What are the usual functions at an Indian wedding?

It varies by community and family, but a common shape is Mehndi, Sangeet, Haldi, the wedding ceremony itself and a reception. Some families add an engagement, a puja, a cocktail evening or a post-wedding lunch. There is no fixed list — build yours around what your family actually observes.

Does every guest have to be invited to every function?

No, and most families do not do that. Mehndi and Haldi are usually close family and friends; the ceremony and reception are wider. What matters is that each guest knows clearly which events they are invited to, so nobody arrives at the wrong one or feels quietly excluded.

How do I tell guests which functions they are invited to?

Put it in writing, per guest, rather than leaving it to be understood. A personal invitation that lists only that guest’s events removes the ambiguity entirely — and saves you the awkward clarifying phone calls.

How much time should I leave between functions?

More than feels necessary. Indian functions run late almost as a rule, and guests travelling between venues need buffer. If the Sangeet is likely to end at midnight, do not put the Haldi at eight the next morning.

Should each function have its own venue on the invitation?

Yes, if they differ. The single most common guest question is “where is this one?” — answering it once per function, in writing, prevents dozens of messages.

What is the best way to share a schedule that keeps changing?

A link rather than an image. Timings shift, venues get confirmed late, and a picture you sent in October cannot be corrected in November. A page can be edited, and the link everyone already has stays correct.

Planning a Multi-Function Wedding Schedule (Mehndi to Reception) · Source Code Stack

On this page

Lay the schedule out properly
Leave more gap than you think
Decide who is invited to what — then say so
Answer the questions once
Send a link, not a picture
A practical order of work

A wedding invitation in India is rarely for one event. It is a Mehndi on Friday afternoon, a Sangeet that runs past midnight, a Haldi the next morning, the ceremony itself, and a reception for four hundred people who were not at any of the rest.

Which means the real planning problem is not the design of the card. It is: who is invited to what, and does each of them know it?

Lay the schedule out properly

Before anything goes on paper, write each function down with four things:

Name — Mehndi, Sangeet, Haldi, Wedding Ceremony, Reception.
Date and start time — the real one, not the optimistic one.
Venue — the full address, even when two functions share a place.
A one-line note — “lunch will be served”, “the baraat leaves at 6”, “pastels please”.

Do this for every event before you print or send anything. Seeing them in a list makes two problems obvious that are invisible when they live in your head: functions stacked too close together, and functions where you have not actually decided the venue.

Leave more gap than you think

Functions run late. This is not a failure of planning, it is the nature of the thing — the Sangeet does not end because the schedule says so.

So build in the buffer. If the Sangeet realistically ends at midnight, an 8am Haldi is a schedule that only exists on paper. And when guests are moving between venues, add travel time and then add some more; a family of six does not leave a venue quickly.

The reception is where this bites hardest. It is usually the largest event, with the most guests who are not staying nearby, and the one where a two-hour delay is most visible.

Decide who is invited to what — then say so

Most families run concentric circles: Mehndi and Haldi for close family and friends, Sangeet a little wider, ceremony and reception widest of all.

The mistake is leaving those circles implicit. “Obviously they’re coming to the Mehndi” is obvious to you and to no one else. What follows is a fortnight of clarifying calls, a few people at the wrong venue, and at least one relative who quietly believes they were excluded.

Put it in writing, per guest. When a guest opens their invitation and sees exactly the three events they are invited to — with times and venues — the question does not arise. It costs you nothing at the time and saves an enormous amount of awkwardness later.

Answer the questions once

For a multi-day wedding, the same handful of questions arrive from everyone:

Where exactly is each function?
What do I wear to the Mehndi?
Is there parking, and is there a shuttle between venues?
Which hotel is the family staying in, and is there a rate?
Can I bring my children?
What time does the ceremony really start?

Every one of these is a paragraph you could write once. Answering them individually on WhatsApp, forty times, is the single biggest hidden time cost of an Indian wedding.

Write them down somewhere your guests can reach, and point everyone there.

Send a link, not a picture

This is the part worth getting right, because it decides how much work you do in the final fortnight.

An image of your schedule is fixed the moment you send it. Timings will change. The Haldi venue will be confirmed late. Someone will need directions you did not include. Every one of those changes means a new image and a new round of messages, and half your guests will still be looking at the old one.

A link does not have that problem. Update the page and everyone who saved the link in October sees the correct schedule in December. It also gives you somewhere to put the travel notes, the dress code and the FAQ, which do not fit on a card at all.

A practical order of work

Write the functions down — name, date, time, venue, note.
Check the gaps between them, assuming everything overruns.
Draw your circles — which guests attend which functions.
Build the guest list as households with contacts.
Send personal invitations where each guest sees only their own events.
Put the details on a page — full schedule, travel, stay, dress code, FAQ.
Track replies, in heads rather than invitations, with one reminder before the deadline.
Check people in at the door of the big functions, so you know who actually came.

Most of the stress of a multi-function wedding is not the events. It is the hundreds of small clarifications in between — and nearly all of them are avoidable by writing things down once, in a place people can return to.

Our invitation studio is built for exactly this shape of wedding: add each function with its own time and venue, choose which guests are invited to which, and every guest’s private invitation shows only their events. The event website carries the full schedule, travel and stay notes, dress code and FAQ — one link that stays correct as things change.

Frequently asked questions

What are the usual functions at an Indian wedding?: It varies by community and family, but a common shape is Mehndi, Sangeet, Haldi, the wedding ceremony itself and a reception. Some families add an engagement, a puja, a cocktail evening or a post-wedding lunch. There is no fixed list — build yours around what your family actually observes.
Does every guest have to be invited to every function?: No, and most families do not do that. Mehndi and Haldi are usually close family and friends; the ceremony and reception are wider. What matters is that each guest knows clearly which events they are invited to, so nobody arrives at the wrong one or feels quietly excluded.
How do I tell guests which functions they are invited to?: Put it in writing, per guest, rather than leaving it to be understood. A personal invitation that lists only that guest’s events removes the ambiguity entirely — and saves you the awkward clarifying phone calls.
How much time should I leave between functions?: More than feels necessary. Indian functions run late almost as a rule, and guests travelling between venues need buffer. If the Sangeet is likely to end at midnight, do not put the Haldi at eight the next morning.
Should each function have its own venue on the invitation?: Yes, if they differ. The single most common guest question is “where is this one?” — answering it once per function, in writing, prevents dozens of messages.
What is the best way to share a schedule that keeps changing?: A link rather than an image. Timings shift, venues get confirmed late, and a picture you sent in October cannot be corrected in November. A page can be edited, and the link everyone already has stays correct.