Spend what your savings can pay without touching your emergency fund, plus what you can set aside before the date and what your family chooses to put in. Anything above that is borrowed, and a ₹15 lakh personal loan at an assumed 12% over five years costs about ₹5.02 lakh of interest and, at a 2% fee, ₹35,400 of fees.
How do you set a wedding budget?
A wedding budget has three parts: savings beyond your emergency fund and money meant for other goals, what you can put aside each month until the date, and what family chooses to contribute.
The emergency fund guide treats a wedding as a planned cost, not an emergency, so it needs its own savings. A wedding savings plan for a date within three years keeps the money in debt, such as a liquid fund or an FD, as the goal-based investing guide sets out.
What would Shruti's ₹15 lakh wedding loan cost?
Shruti, 29, earns ₹24 lakh CTC, about ₹1,51,600 a month in hand (see CTC vs in hand salary: FY 2026-27, new regime, PF on full wages). She has ₹10,00,000 saved. Her family expects a ₹30,00,000 wedding a year from now. Her parents will put in ₹5,00,000; the plan on the table adds all her savings and a ₹15,00,000 personal loan.
Personal loans cost about 10% to 24% a year (2026), set by your credit score and the lender. Take 12%, an assumption near the lower end of that range, over five years:
| ₹15,00,000 wedding loan, 12%, 60 months | Amount |
|---|---|
| Monthly EMI | ₹33,367 |
| Total repaid | ₹20,02,000 |
| Interest | about ₹5,02,000 |
| Processing fee at 2%, with 18% GST | ₹35,400 |
| Total cost | ₹5,37,400 |
The fee, often 1% to 3% of the amount (2026) plus 18% GST, is usually deducted from the payout, so ₹14,64,600 arrives. The interest carries no GST. Counting the fee, the loan costs about 13.1% a year. Since 1 October 2024, lenders must show this all-in rate as the annual percentage rate in a Key Facts Statement, so compare offers on it.
The plan has a second cost. Her essentials are ₹60,000 a month, so her emergency fund, six months of them, is ₹3,60,000, and it sits inside the ₹10 lakh. Spending all her savings leaves the ₹6,00,000 she puts aside before the date as her whole buffer, only just above the ₹5,60,202 six months of essentials become once the EMI lifts them to ₹93,367. After the wedding, the EMI also takes ₹33,367 of the ₹50,000 a month she now saves, for five years.
Without a loan, her budget is the ₹6,40,000 she can spare, her parents' ₹5,00,000 and the ₹6,00,000 she sets aside before the date: ₹17,40,000, with her emergency fund untouched.
How heavy is a wedding loan EMI at ₹15 lakh to ₹40 lakh CTC?
Each cell is the EMI's share of take-home pay at an assumed 12%:
| CTC | In hand a month | ₹5 lakh over 3 years (₹16,607) | ₹10 lakh over 5 years (₹22,244) | ₹15 lakh over 5 years (₹33,367) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₹15 lakh | ₹1,00,700 | 16.5% | 22.1% | 33.1% |
| ₹20 lakh | ₹1,29,800 | 12.8% | 17.1% | 25.7% |
| ₹24 lakh | ₹1,51,600 | 11.0% | 14.7% | 22.0% |
| ₹30 lakh | ₹1,81,400 | 9.2% | 12.3% | 18.4% |
| ₹40 lakh | ₹2,29,100 | 7.2% | 9.7% | 14.6% |
The 50/30/20 guide counts EMIs as needs, which it keeps within half of take-home pay. Shruti's ₹60,000 of essentials are 39.6% of her pay. The ₹15 lakh EMI lifts her needs to 61.6% for five years; a ₹5 lakh loan over three years lifts them to 50.5%, for ₹97,858 of interest and an ₹11,800 fee.
Should you take a personal loan for a wedding?
Between the ₹17.4 lakh her savings and her parents' share can pay and the ₹30 lakh her family expects lies ₹12.6 lakh. Each six months' delay adds ₹3,00,000 at ₹50,000 a month; a smaller loan, a smaller guest list or a larger family share closes the rest.
In many families the wedding is the parents' decision as much as the couple's, and parents have often saved for it for years. A larger wedding suits a family whose share comes from money beyond the parents' own retirement and health needs, and a couple who can carry the EMI and rebuild the emergency fund within a year or two. It suits less when it would draw on the parents' retirement savings, or leave the borrower paying more than a fifth of take-home pay in EMIs for five years. Put both totals in front of the family: ₹17.4 lakh without a loan, or ₹30 lakh with a loan costing ₹5.37 lakh.
Once married, the EMI can be shared or stay one partner's own, as married couple money management explains. If a bonus arrives while the loan runs, loan foreclosure charges works out whether closing it early saves money.
Does wedding gold jewellery count as savings?
Partly. The gold itself can count towards savings, as the 50/30/20 guide counts gold bought as part of a plan, but making charges, which vary by jeweller and design, and GST at 3% of the whole bill are spent. On ₹5,00,000 of gold with an assumed ₹50,000 of making charges, that is ₹66,500.
Dhi shows a wedding loan's EMI in your monthly cash flow and its balance in your net worth, and answers from your own numbers what a later date or a smaller loan would change. Dhi maps your investments to goals, nudges when something needs attention and earns no commissions.
Frequently asked questions
This is general information for salaried individuals in India, not personalised financial advice.
