As you evaluate catering sales for the remainder of 2018 and start looking towards 2019, here’s a handy list of South Asian holidays – dates couples are less likely to select for their wedding day.
If you’ve been following my Linkedin posts and our blog, then you may have learned that South Asia is a region of many cultures and religions. So, not all holidays apply to all South Asians. But don’t worry, we’ve specified the holidays and which group(s), each applies to, as you can see in the snapshot of the calendar, below.
ProTip: Any dates that fall on weekdays, then it’s the prior and following weekends that are the black out dates.
ProTip: This is not to say, no one will select these dates, but couples will be less likely to.
Download the calendar: ShaadiShop’s 2018-2019 South Asian Social Calendar
{Why We Created This Calendar}
So you can plan your strategy for attracting Indian weddings as well as other types of social events. Indian weddings are year round. There’s no “season” per se. The summer through the Fall is the most popular time for Indian weddings – March through October.
{Holiday Weekends are Popular for Indian Weddings}
In addition to the to-be-avoided dates, the dates that are very popular for Indian weddings are all of the holiday weekends: President’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving.
Because Indian weddings are multi-day celebrations that extra day off becomes very handy.
{So How Can Catering Teams Use This Info?}
Use it to plan around your busy and slow’ish periods. Use it to run promotions. If 2-4 months out, you’ve got open dates that you’d like to fill, ShaadiShop can run promotions for you. Couples are always looking for venues for short term booking events such as an engagement party, bridal shower etc.
This month we’ve had 3 inquiries for weddings with 1-3 month booking windows!
Contact us for packages.
{Take Aways}
This South Asian social calendar is helpful to Catering and Sales teams to plan promotions and analyze dates that coincide with your venue’s busy and slower periods.
Not all holidays apply to all South Asians, so that’s why we’ve broken it down for you.
This article is part of ShaadiShop’s series
{Some FYIs}
Shaadi = Marriage/wedding in Hindi/Urdu, which are two major languages spoken in South Asia
South Asian refers to people from: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives
South Asian is not to be confused with Southeast Asian which is a completely different region of the world.
South Asian is a more encompassing term as it refers to everyone in that region vs. Indian.
I hope this article has been helpful to you. If it has, please let me know in the comments; and you might like to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest – whatever your preferred media is, as we frequently publish articles to help make planning an Indian wedding just a little bit easier.
Contact us: sales@shaadishop.co
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{Testimonials}
“We’re so glad we joined ShaadiShop to market this hotel to the South Asian community in the Orange County area. Every wedding we close from their leads returns more than 3x our investment. Moreover, they pre-qualify leads and educate consumers creating a much better sales cycle for our catering team. Venues looking to reach this market, join ShaadiShop!”
Thanks!
Ryan Hurd
Catering Sales Manager
Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove
“We just booked a full Indian wedding through ShaadiShop at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort. In addition to the business, we appreciate the exposure ShaadiShop creates about our venue, as the couple didn’t know about our resort until ShaadiShop told them about us. Additionally, we appreciate the pre-qualification work that ShaadiShop does to match couples and venues that are a good fit for each other. We had all the info needed to conduct the initial meeting. What a great service for venues to market to the South Asian community!”
Angie Florence
Catering Sales Manager
Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort
“Cannot say enough good things about the service from Samta and ShaadiShop who helped us research venues for our wedding this year. We wanted a non-hotel venue, and to get married within 6 months. ShaadiShop immediately found us venues, contacted them and educated us about all the things we needed to think about while selecting a venue. They put all the info together in a fabulous, super impressive, spreadsheet that helped us compare venues – seriously amazing and such a great help. Working with them made the whole stressful process MUCH easier and I can’t believe it was all free! ShaadiShop’s website is fantastic and such a great service for South Asians – so glad I found them!”
Anjli Shah, Bride
“Shaadishop helped me not only find venues but also understand how they work, the fees, and tips that I wouldn’t have otherwise known. Definitely a need service in the desi community. And best of all, it was free!!”
Hinna Shaikh, Bride
cover image: Global Photography