Find the right wedding dress using this website Mumbai-based startup, Indear.in is an end-to-end inspiration, planning, and shopping portal for Indian weddings.

When we talk about Indian weddings, first few things which strike our mind are ravishing outfits, a huge venue, limitless shopping, decor ideas etc.

However, anyone who has gone through the tedious planning stages knows about the pain one needs to go through while planning a wedding? From selecting a location to décor ideas, end number of invitations, multiple email threads, frequent follow-ups with organisers etc—it can give you sleepless nights.

Various new startups like Indear.in, WedMeGood, Shaadisaga, 7Vachan, Bollywoodshaadi and many more have realized that there is no comprehensive tool that exists to cater this problem.

As per the facts and figures, Indian wedding industry is $38 billion market, growing 25-30 percent YoY. Moreover, Indians spend 1/5th of their lifetime wealth on a son or daughter's wedding.

With more than 50 percent of country's population under 25, approximately 10 million weddings take place in India every year. With India's technological evolution, Indians are becoming more comfortable in purchasing even expensive items online; women-influenced GMV has grown 5 times between 2012 and 2016. Active internet usage by women has resulted in a huge opportunity to move the wedding industry online, from inspiration to planning to purchase.

Sensing the opportunity, Sanna Vohra founded Indear.in in 2014 to tap this market and to make wedding planning a unique and memorable affair for everyone.

How it all started?

Indear.in happened when Vohra's friend narrated her sister's wedding planning experience to her when she was in Mumbai for a week. To give her an idea about the location, outfits, décor ideas, invitations, her friend had to go through multiple sites.

"While listening to my friend lamenting about the planning process, I had a gut feeling that I had found my next venture. I remember thinking to myself, this is so inefficient – there had to be a better way to plan a wedding. I went back to my job but continued doing research, and realized that no comprehensive tool existed. A few months later, I moved to India and Indear.in was born," said Vohra.

What it offers for users?

Indear.in is an end-to-end inspiration, planning, and shopping portal for Indian weddings. This startup sources luxury wedding content & products directly from India's wedding experts, and organizes them in an innovative manner to simplify the process of planning your dream wedding.

Users can explore, save and share wedding ideas, as well as contact designers and vendors directly.

While explaining its offering, Vohra said, "We provide the most extensive image-based search engine for Indian weddings, where users can search for just about anything – from floral center pieces to chiffon sarees. The data which users can search with the help of Indear.in is unparalleled. Once users find what they like, they can save images onto boards, and share these boards with family and friends to get their opinion."

Moreover, users can purchase wedding dresses, jewellery, gifts and favours online from leading wedding designers and vendors across the country. "From December, we are launching services where users will be able to book venues, caterers, hair / make-up artists, and mehendi artists directly from us," Vohra elaborates.

A tricky road

For Vohra, it was not a smooth ride all the way. She had to go through a lot of hurdles to make her entrepreneurial dream come true. The main challenge was ensuring that they bring high-quality vendors on to the platform. Further they had to make sure that they are building a platform that is easy to use and navigate, and one that actually meets users' needs.

What makes it unique?

Despite all the hurdles and challenges, Vohra successfully transformed Indear.in into a unique platform which stands apart from others dealing in the same segment. Now it has partnered with some of the reputed brands and vendors like Taj Group of Hotels, Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, the Wedding Filmer, Ritu Kumar, Anita Dongre, Amrapali, Forest Essentials and many more.

"There are many features about Indear.in that make it different from others in the wedding sector. We are the only portal that has transactions occurring real-time on the platform. All other portals ask users to send enquiries, which can be very frustrating for people who need answers quickly. Another interesting feature is that users can not only save ideas & brands they like, but also share them with family & friends. Hardly anyone plans a wedding alone in India. So unlike other portals, we made sure to build a tool where users can actually get the opinions and help of family & friends," Opined Vohra.

Road ahead

Working on a commission based model, Indear.in will soon be launching its app to ease the planning process for brides on-the-go. They have already forayed into e-commerce with the launch of Indear Shop. "We also intend to rapidly increase the number of vendors listed on our portal and build a wider geographical footprint," said Vohra