EventzInspired
What types of event services do you offer?
Services offered are planning of milestones like birthdays, anniversaries, baby shower, birth announcements. Then of course entire wedding planning starting from the engagement ceremony until the final departure.
What makes a wedding big?
A big wedding is made of the small detailing, the personal elements and the personal touch we add to it. The emotional value and aesthetics we pick out from the traditional wedding styles, giving it a modern twist but not leaving behind the essence, making it even more special.
Heartfelt personalised couple entries with their personal people and favourite song as a couple are a area of prime focus for team EventzInspired.
Who is an ideal client?
Clients who have their personal involvement in the minute detailing, which makes the wedding even more grand. The respect and hospitality shown by the client upon us is to be admired.
In what ways has the wedding scene changed due to the pandemic?
Weddings have become more intimate and personal affair since the invitees have reduced, involvement of guests has increased, more emphasis has been given to local art and culture.
What are the changing trends over the years, in terms of what couples prefer now?
Couples prefer tailor-made weddings, each paragraph of their wedding story is to be penned in their desired emotions. They prefer to focus on quality more than quantity. Enjoying and being a part of all events and giving their full attention becomes most important for the couple.
What about the top themes preferred by your clients?
We personalise each event theme as per the clients’ storyline and their preferences. We have worked upon themes like BComToRomCom (from college romance to romantic comedy), 2 States, Organic Matka Mehndi, Nathdwara Wedding, Wedding on the Ghats of sacred river Ganga, Surreal Green Sangeet, a Swarovski ring ceremony, Pitambar Raas Telbaan, Psychedelic Jungle and Phantom of Opera.
What is the quirkiest theme you have done?
Owl Bar.
What are the key things one must keep in mind when hosting a destination wedding?
Weather conditions as per the event date and logistics.
Due to the pandemic, destination weddings abroad have taken a back seat, what are some of the best places in the country for that?
In India I would say Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Goa.
Food is a very important part of weddings. What are the most in-demand cuisines?
Italian, fusion chaat and Sri Lankan.
Prairna Khuller, founder and owner, EventzInspired
Who are the most requested star performers at weddings?
Ayushmann Khurrana, Badshah, Vishal Shekhar, Noora Fatehi and Ranveer Singh.
Lastly, which is the most big-scale wedding that you have done?
The most big-scale wedding done by us took place at ITC Royal Bengal in November last year.
EventzInspired
In business since: September 2017
Minimum wedding budget: We operate on a fees and we don’t define wedding budget. That is a client’s prerogative to define.
Emerald Events
What types of event services do you offer?
Extraordinary celebrations don’t just happen, they are meticulously planned and safely executed. We offer a defined roadmap to a wedding, for a client who can foresee a transparent defined journey ahead that will ensure his dreams are transforming into a reality. We define a customised scope of work for the event right from RSVP, hospitality, logistics, decor designing to the likes of customised stationary, menus that go with the specially curated theme, technical requirements and planning, special entries and special effects. In short, we deliver a successful event.
What makes a wedding big?
People, literally be it the numbers or the heart.
What is the average size of wedding you plan?
Pre-Covid last wedding was of 3,700 guests. During Covid 50 per event and now 150 rooms, that is around 300-350 guests.
Who is an ideal client?
The one who knows what he/she wants and believes in giving clarity to us for us to know what to offer and how to go about making their vision come true.
In what ways has the wedding scene changed due to the pandemic?
Threat is to be ready for any unforeseen situations and not just go by normal. Which is also the key essence of being a real planner. The future is all about being the real planner who has a Plan A, B and C ready, and be there through it all, supporting the ever-changing emotions and situations of clients, vendors, teams. Most importantly, navigate them through the safe tunnel of reaching the final experience they have hired us for. Our real-time journey of creating wedding experiences through all of last year has enabled us to know the best practices in any given situations.
Vaani Kapoor and Ranveer Singh performed at a wedding organised by Emerald Events recently
What are the changing trends over the years, in terms of what couples prefer now?
Private affair, pretty things, personal touches, from a gala exhibit to an experience to remember are some of the things clients look out for.
What are the top themes preferred by your clients?
Mystic Woods, Royal Classics, Vintage Contemporary and Glamorously Bold.
What is the quirkiest theme you have done?
In a old car cleaning factory in Jharkhand for a family that is based out of Ranchi we did the Mystic Woods theme. Then we did Circus to Cirq, a Russian circus and Cirque de sole inspired cocktail evening.
What are the key things one must keep in mind when hosting a destination wedding?
Safety, assurance of all refunds in case unforeseen circumstances prevail and a local Plan B as back-up.
Due to the pandemic, destination wedding abroad has taken a back seat, what are some of the best places in the country for destination weddings?
Goa, Rajasthan as a whole, Cochi, Siliguri, Chandigarh and Kashmir.
What are the most in-demand cuisines at weddings?
International cuisines, healthy options, vegan counters and seafood barbecue.
Who are the most requested star performers at weddings?
Guru Randhawa, Harrdy Sandhu, Salim-Sulaiman and Shreya Ghoshal are some most-booked artists.
Lastly, which is the most big-scale wedding that you have done?
All weddings are big scale. As the emotion behind it as big and parents start saving from the time a child is born, girl or boy, to see her/him in a doli or ghodi respectively.
Emerald Events
In business since: 2007
Minimum wedding budget: Rs 50 lakhs
CJS Events
What types of event services do you offer?
We are an end-to-end wedding planning and event management company. All aspects of the wedding services are covered. Major heads being hotel/venue bookings, event designing, planning, supervision and execution, food curation and experiences, hospitality, travel and logistics planning and management.
What makes a wedding big?
