Traditional Versus Western: Current Trends in Luxury Weddings in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The luxury wedding market in Sri Lanka is changing and growing. This paper assesses consumer buying behaviour, the current and future trends of luxury weddings in Sri Lanka. Truong and McColl’s (2011) intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are tested. Interviews were conducted with ten Sri Lankan wedding planners, and thematic analysis was applied. The findings identify consumer behaviour, and map the types and current themes of luxury weddings. The three E’s help define luxury weddings, they are exclusive, expensive and unique experiences where each wedding seeks to be different to the one preceding it. Central to the sense of luxury are the menu, decoration and entertainment. Intrinsic motivations of the quality of service on offer, and extrinsic motivations of what others think drive luxury wedding consumer behaviour. The paper concludes that culturally we can identify two likely, and potentially contradictory, trends in Sri Lankan luxury weddings, a move back to more traditional weddings, a continuation of more western thematic style weddings.