Uhexibc

Is it too much to ask for leaves for my own wedding?!

Well, you can ask. You did. You were allowed to take the leave that is in your contract and you were denied leave that is not in your contract. You have no right to unpaid leave, the same way your employer has no right to tell you "I don't need you, I won't pay you for ten days, but you don't need to work". You have a contract that clearly states what is expected of both of you. Work for payment. Stopping to work would be just as much a breach of that contract as stopping to pay.

So you can be happy with the leave that you are entitled to according to your contract, or you can take that as an opportunity to switch jobs. But even your next job is not required to give you unpaid days off for reasons that are not a medical emergency.

How can I go about requesting an extended period off work so that I can conduct my wedding and honeymoon in the same period?

One thing that the other answers haven't touched on so far, is that the requested time off is very soon. You don't mention exact dates, but October this year is only 6 weeks away! Whilst this won't help for the current situation, the following advice may help you/others in the future.

My manager says it is impossible for him to be able to grant me so many days as there is "upcoming" work.

and

When I asked him to suggest any other alternative, he asked me to "come up with alternative dates or cut my trip short".

suggest that your boss would be willing to give you a longer than usual period of time off. However, work has already been planned as you're only giving very short notice. It is best to request time off as early as possible, as soon as you know you're going to need it, especially when it's for a longer period like you're requesting here.

The only time that an extended period of time off should be a requested for so soon, is if it's a true emergency which couldn't have been anticipated earlier. I assume you knew you were getting married before now, and have had arrangements for the wedding and honeymoon prior to today - after all, planning a wedding is a big affair.

As soon as you knew when the wedding was going to be, that's when you should have spoken to your boss about getting extended time off. Whilst it's not guaranteed that it would have been accepted, it's more likely that they would be accommodating to your request, as it gives them time to plan work around this.

Somebody has got to say this:

Don't.

It is not part of Indian culture for every girl to have a royal wedding. Honeymoons aren't a part of Indian culture at all. I'd strongly suggest going to the finance forum and asking them how an expensive wedding will effect your life.

On top of that, you don't live in India, you live in Europe. It is not European culture either. While some europeans may take 5 weeks off at a time, most europeans consider elaborate weddings to be a sign of low class.

I married an indian girl a few years ago and there were 1,250 people at my wedding. I had never seen 1,220 of them before and I never will again. My father in law destroyed a really significant portion of his life's wealth. That will affect his ability to retire comfortably. On top of this, I ended up forking out $20,000 of my own money over three weeks to cover unexpected costs.

By the time we got back, the wedding felt more like a rape. The next year, her parents called her up and wanted an additional $10,000 because they were in debt from the wedding.

We are still married and I love my wife, but we started our lives together by stacking $100,000 in a pile and burning it. The wedding pushed back our ability to start a family because we spent our house downpayment on a big party.

Every one of my wife's friends regrets how much they spent on their weddings.

Is it too much to ask for leaves for my own wedding?!

Generally not no - but 5 weeks is a rather extreme amount. Losing an employee for 5 consecutive weeks when as your boss has said there's upcoming work is majorly disruptive. Not only that but it's also exceeding your remaining holiday amount.

I asked him if he can allow me to connect from home for about 10 days. He said he thinks I won't be that effective working from home.

I have to say I'm not surprised - it's hard to imagine you'd be giving work suitable levels of attention and focus if you were working from home given the initial request was to have the time off.

I am ready for loss of pay for 10 days, since I am willing to use all my 15 remaining annual/casual leaves. He won't allow for that also.

Again.. there's work coming up, if they need you for that work then you being off on unpaid leave isn't going to change that.

he asked me to "come up with alternative dates or cut my trip short".

I think you have your answer - I think you're going to have to either modify your plans or leave (the latter feels rather excessive to me but ultimately it is an option).

There are a lot of good answers here.

But I don't think any of them have addressed the amount of notice you gave your boss. A general rule of thumb in the UK (where I'm based) is to give notice that is twice the length of the holiday you're requesting. So if I want to take a day off, I give my boss two days notice, if I want a week off, I give my boss two weeks notice. If I wanted to take 5 weeks off, I would be expected to give my boss at least 10 weeks notice, almost 3 months. That is a lot more than the single month you gave your boss.

The expectations in your area may be different but should be laid out in your employee handbook, or contract.

You boss needs time to adjust plans and delivery schedules. Even if you believe your work can be picked up by other members of your team. The team is still one person down for five weeks and will not be able to deliver the same quantity of work.

I think it's unrealistic to give a months notice for a five-week holiday. Especially for something like a wedding that would have been planned months in advance.

It's hard to say, seeing as I don't know Indian laws or customs, but to me 25 days seems excessive. I'm from Denmark and I don't think anyone here would allow me 25 days of vacation back to back. Often the soft top limit is considered 3 weeks, though this is more of an unspoken rule.

I think few places would allow such a large leave in one go as it seriously hampers their production.

I don't think they are being unreasonable and I suggest you either find a job that can accommodate your needs or adjust your needs.

I had applied leave for four weeks for my sister's Marriage. I am from India. I work in a MNC with about 20000 employees in India. It was totally fine if you can handle the responsibilities.

How much sure you are about upcoming work?
If the work is just upcoming but not really on paper well planned, I Even your team leader might not be sure about it. Marriage is one time affair mostly and 5 weeks is not critical.

Who else can support you during your absence? How well are things really planned taskwise? Who can be your proxy? How big is your team? Can you plan or train a colleague for the expected responsibility? Is it possible to attend a week of work in between and take two weeks off again in case?

Having a laptop to address something critical can always be advantageous (whether or not manager agrees for work from home). Finally, you should enjoy your life's major event and also balance work. Rules aren't played as per contract in my country (sorry for stereotyping) and it is more about professional way of dealing and finding a solution.