Events and add each one, such as Haldi, Mehendi, Sangeet, the wedding and the reception, with its date and an estimated budget.

Do this first. Your budget and your vendors are both organised by event, so WedMap asks you to add events before you can use either.

Step 3: Build your budget, event by event

In Budget, each event gets its own list of costs. Add a line for each category, such as venue, catering, decor, photography and videography, outfits or jewellery, with an estimated amount, and fill in the actual amount once you've spent it.

The budget page then shows you how the whole wedding is tracking: total spend against budget, your three biggest costs, and which events are running highest. Your wedding's overview page breaks spending down by category too, so when a family member asks where the money has gone, you have the answer in one place.

Step 4: Build one guest list for both families

In Guests, add each guest or household (for example, "Sharma Family") with the number of people, contact details and notes. Every guest belongs to a side: Partner 1's, Partner 2's, or mutual. That lets both families add to one list while you still see how it splits.

As invitations go out, mark each guest as invited. The guest page shows how many invitations have gone out and how the list divides by side.

Your family in India doesn't need a WedMap account to help. Download the guest list as a spreadsheet whenever someone needs it: a parent checking names, a relative handling invitations, or the caterer. If you filter by event first, the download only includes that event's guests.

With Premium, you can also:

• Invite guests to specific events, since not everyone comes to everything.
• Record RSVPs as Yes, No or Maybe.
• See a headcount for each event, which is the number your caterer and venue actually need.

Step 5: Track your vendors (Premium)

For couples abroad, vendors are often the hardest part. You're comparing quotes over WhatsApp, relatives are meeting vendors on your behalf, and it's easy to lose track of who has actually been booked.

In Vendors, add each vendor under the event they're working on, with their category (mehendi artist, pandit, decorator, photographer and so on) and contact details. Record the quoted price and, once you've negotiated, the agreed price, and move each one from Shortlisted to Booked.

Once a vendor is booked, their agreed price flows into your budget automatically: it becomes the actual spend on that event's matching budget line, so a booked photographer shows up under Photography & Videography. That way the budget reflects what you've really committed to, not just what you planned.

Step 6: Schedule payments and get reminders (Premium)

Most vendors are paid in instalments: an advance, a second payment, and the balance near the day. For each vendor, add a payment schedule with the amount and due date of each instalment and how you're paying (UPI, bank transfer, cash, card or cheque). Then mark each one as pending, partially paid or completed as you go.

Turn on payment reminder emails in Wedding Details, and WedMap emails you 7 days before any vendor payment is due. When you're paying from another country, a week's notice gives you time to arrange a transfer instead of scrambling at the last minute.

Step 7: Check your overview

Your wedding's Overview page brings it all together: spend against budget, spending by category, your guests by side and how many invitations have gone out, and, with Premium, RSVPs, vendor booking status and upcoming payments. It's the page to open before every family call.

Free or Premium?

Everything in steps 1 to 4 is free: planning multiple events, an unlimited guest list organised by side, the budget tracker, and invitation tracking. Premium adds vendor management, payment schedules and reminders, RSVPs and event-by-event guest lists. It's priced per wedding and lasts 24 months, which covers the whole planning period.

You can start free and upgrade when you get to booking vendors.