One paper that goes to more places than you do
When people make a biodata, they forget one thing: this paper does not stop in one place.
You give it to a matchmaker (ghotok) or a relative. They send it to two families. From there it goes on WhatsApp, then to someone else. Six months later the paper is on the phones of ten people you do not even know, and there is no way to delete it.
This is not meant to scare you, it is just arithmetic. If you write with the assumption that it will spread this way, the biodata stops in the right place by itself.
Seven parts, in this order
One page is enough, and in almost all families the order is the same.
| Part | What goes in it |
| Personal details | Name, date of birth and age, height, complexion, blood group, marital status |
| Education | Exam, institution, year, result |
| Profession and income | What you do, where, and income (if you want to give it) |
| Family details | Father's and mother's names and professions, how many siblings and what they do |
| Address | Permanent and present, up to the area |
| Expectations | Three to five lines |
| Contact | Guardian's name, relation and phone |
Many families have a part on religious matters, and some do not. Whatever is your family's custom is right. If it is not there, nobody minds, and if it is there, it is best kept short.
What you should never write
This list is the real part of this post, because almost everyone already knows the rest.
National ID or birth registration number. Nobody needs this number for talks of marriage to move forward. You will need it for the paperwork after the marriage is settled, and you can give it directly then. Putting it in the biodata means it can end up in a stranger's hands.
Full home address. The name of the area is enough, for example "Mirpur 11, Dhaka". You need the house number, road number and flat number before a visit, and by then you can say it on the phone.
Your own direct mobile number. Give the guardian's number. This is not only a rule of courtesy, there is a practical reason too: as far as the biodata travels, calls from unknown numbers come from just as far.
A photo of an office ID card or a salary paper. Profession and the name of the organisation are enough. If proof is asked for, that is for a later step.
A photo, if the family does not want one. Many families do not give a photo, and many do. It is the family's decision, but remember the photo will travel with the paper. If you give one, give an ordinary photo, and the file should not be of a very high resolution.
Social media links. These do not belong in a biodata. If someone wants to, they will look, and that is their business.
How to write the expectations box so it is useful
This one box gets the most mistakes, from both directions.
One group writes so little that nothing can be understood: "A religious bride from a good family". Another group writes such a long list that people stop while reading it.
The working rule is simple: three to five lines, and only what is really important.
Weak: "Beautiful, tall, fair, government job holder, a family with their own house in Dhaka."
Good: "I am looking for someone who can get along with the family. Education at least a bachelor's degree. I do not mind if she works, and I do not mind if she does not. She must be willing to live in Dhaka, because my workplace is here."
The difference is that after reading the second one, you understand what kind of person you are. After reading the first, you only understand a list of measurements, and those lists are almost the same in every biodata.
Avoid writing expectations in measurements of appearance. If you write them, the proposals that will not come may include good ones too.
What to write in the income box
Many people are uneasy about this box, so they either write more than the truth or leave it empty.
Three ways are acceptable: writing the figure, writing a range, or writing "open to discussion". Which one you write is the family's decision.
What you should not do is inflate it. This is a fact that gets checked later, and if it is caught, the credibility of everything else is lost at once.
The mistakes that happen most
| Mistake | Why it is a problem |
| Made in a CV layout | A career objective and achievement bullets do not fit here |
| Two pages or more | It does not get read, and the extra details are usually unnecessary |
| A coloured, decorated background | The text cannot be read when printed, and it does not look good on a phone either |
| Age and date of birth do not match | A small mistake, but it creates doubt |
| Made-up details | They get checked later, and then everything is questioned |
| Personal details of siblings | That is their information, not yours to give |
| File name biodata.pdf | Among ten files with the same name, yours gets lost |
A little needs saying about the siblings box. How many there are and what they do is enough. Who is married, who lives where, whose income is what: this is their own information, and you do not know whether they agreed to have it on this paper.
Printing and sending
Send it as a PDF, not as a photo. A photo makes the text blurry, and it cannot be read on a small phone.
Put your own name in the file name, for example rafiqul-islam-biodata.pdf. A matchmaker or relative has a dozen biodatas on their phone, and if all of them are named biodata.pdf, yours is hard to find.
If you need to print, plain printing on white paper is enough. It is best if it fits on one page.
Making a biodata with AI
Because the structure is fixed, AI does this job well, but you need to be careful in two places.
First, put in the details yourself. AI does not know your name, years, results or profession. If it does not know, it may guess and fill them in, and that is the most common place where it says wrong things with confidence. A wrong year in a biodata has to be explained later.
Second, say that you want a marriage biodata. If you only say "biodata", often the job CV layout comes, because the two papers have almost the same name. If you write "marriage biodata", the right layout comes.
In the BanglaCodes chat, in the "More" menu below the writing box, there is a button named Biodata. Tapping it makes a one-page, print-ready biodata that you can download as a PDF. This works on the free Model.
The paper needed for a job is a different thing, and its layout comes in two kinds; that is written up in How to write a CV.
If you start from the marriage biodata page, it will set out the biodata in this format, and you only give your own details.
Questions and answers
Are a biodata and a CV the same thing? No, they are two different papers. A CV goes to an employer, and there work experience and achievements come first. A marriage biodata goes to a family, and there personal and family details come first. If you make a biodata in a CV layout, it looks out of place.
How many pages should a biodata be? One page. If it goes to two pages, something has come in that was not needed, usually a long list of expectations or extra details about the family. If space runs short, cut, do not add.
Should I give a photo or not? It is the family's decision, and both are normal. If you give one, remember the photo will travel with the paper, so give an ordinary photo. If you do not, proposals are not blocked either. If a photo is asked for before a meeting, it can be given separately then.
Is it compulsory to write income? No. A figure, a range or "open to discussion" all work. Some people leave it empty on purpose, and that is not unusual either. Just do not inflate it, because it gets checked later.
How much of the address should I write? Up to the area and district, for example "Mirpur 11, Dhaka" or "Chouhali, Sirajganj". The house number or road number is not needed in the biodata; if a meeting comes up, you can say it on the phone then.
Is it necessary to write complexion? In the common layouts in Bangladesh the box is there, but nobody sends a biodata back if you leave it out. If you have to write it, use plain words, and it is better not to put a condition about someone else's complexion in the expectations box.
Should I keep the box on religious matters? According to your family's custom. In many families prayer or purdah is written about, and in many it is not. If you keep it, keep it short, two to three lines is enough.
Can the same biodata be sent to everyone? It can, and that is normal. But read the expectations box now and then, because it happens that six months later your own words no longer match. When other details change, for example a new job, update the file.
Can an old biodata be taken back? In practice it cannot, and this is the most important thing about this paper. Once it has been sent, you will not know who it went to. So do not write at the start what you might want to take back later.
In short
- One page, seven parts, and the layout is not a CV's
- Do not give the national ID number, the full home address or your own direct number
- Give the guardian's number, because the paper goes into unknown hands too
- Expectations in three to five lines, by qualities, not by measurements of appearance
- Writing income is not compulsory, but inflating it is dangerous
- Siblings' personal details are not yours to give
- Send it as a PDF, and put your own name in the file name