Why couples come back to Rajasthan to say it again
In our family, an anniversary is not a private dinner. It is a gathering, with sweets, songs and an aunt who insists on telling the story of how the couple first met.
A big anniversary: the tenth, the twenty-fifth or the fortieth.
- Most loved
- Udaipur's lake terraces and island palaces
- Ceremony
- Priest, celebrant or your own words
- Legal paperwork
- None needed for a renewal
- Best season
- October to March, at sunset
- Plan ahead
- Three to six months for an intimate renewal
- The wedding you never had: a quick registry office wedding years ago, and a celebration always wanted.
- After something hard: couples who have come through it together and want to stand up and say so.
- Back to the same lake: some honeymooned in Rajasthan long ago and want to return.
- A family gathering: a reason to bring children, grandchildren and oldest friends together in one beautiful place.
- Why Rajasthan: its palaces were made for ceremony, its light at dusk is soft and gold, and its culture treats marriage as something everyone around you celebrates.
What we offer, and the principle behind it
A terrace that is yours: for the evening, with nobody else in it.
An officiant who listens: a priest or celebrant who takes the time to understand you.
- Musicians who sing for you: rather than at you.
- A plan built for presence: so that you can be fully there on the day.
- Any size: we have planned renewals for two people alone and for fifty members of one family.
What a renewal can be
- Officiant meeting
- Before the day, by video if needed
- Rehearsal
- On the spot, usually the evening before
- Other faiths
- Tell us early, officiants may travel
- Hindu blessing
- Priest may choose an auspicious hour
A Hindu blessing with a priest
The ceremony: short prayers and blessings, often before a small sacred fire.
The rituals: an exchange of garlands, the varmala, and a red thread tied on the wrist for protection.
- In English: the priest explains each step as he goes.
- Not a wedding: and it doesn't pretend to be, but it draws on the same rituals, and couples of every background find it moving.
- A fuller ceremony: Hindu couples sometimes choose one, and their family priest may wish to choose an auspicious day and hour.
A ceremony with a celebrant
Your own words: a celebrant works with you beforehand on the shape of the ceremony and the vows.
- Everyone involved: children often read something, friends tell a story, and the couple speak to each other.
- One Rajasthani touch: many couples add the garlands or a song.
A ceremony of your own faith
- Officiants of many traditions: for Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Jain and interfaith couples, we help find someone to bless your renewal in your own tradition.
- Tell us early: the right person may need to travel.
Just the two of you
No officiant at all: some of the most beautiful renewals we arrange.
- How it goes: a boat takes the couple to a terrace, a musician plays at a distance, and they read letters they wrote to each other.
- Afterwards: dinner for two by lamplight. Nothing more is needed.
How Rajasthan honours a long marriage
Festivals of marriage: the great women's festivals of Rajasthan are, at heart, about marriage.
Gangaur: in March or April, married women worship Gauri, the goddess Parvati, for the long life and happiness of their husbands, and unmarried girls pray for a good one.
- Gangaur
- March or April
- Teej
- The monsoon
- Karva Chauth
- Autumn
- Best seen
- Jaipur and Udaipur
- Days of devotion: they carry clay images of the goddess, sing and fast, and the festival ends with processions through Jaipur and Udaipur.
- Teej: in the monsoon, women celebrate the reunion of Parvati with Shiva after her long devotion, dressed in green and leheriya, with swings in the trees and ghevar in every sweet shop.
- Karva Chauth: in the autumn, many married women across north India keep a day-long fast for their husbands, broken only when the moon rises and they have seen it, and then their husband's face, through a sieve.
- In our family: the grandmothers keep it, the daughters-in-law mostly keep it, and the husbands have learned to be home by moonrise with something sweet.
- Timing your renewal: a Gangaur evening on the ghats of Udaipur, or Teej in Jaipur, gives your ceremony a whole city celebrating marriage around it.
- Honest advice: we tell you how busy each town will be, and whether a festival week suits your plans.
Where we arrange vow renewals
Udaipur, on the lake
Our first suggestion: Udaipur, for most couples.
Jag Mandir: the terraces and garden court of Jag Mandir, the island palace, reached by boat and golden at sunset.
- The City Palace complex: within the City Palace, Shiv Niwas Palace and Fateh Prakash Palace have courtyards and terraces above the water.
- The lake hotels: the Taj Lake Palace and The Oberoi Udaivilas arrange ceremonies for their own guests in their gardens and pavilions.
- Dinner after: our journal on the best rooftop restaurants in Udaipur names terraces for a celebration meal.
Udaipur, on the water itself
The most private ceremony: a boat on Lake Pichola at sunset, with only the two of you, an officiant and a musician aboard.
- The drift: past the bathing ghats and the City Palace as the light goes.
- The vows: made in the middle of the lake, with the hills turning blue behind you.
- Afterwards: the boat lands at a terrace where dinner is waiting. In our experience, it is the version couples talk about longest.
