Expert Planning by Refuge Weddings
The largest palace complex in Rajasthan, still home to the Mewar royal family. Multiple courtyards and heritage halls overlooking Lake Pichola, run under HRH Group of Hotels — and one of the very few venues in India where a couple can genuinely say they got married inside a living royal residence.
◆City Palace isn't a hotel styled like a palace. It's the actual seat of the Mewar dynasty, built from 1559 onward on the banks of Lake Pichola and still lived in today. That's the part that makes couples pause when they first walk through Badi Pol — this isn't a stage set. Zenana Mahal has hosted real royal weddings since the 1600s. The Sheesh Mahal down the corridor is still covered in the original mirrorwork.
For a couple planning a wedding in City Palace Udaipur, that history shows up in the details you can't fake elsewhere: courtyards built for processions, balconies designed for exactly this kind of celebration, and a lake view that doesn't need a single extra light rig to look finished.
HRH Group of Hotels has run weddings here since 1999, including some of the country's most-covered celebrity events. That track record matters more than it sounds — a wedding at City Palace Udaipur comes with real heritage constraints, and you want people who've already worked around them, not people learning on your date.
"HRH Group already manages events at City Palace. Why do we need a separate planner?" Answer: because HRH manages the property. Nobody there is managing your wedding. The HRH events team handles venue turnovers, in-house catering coordination, and room-block logistics inside the palace. That's their job, and they do it well. What they don't do: design your wedding, source a photography or décor team from outside their own network, chase the police and fire permissions your event needs, or sit on your side of the table when something needs pushing back on.
Add to that the specifics of a genuine heritage residence — no outside catering, décor restrictions inside protected halls, a 10 PM outdoor noise cutoff, and a set of permissions that go through the local administration and not just the venue — and you have a wedding that benefits enormously from a Wedding planner In Udaipur who already knows the constraints. Here's what Refuge Weddings brings to a City Palace wedding specifically:
We design the full look of your wedding within what City Palace's heritage rules actually allow — florals, lighting, mandap placement — and brief the palace's approved decorators precisely, instead of letting them run a standard package.
Photography, videography, hair and makeup, mehendi artists, folk performers — coordinated through us on one timeline, instead of you juggling the HRH team and a dozen outside contacts separately.
Police NOC for gatherings and processions, fire safety clearance, sound permits, and liquor licensing where required — we start these early enough that they clear before your functions, not the week of.
Flights into Udaipur, room blocks across Shiv Niwas, Fateh Prakash, and nearby luxury hotels, transfers, and a full multi-day guest itinerary — handled as one plan, not a set of separate bookings.
Ghoomar and Kalbelia folk performers for mehendi, a Shehnai for the pheras, a boat arrival at Jagmandir if that's part of your plan — this is where a Udaipur-based network actually shows.
Venue, catering, décor, and travel costs laid out as one realistic number before you commit to a date — not a vague estimate that grows once you're already booked.
City Palace isn't a single hall — it's a cluster of courtyards and palaces, each suited to a different kind of function. Here's what each space realistically holds.
| Space | Seated | Floating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jagmandir Island Palace | 850 | 900 | Main ceremony, premium reception — reached by boat |
| Manek Chowk | 850 | 1,000 | Large receptions, Mughal-style courtyard |
| Zenana Mahal | 450 | 500 | Sangeet, candlelit evening functions |
| Shiv Niwas Palace | 300 | 450 | Ceremony or reception, crescent-shaped courtyard |
| Fateh Prakash Palace | 120–150 | — | Mid-size functions, paired with on-site rooms |
| Mor Chowk | ~50 | — | Intimate ceremonies, close-family functions |
Cool days, clear skies, and the busiest months for Udaipur weddings. Book 10–12 months ahead for your preferred venue and dates — Zenana Mahal and Jagmandir go first.
Warmer afternoons but workable evenings. More date availability, and some room to negotiate on venue rental.
Hot, and outdoor courtyards need cover planning. Significantly better availability and pricing — a reasonable trade-off for a smaller, more private wedding.
City Palace runs an in-house catering policy — all food is prepared by HRH's own kitchen team. Outside caterers aren't permitted inside the palace venues.
