Family Details: How Much to Share
VivahAI Editorial · 10 August 2026 · 6 min read
In an arranged match, two families are being introduced, not just two people. The family section is read closely — and it is also where biodata most often drift into either a census return or a brochure.
What belongs
- Father — name and occupation. "Retired" is a complete answer.
- Mother — name and occupation, including homemaker, which is an occupation.
- Siblings — how many, elder or younger, and their status in a few words.
- Native place — the family's ancestral town or district. Often the field a reader looks for first.
- Family type — nuclear or joint, if your family uses the distinction.
Father: Suresh Deshmukh, civil engineer (retired) Mother: Vaishali Deshmukh, homemaker Siblings: One elder sister, married, settled in Pune Native Place: Kolhapur, Maharashtra Family Type: Nuclear
Five lines. That is genuinely all most families are looking for at this stage.
What to leave out
- Income, property and assets. "Own house in Kolhapur" is the most anyone should read on a first page, and even that is optional.
- Relatives beyond your immediate family. Uncles, cousins and their achievements belong in conversation, not on the page.
- Other people's phone numbers, unless you have asked them first.
- Caste sub-divisions in fine detail, unless your family specifically matches on them. If they do, one line is enough.
- Status-signalling. "From a well-known and highly respected family" tells the reader only that you wrote it about yourself.
Situations people struggle to word
Every one of these is common. None of them needs a paragraph. Say it once, plainly, and move on — a straightforward line reads as confidence, while an evasive one invites exactly the questions you were hoping to avoid.
| Situation | One clean line |
|---|---|
| A parent has died | Father: Late Shri R. Menon. Mother: Sudha Menon, homemaker |
| Parents are separated or divorced | Raised by my mother, Sudha Menon, school principal |
| You are estranged from family | I live independently in Bengaluru |
| A sibling has a disability | One younger brother, at home with the family |
| Your family is spread abroad | Parents in Coimbatore; one brother in Toronto |
| You were raised by grandparents | Raised by my paternal grandparents in Madurai |
Notice that none of these explain. Explanation is what the first conversation is for, and a family that would reject you over one factual line was never going to be the right match.
Who to put down as contact
One name, one number, and the relationship. Two numbers if you must, but never four — a reader faced with four numbers rings none of them.
Too many doors
Contact: 98xxx xxxxx / 99xxx xxxxx / 97xxx xxxxx (father, mother, self)
One clear door
Contact: Father, Suresh Deshmukh — +91 98xxx xxxxx (calls after 6pm)
That parenthetical is worth more than it looks. It tells the reader when they will actually be answered, which removes the most common reason a promising match goes cold: two families playing phone tag.
Read next
- What Goes in a Marriage Biodata (and What Doesn't)
The six blocks every marriage biodata is built from, a field-by-field breakdown of what each one is for, and the details families quietly wish you had left off.
- How to Write the 'About Me' Section
Four sentences, written in your own voice, that say more than a page of adjectives. With before-and-after examples and the clichés worth deleting.
- Horoscope Details on a Biodata: What to Include
Which birth details belong on the page, why the exact time matters more than people think, and an honest note on what automated kundli matching can and cannot do.