Jaipur, in a palace garden
Rambagh Palace: in Jaipur, its Mughal gardens are perfect for a renewal at dusk, then dinner on the lawns with peacocks calling.
- The Oberoi Rajvilas: with its restored Shiva temple and gardens, it feels like a private village.
- More intimate: a rooftop inside the walled city at Samode Haveli, with the pink city all around you. Our journal on the best rooftop restaurants in Jaipur has more roofs.
Samode, a garden camp in the hills
Where: an hour from Jaipur, Samode has a hillside palace with a mirrored Sheesh Mahal.
- Samode Bagh: a little away from it, a walled garden camp among old trees and fountains.
- Our favourite for families: a renewal in the garden, then dinner in the palace.
Jodhpur, below the fort
- Umaid Bhawan Palace: in Jodhpur, terraces and lawns face the city, with Mehrangarh glowing on its ridge at night.
- Smaller and warmer: a rural fort still run by its family, such as Rohet Garh or Chandelao Garh, makes a renewal feel like a homecoming.
The Thar, on a dune at dusk
- Sky and silence: renewals on the dunes beyond Jaisalmer, or at a luxury camp such as Manvar Desert Camp between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.
- The order of the evening: the ceremony as the sun goes down, Manganiyar singers as the first stars come out, and dinner laid on carpets in the sand.
A hill palace or a rural fort
To be entirely alone: RAAS Devigarh, a marble hill palace near Udaipur.
- Northern Mewar: Deogarh Mahal.
- Below a granite hill: Rawla Narlai, a hunting lodge.
- Afterwards: quiet, beautiful places for a few slow days.
A day shaped around the ceremony
- Morning
- Empty on purpose, mehndi if you like
- Afternoon
- Dressing, with a turban tier
- Golden hour
- The ceremony, about twenty minutes
- Evening
- Dinner by lamplight, then home by boat
Morning, slow and unhurried
- Nothing planned: a late breakfast on your terrace, then nothing at all. We keep the morning empty on purpose.
- Mehndi: if you like, an artist comes to your room to paint henna on the bride's hands, with a small design for anyone else who wants one.
Afternoon, dressing the Rajasthani way
For the bride: a dresser helps with a sari or a lehenga, the long embroidered skirt.
- For the men: a turban tier wraps a safa for the husband and any men in the party. Our journal on the turbans of Rajasthan explains the colours.
- Time and laughter: it takes both.
- In your own clothes: we add a Rajasthani touch, a bandhani scarf, a garland of jasmine or a pair of mojaris.
Golden hour, the ceremony
The crossing: a boat carries you over Lake Pichola to the island terrace as the light softens.
- The vows: the priest or celebrant is waiting. Garlands of marigold and rose are exchanged, the vows are made and petals are thrown.
- Behind you: the City Palace turns pink across the water.
Evening, a dinner and a song
Dinner by lamplight: a Rajasthani menu or whatever you love most, with musicians playing quietly.
- Your song: many couples ask for a song from their wedding to be played or sung.
- Home: by boat to your hotel, where your room has been dressed with flowers.
Small details that make it yours
Market garlands: made that morning by the old city's flower sellers, in marigold, rose and jasmine, rather than a florist's arrangement.
A Manganiyar song, chosen for you: the singer is told your story so he can weave your names into the verse, as the Thar's musicians have always done for their patrons.
- Miniature portraits: a pair painted in the Rajput style by an artist in Udaipur or Kishangarh, from a photograph of your wedding and one taken on the day.
- Letters: written to each other before you came, read aloud or kept sealed until the evening.
- Sweets for everyone: ghevar in the monsoon, or mawa kachori from Jodhpur, wrapped in printed cloth as a gift.
- The next generation: children or grandchildren ask the questions, read a poem or tie the thread.
- A gift to a local cause: a school or craft group, in place of presents, if that is your wish.
Bringing the family, or keeping it secret
A family renewal
Often planned by grown-up children: for their parents' anniversary.
How we work: with one or two organisers in the family, arranging travel and rooms for everyone.
- Pacing: the days are planned so the generations spend time together without anyone being exhausted.
- Grandparents: get rooms close to the dining room and lifts.
- Children: get a boat ride, a kite lesson or a cooking class.
- Read more: our multi-generation journeys and family journeys explain how we plan for every age.
A surprise renewal
What it takes: a careful partner and a discreet planner.
- It happens: we have arranged ceremonies where one spouse expected a quiet dinner and found a priest, their children and a boat full of flowers instead.
- Talk to us early: we keep every message private, and our team on the ground keeps the secret until the last moment.
Just the two of you
- Alone, by choice: some couples want neither audience nor fuss.
- How we plan it: simple, with the rest of the journey as calm as the ceremony. Our Rajasthan for Two journey is a good shape.
A journey around the renewal
Four nights in Udaipur: a day to arrive and rest, a day on the lake and in the City Palace, the renewal on the third evening and a slow last day.