HRH's chefs prepare Rajasthani, pan-Indian, and international menus, with decades of experience cooking specifically for palace-scale wedding functions.
Menu customization is negotiated directly with the HRH banqueting team at the contract stage — mention any specific requests (cuisine focus, live counters, dietary needs) early rather than after signing.
HRH doesn't publish a fixed per-plate rate. As a planning reference, a full wedding at City Palace — venue plus catering for around 250 guests — has typically run ₹90 lakh to ₹1.5 crore, with larger or more elaborate weddings crossing ₹2 crore. Zenana Mahal alone, venue and catering for roughly 300 guests, has been quoted around ₹36 lakh plus taxes. Treat these as planning ranges — HRH quotes are custom to your dates, guest count, and chosen venues.
These are the real, verifiable rules that shape how a wedding at City Palace Udaipur gets planned. Know these before you sign anything.
All food and beverage runs through HRH's kitchen. No outside caterers.
Large installations, structural décor, and anything involving drilling or nailing into palace walls need prior approval from the palace administration, sometimes with technical drawings submitted in advance.
City Palace is a protected heritage residence, not a purpose-built banquet space. Open flame near old fabric or woodwork, and heavy fabricated sets common at city banquet halls, are restricted inside the historic courtyards.
Amplified outdoor music generally needs to stop by 10 PM, in line with Rajasthan's noise regulations. Indoor functions have more flexibility at lower volume.
Large gatherings, baraat processions, and VIP movement through the old city need police permission arranged in advance, given the palace's location in a high-footfall heritage zone.
Required for any fireworks, candles at scale, or pyrotechnics used in décor.
Needed if the specific venue space you've booked doesn't already hold one for events.
HRH manages press and photography access closely to protect the privacy of wedding parties, given the palace's profile with high-visibility weddings.
Zenana Mahal and Jagmandir book out first in peak season. Decide your main ceremony and reception spaces before anything else.
Rooms across Shiv Niwas, Fateh Prakash, and the nearby Garden Hotel are limited (~100 total). Decide your overflow hotel plan early.
Have someone review the HRH contract, flag heritage and vendor restrictions, and confirm what's negotiable before any advance is paid.
Police NOC, fire clearance, and liquor licensing can take 2–6 weeks. Begin the process 30–45 days out at minimum.
Since outside catering isn't an option, get your cuisine preferences and any customization agreed on paper at the contract stage.
Folk performers, photographers, and top vendors for the October–March window get booked well in advance.
Most full weddings here, for around 250 guests, fall between ₹90 lakh and ₹1.5 crore including venue and catering. Larger or more elaborate weddings can cross ₹2 crore. Exact pricing depends on which venue, guest count, and season you pick.
Bookings go through HRH Group of Hotels, who manage events at the palace. You confirm your date and venue, commit to a room block, and sign a venue contract — ideally with a planner reviewing it first, since heritage and vendor restrictions apply.
Look for a planner who has already worked inside HRH's heritage restrictions — vendor approvals, permission timelines, and décor limits specific to a protected monument. Refuge Weddings plans destination weddings across Udaipur's palace circuit, including City Palace, and manages everything HRH's own team doesn't: creative direction, permissions, and full guest logistics.
On-site options include Shiv Niwas Palace, Fateh Prakash Palace, and the nearby Garden Hotel, all under HRH. For overflow guests, The Taj Lake Palace, The Oberoi Udaivilas, and The Leela Palace Udaipur are all a short drive away and commonly used alongside a City Palace wedding.
The palace's media protocol means not every photography team gets the same access — HRH controls press movement closely during weddings. We work with a vetted network of Udaipur-based wedding photographers who already know the palace's shot restrictions and lighting conditions, and can brief them directly as part of planning your wedding.
Because décor inside the palace needs prior approval — no drilling into heritage walls, restrictions on open flame and large structural builds — the right decorator is one with prior experience at protected heritage venues, not just banquet halls. Refuge Weddings works with decorators experienced specifically in grand Indian heritage venues, who know how to design within City Palace's actual constraints rather than around them.
A wedding at City Palace Udaipur means working with a real royal residence — its rules, its permissions, and its own way of doing things. Refuge Weddings handles all of it, from the HRH contract to the last guest transfer.
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