India’s billionaire population is rising. So is anxiety among even educated young Indians who don’t see a dependable route from degrees and competitive examinations to decent jobs. Between these two Indias, a striking commercial story is unfolding: Southeast Asia is learning how to tap into the extraordinary growth of Indian wealth, the spending power of India’s still-tiny uber-rich, and is adapting its resorts, infrastructure, and bureaucracy.

This December, 1,400 Indian guests are expected on Vietnam’s Hon Tre Island in Nha Trang for a four-day wedding estimated to cost around $5 million. Guests will arrive by charter flights. Local authorities will review preparations and work to ensure the wedding runs smoothly, a provincial tourism official said. On the agenda—a special welcome ceremony for the families of the bride and groom at the airport. “Indian chefs will travel to Nha Trang to oversee catering for the event,” Tuổi Trẻ News, the English-language edition of Vietnam’s Tuổi Trẻ newspaper, reported.

In Indian destination mega weddings, the Indian side typically brings much of the wedding with it: planners, décor, chefs, performers, priests, and ritual specialists. The destination supplies what cannot travel so easily—rooms, kitchens, labour, transport, permissions, customs clearance, and the physical infrastructure to hold the whole operation together. Southeast Asia is studying wealthy Indian tourists as a high-value client class and changing the machinery of hospitality around their........

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