Marriage Biodata Format: What to Include and How to Lay It Out

The words get mixed up, but they are different documents with different readers:

So a biodata is not a resume with a photo added. If you are job hunting as well, see how to write a resume that gets read — the two need quite different content.

Families have read hundreds of these, and they expect to find things in roughly this order. Following it makes your biodata easy to read, and easy to compare.

1. An opening line (optional)

Many biodatas begin with a short invocation at the top, in keeping with the family’s tradition — ॥ श्री गणेशाय नमः ॥ in many Hindu families, ੴ (Ik Onkar) in Sikh families, “Bismillah” in many Muslim families, or a cross for Christian families. It is entirely optional. A biodata without one is just as correct.

2. Photo

The photo is looked at before anything is read, so it is worth getting right:

• Recent — taken within the last year.
• Clear and well lit, facing the camera, from the chest up.
• A plain or softly blurred background.
• Light editing at most. Heavy filters get noticed, and the first meeting shows the truth anyway.
• Formal or traditional clothes, as your family prefers. If you want to share more pictures, send one or two separately rather than crowding the page.

3. Personal details

• Full name
• Date of birth — some families add the age as well
• Height — in feet and inches, with centimetres if the biodata may travel abroad
• Religion, and caste or community — if they matter to your family
• Mother tongue
• Marital status — never married, divorced or widowed
• Diet — vegetarian, eggetarian, non-vegetarian, Jain or vegan
• Blood group, if you like

4. Education and career

Give your highest qualification first, with the institution — “B.Tech, Computer Science, Delhi Technological University”. Then your current work: designation, employer, and the city you work in. Annual income is optional; many people give a range or write “shared on request”. If you are in a family business, describe it in a line: what it does and your role in it.

5. Family details

• Father’s name and occupation, with “Late” before the name if he has passed away
• Mother’s name and occupation — “homemaker” is a perfectly good occupation
• Siblings — elder or younger, what they do, and whether they are married
• Family type — nuclear or joint
• Native place, and where the family lives now

Some families also describe their values — traditional, moderate or liberal. Useful if it is honest; leave it out if you are not sure what it would signal.

6. Horoscope details, if your family follows them

If horoscopes will be matched, give the details an astrologer needs: time of birth (as exact as you can), place of birth, rashi, nakshatra, gotra, and whether you are manglik. Copy these from your kundli rather than from memory — a wrong birth time changes the chart. If your family does not follow horoscopes, leave the whole section out.

7. Partner preferences

Two to four lines on what you are looking for. It is the one part of a biodata written in your own voice, so it says a lot about you. There is more on writing it well below.

8. Contact details

A phone number — often a parent’s — and an email address. A city or locality is enough for the address at first; share the full address once there is interest on both sides.

Here is a complete example with every section filled in. The details are made up; the structure is what to borrow.

Every biodata template on CraftCVPro starts with these sections already laid out, and you can rename, reorder, hide or add to them — a “Hobbies” section, say, or an extra row for your sub-caste.

Many families prefer a biodata in Hindi, or in English with Hindi headings. These are the terms most commonly used:

Hindi is where many online biodata makers fall down. Devanagari needs proper font shaping, and without it the matras and conjuncts break apart or print as empty boxes. The templates on this site shape Hindi with a real Devanagari font, so a line like ॥ श्री गणेशाय नमः ॥ prints exactly as you typed it.

• One page if at all possible. A biodata is read quickly, often on a phone. If it spills onto a second page, it usually has too much in it.
• The photo at the top — in a top corner, or centred under the name.
• Clear section headings, with details set out as a label and a value — Height, then 5′5″ — which is far quicker to scan than sentences.
• A readable font size. Grandparents will read it too, often on a phone.
• Traditional design, used lightly. Borders, a kalash, lotus or floral artwork, maroon, gold and saffron all look lovely — as long as the text on top stays easy to read.
• Share it as a PDF. A PDF keeps its layout on every phone and prints cleanly. A photo of a printed page is blurry by comparison, and a Word file can rearrange itself on someone else’s phone.

MangalamKalash & Gold Biodata

VivahaFloral Marriage Biodata

KamalLotus & Maroon Biodata

RoyalFormal Marriage Biodata

A biodata gets forwarded far beyond the people you send it to, so think about what you would be comfortable with a stranger reading.

• Identity numbers. Never include Aadhaar, PAN, passport or bank details.
• Your full home address, at first. City and locality are enough until there is interest on both sides.
• Exact salary figures, unless you are comfortable with them circulating. A range, or “shared on request”, works well.
• Long lists of hobbies and life stories. Two or three interests that say something real about you are plenty.
• Complexion and weight, if you would rather not. They are traditional fields, but more and more families leave them out — and phrases like “fair and slim” in partner preferences put off many of the people reading them.

This short section is read closely. A list of physical requirements comes across as demanding, and something vague says nothing. The best ones describe values and practical needs:

Do keep the practical requirements that genuinely matter — location, diet, whether you plan to live with your parents, whether you are open to moving abroad. They save both families time.

A second marriage

State your marital status plainly — divorced or widowed — and, if you have children, how many and who they live with. There is no need to explain the circumstances in the biodata; that conversation comes later. A clear, matter-of-fact biodata tends to reach the right families.

Living abroad

Mention the country and city, your residency status in general terms (citizen, permanent resident, work visa), and whether you plan to return to India or expect your partner to move. Families will ask about these first.

A family business

Describe it in one line — what it does, how long it has been running, and your role — rather than writing only “business”.

When you are ready, choose a biodata design, fill in the sections above, and download a PDF to share on WhatsApp — free, with no sign-up, and nothing uploaded anywhere.