The calendar
When Kerala marries
Three calendars run at once in this state, and none of them is the Gregorian one. Before you hold a venue, work out which of them owns your date.
The Malayalam year, month by month
Hindu
Karkidakam, Kanni, Dhanu, Kumbham and the back half of Meenam are kept clear.
Inside the months that are used, the day and the hour come from the horoscopes. The astrologer gives you a muhurtham, sometimes at 5.40 in the morning, and the whole day is built backwards from it.
Christian
Churches generally do not celebrate weddings during the fifty days of Lent before Easter, or the twenty-five day Nombu before Christmas.
Both seasons move against the Gregorian calendar, so they land differently every year. Your parish sets the date, and popular churches in Kottayam and Thrissur take bookings well over a year ahead.
Muslim
Ramadan and Muharram are usually avoided.
Both follow the lunar calendar and shift about eleven days earlier each year, so a date that works this year may sit inside Ramadan in three years time.
Which months are avoided for weddings in Kerala?
Kerala tradition keeps Kanni, Dhanu, Kumbham and Karkidakam clear of Hindu marriages, along with the second half of Meenam. Karkidakam, roughly mid-July to mid-August, is the strictest of them. Christian and Muslim weddings follow different calendars: churches avoid Lent and the Nombu before Christmas, and Muslim families avoid Ramadan and Muharram.
The Hindu calendar sets the hour, not just the day
The astrologer works from the horoscopes and gives you a muhurtham. It is a moment, not a morning, and it can land at twenty to six. Everything else on the day is then scheduled backwards from it, which is how families end up in hair and makeup at three in the morning and why a venue that will not open its kitchen before seven is no use to you.
Within the months that are used, some dates carry far more weddings than others. If your muhurtham lands on one of them you are competing for the same cooks, the same buses and the same flowers as every other family in the district.
The church diary is the harder booking
Kerala churches generally keep the fifty days of Lent and the twenty-five day Nombu before Christmas clear. Both are tied to Easter and Christmas rather than to fixed dates, so the blocked weeks move every year. Fix the church first. A venue can usually be found around a church date; the reverse is much harder in Kottayam or Thrissur.
Ramadan moves under you
Ramadan and Muharram shift about eleven days earlier each Gregorian year. On a long engagement this matters: a month that looks clear when you start planning can sit inside Ramadan by the time you actually marry. Check the year of the wedding, not the year you are in.
What this does to price
Makaram and Vrischikam are the two crowded stretches, and venues price accordingly. Mithunam sits in the monsoon and is not avoided, which is the one genuine value window in the Kerala year — the rate tables are here if you want to see what the difference looks like.
Questions
Which months are avoided for weddings in Kerala?
Kerala tradition keeps Kanni, Dhanu, Kumbham and Karkidakam clear of Hindu marriages, along with the second half of Meenam. Karkidakam, roughly mid-July to mid-August, is the strictest of them. Christian and Muslim weddings follow different calendars: churches avoid Lent and the Nombu before Christmas, and Muslim families avoid Ramadan and Muharram.
What is the busiest wedding month in Kerala?
Makaram, roughly mid-January to mid-February, is the busiest stretch of the year, with Vrischikam in November and December close behind. Venues and the better cooks in both months are booked around a year ahead.
Can you have a wedding in Kerala during the monsoon?
Yes. Mithunam, roughly mid-June to mid-July, is inside the monsoon and is not a traditionally avoided month, so weddings do run. Rates fall, the state is at its greenest, and the practical requirement is a venue where the whole event can move under cover at short notice.
Who decides the wedding date in Kerala?
For a Hindu wedding the family astrologer sets the muhurtham from the couple’s horoscopes, and it can fall before sunrise. For a Christian wedding the parish sets the date, and popular churches book more than a year ahead. For a Muslim wedding the family and mahal agree it around the lunar calendar.
Have a muhurtham already?
Send us the date and we will tell you what is still open at that time of the morning, and what it will cost in that month.