The right questions: Why wedding quizzes are gaining popularity

Indian weddings have long been about music, dancing and good food. Now, in Chennai, there is a new addition: quizzing

The next time you attend a wedding, you may need to brush up your general knowledge. As families and friends unite over traditional ceremonies, elaborate meals and parties, there is a new entry for wedding planners to pencil in: the quiz.

The concept is increasingly getting popular in India, keeping quiz companies busy making customised sets of questions for each wedding.  “These quizzes should not be too cerebral.  It is infotainment: we should not forget that people come here to enjoy themselves,” says Arvind Rajeev, founder & partner of X Quiz It, who has been holding quizzes, albeit informally, since 2015. 

Girish Sampath, who got married in Chennai in May this year, kept guests engaged with quizzes at his own wedding reception. “I wanted something different from the typical music-dance events,” he says. A friend of his proposed the idea of holding a wedding quiz. “When I first told my wife, she was not too sure about it, but it turned out very well. Even one week after the wedding, people messaged me, mentioning how they had loved the concept,” says 36-year-old Girish, who works as a manager at a Bangalore-based non-profit organization. 

Quizmaster Venkatesh Srinivasan, who is CEO and principal event host at Nexus Consulting, says that he was excited when he got the opportunity to do a wedding quiz for the first time in May this year.  “The response was overwhelming. We asked questions related to South Indian wedding customs and rituals, some historically important weddings and weddings per se. We also did some research on the bride and the groom.  This was for a fun segment, which had a ‘2 truths and 1 lie’ format, which guests had to identify from the three points mentioned on each slide based on either the bride or the groom. This was to judge how well they really know the couple.”

This mini segment was followed by general knowledge questions, he says, adding, “A wedding crowd is diverse, so questions cannot be too technical. The atmosphere should be easygoing and not promote any kind of competitiveness.” Venkatesh adds, “What is perhaps most interesting is to see the really elderly members of the family being enthusiastic and participating.”

The format depends on the set up. “If I am carrying a laptop and there are facilities like a giant screen, questions will be slightly different than the ones I would ask holding a mic in hand,” says Venkatesh, adding that his company conducted a wedding reception quiz in Chennai last month specifically themed around South Indian weddings.

Do such events demand specific props?  “I don’t really have to dress up in suits and neither do I have to bring buzzers or laptop along with me. Even a microphone is not required,” notes Arvind. He adds that timings are flexible. “A quiz can be held either at the reception night or right after the wedding is over. Some families want midnight quiz, some want early morning coffee-time quiz.”