For us the weddings we plan needs to have soul and should be experiential, that’s what makes it big.
What is the average size wedding you plan?
Mostly about 200-300 rooms on an average, having said that the pandemic has taught us to do weddings with 50 people also.
Who is an ideal client?
It has to be the client who knows what they don’t want.
In what ways has the wedding scene changed due to the pandemic?
It’s been a complete new learning experience and a big eye-opener. Out-of-the-box venues, for example, we did a wedding in a temple recently.
What are the changing trends over the years, in terms of what couples prefer now?
Lots of detailing, attention to value-added ideas, less wastage, gourmet experiences are majorly desired by clients.
What about the top themes preferred by your clients?
Lots of technology coming into the wedding scene. Example, use of kinetic technology in the floral space and then sensory dining experiences. The thought process of themes has evolved into more concept-based experiences, which help achieve the best of both the worlds.
What are the key things one must keep in mind when hosting a destination wedding?
The geographical conditions of the area you’re working at for sure. It is very important to understand what your vision is for the wedding and whether that’s matching with the venue that you’re choosing. Having a team that understands the destination and has ample back-up and infrastructure in the destination. Reinventing the wheel is not something you would want to do. Example, Maldives is a beautiful destination but you’re not allowed to have Indian wedding rituals with fire.
Due to the pandemic destination wedding abroad has taken a back seat, what are some of the best places in the country for destination weddings?
Beautiful new properties have come up in the hills with good room and banquet inventory, which was a challenge earlier like in Dehradun, Rishikesh, and Kurseong. Rajasthan has come up with some amazing new properties like Raffles Udaipur and Six Senses Fort Barwara.
Chitvan Jaipuria Director, CJS Events
What are the most in-demand cuisines at weddings?
More than cuisines now, it’s a lot of the ingredients and processes that matter first. Sensory experiences blending technology with food in terms of experiences has been well appreciated. It’s no more just Italian, it’s about the different regions in Italy and specialties from there. Street food from across the world is now finding space in weddings.
Who are the most-requested star performers at weddings?
A lot is happening in the live entertainment space in weddings, jugalbandis and jamming of artists from varied fields is what’s really in now. A lot of work is happening with fusing electronic music with regional and unique instruments .
Lastly, which is the most big-scale wedding that you have done?
A destination wedding in the City of Nizams with 400 rooms. Spread across four hotels from Novotel Convention Centre to Faluknama Palace in the Old City.
CJs Events
In business since: 2007
Minimum wedding budget: On request. Varies from event type.
RKM Weddings
What types of event services do you offer?
Wedding planning, hospitality, artist management, venue booking, menu curation, logistics, photography, destination wedding planning, trousseau, food specialisation, working with decor designers, light designers and flower designers from Thailand and Holland.
What makes a wedding big?
The vision to make it big. We visualise the things we want to do at a particular venue. All the clients are not the same, their requirements are different, their likings are different so how we manage to fulfil all their needs is how we make a wedding big.
What is the average size wedding you plan with respect to budget?
Rs 3-5 crores.
Who is an ideal client?
The client who has the same wavelength as ours. The one who wants things as larger than life as us. Who also helps and supports us doing things that we want to by putting their trust and faith in us.
In what ways has the wedding scene changed due to the pandemic?
Safety and hygiene have become the utmost priority. Size of the wedding has gone down, where people used to call 1,000 people earlier, have now started adjusting themselves with a guest list of 200. The scene of destination weddings have changed. People prefer getting married in their home town rather than going elsewhere. They’ve started using the money in other places like calling a bigger name for their sangeet, giving people better gifts and giveaways during other events, wearing costly lehnga and sherwani for the wedding.
What are the changing trends over the years, in terms of what couples prefer now?
The needs of the bride and groom remain the same. But now they prefer having more friends around them all the time. Better and bigger the friends group, the better the pictures, toasts they make and better the sangeet performances.
What are the top themes preferred by your clients?
Sincity, Money Heist or alike for bachelors, vibrant or pastels for mehndi, cheese and wine for a pool or brunch party, forest theme or crystal ball event for sangeet, Rajasthani for myraah bhaat, Moroccan theme or South Indian theme for haldi. But the one that remains constant is Royal Rajwada for weddings.
What is the quirkiest theme you have done?
Sincity for a 10th anniversary celebration.
What are the key things one must keep in mind when hosting a destination wedding?
Flight timings, proper hospitality and logistics, wedding-friendly hotels, trusted vendors and the biggest and most important being the food and beverages.
What are the most in-demand cuisines at wedding?
Inter-state like Victoria chaat counter of Kolkata, biryani and South Indian menu from Hyderabad, Lucknow ki chaat and paan wala, chhola kulcha from Delhi, fusion food, the go-to food being Italian, Mongolian and most important, Indian food. Now in trend is a special counter for fruits.
Salim-Sulaiman in action for a sangeet for a client at P.C. Chandra Gardens
Who are the most-requested star performers at weddings?
Guru Randhawa, Mika Singh, Salim-Sulaiman. Ranveer Singh, Neha Kakkar, Harrdy Sandhu, A.P. Dhillon, Shiamak Davar and Terence Lewis for sangeet choreography.
Lastly, which is the most large-scale wedding that you have done?
Udaipur, having six venues for four nights and five days. Properties included The Oberoi Udaivilas, Manek Chowk, Jag Mandi, Shourya garh Fort, Shiv Niwas Palace, and Lodha Farms.
Pictures: Shared by the wedding planners
Kirti H Mehta Director, RKM Weddings
RKM Weddings by Kirti H Mehta
In business since: 2012
Minimum wedding budget: Rs 1 crore