The last day: a drive to Kumbhalgarh or a morning at Nathdwara.
- Short trip
- Four nights in Udaipur
- Ceremony night
- The third evening
- A week or more
- Jaipur, a fort or desert, then Udaipur
- Day before
- Kept light
- Day after
- Kept empty
- Ready-made: our Udaipur romance, 4 nights is built exactly this way, and we simply add the ceremony.
- A week or more: begin in Jaipur, continue through a rural fort or the desert, and end in Udaipur, so the ceremony comes near the close and the last days are quiet.
- For wild places: add a few nights at Ranthambore for tigers or Jawai for leopards.
- For the desert: a night under the stars near Jaisalmer. Our Honeymoon in Udaipur and Jaisalmer suits renewals as well as first honeymoons.
- Rooms chosen with care: a lake view in Udaipur, a garden suite in Jaipur, a tent facing the dunes.
- Looked after throughout: your private chauffeur, local guides and a planner on WhatsApp.
Rules and practicalities
No legal paperwork: a vow renewal is ceremonial, not a legal marriage, so there are no documents to prepare in India. Bring your wedding date and, if you like, a copy of your original vows.
Venue rules: heritage venues set their own rules on numbers, timing, candles, flowers and fixings.
- Monuments: protected monuments can't usually be used at all. We book only venues where ceremonies are welcomed.
- Music: amplified music is restricted late at night, usually from 10 pm, and many venues set earlier limits. Most renewals finish well before, with acoustic music.
- Fireworks and sky lanterns: need permission and are often not allowed near palaces and lakes. We suggest lamps and diyas instead.
- Alcohol: needs the right licence at private events, can't be served on dry days, and some towns, such as Pushkar, don't permit it at all. Your hotel will advise.
- Drones: need permission and are restricted near airports, military areas and many monuments. We arrange drone photography only where it is legal.
- Photographers: local ones who know the light and the venues, briefed on what you want captured and what you'd rather keep private.
Seasons and the right hour
October to March: warm afternoons, cool evenings and clear skies, with November and February especially lovely.
December and January: cold nights, so an outdoor evening needs shawls and heaters. In the desert it can be very cold after dark.
- October-March
- Best season
- November and February
- Especially lovely
- December-January
- Cold nights, shawls and heaters
- April-June
- Indoor or dawn ceremonies
- July-September
- Green hills, covered back-up
- Busiest
- Diwali, Christmas, New Year
- April to June: very hot, so we plan an indoor ceremony or a dawn one.
- The monsoon, July to September: Udaipur and the Aravalli hills turn green, with dramatic skies and fewer visitors, for couples happy to have a covered back-up.
- A full moon: lakes and dunes turn silver after dark. Sharad Purnima, the autumn full moon, and Kartik Purnima a month later are especially loved, though they bring festival crowds to some towns.
- An auspicious hour: for a Hindu blessing, the priest may suggest a day and hour, and we confirm it for your year.
- The busiest times: Diwali, Christmas and New Year, when hotels and boats are booked far ahead. Our guide to the best time to visit Rajasthan has the weather month by month.
How far ahead to plan
For two: three to six months is usually enough, though for Udaipur's most popular hotels and terraces in high season we would start earlier.
For twenty or more: nine to twelve months, so rooms, flights and visas can be arranged in time.
- Intimate renewal
- Three to six months
- Udaipur in high season
- Start earlier
- Twenty guests or more
- Nine to twelve months
- Surprise renewals
- Extra time for quiet planning
- Surprises: benefit from extra time, because every detail has to be agreed quietly.
- How we begin: a conversation to learn your story, then two or three suggested settings.
- Then: we confirm the venue, the officiant and the rooms, and build the journey around the ceremony.
- No fixed packages: we quote after that first conversation.
Respect for the rituals, and for the people
Every ritual explained: we ask priests and celebrants to explain what they perform, and encourage couples to include only the parts they feel comfortable with.
No staged weddings: we don't stage fake village weddings.
- No animal props: no elephants, no camels as props and no captive animal performances.
- Fair pay: musicians, flower sellers, mehndi artists and dressers are paid fairly and promptly.
- Consent in photographs: the people who help make your day are photographed only if they agree.
- Gentle with neighbours: near a temple or in a town, we take care not to disturb local life, and keep the music gentle. Our page on travelling responsibly explains how we work.
Who will love it
Couples marking a big anniversary: the most common reason of all.
Couples who never had the wedding they wanted: this is their chance.
- Families: who want a reason to come together.
- Lovers of ceremony and beauty: in equal measure.
- The shy and the sociable: we make it as quiet or as grand as you like.
- No ceremony at all: a private dinner in a palace on a terrace or rampart carries much of the same magic without the vows.
- A first wedding: our page on destination weddings is the place to start, and our Rajasthan honeymoons page is for the days after.