Steel King hosts Big Fat Wedding in Istanbul

May 4, 2011 Celeb Weddings to Watch out for, Destination Weddings

Vartika and Utsav

Lakshmi Mittal’s niece Vartika, is tying the knot in Istanbul on 5th May. And the buzz in Turkey is that the Steel King’s niece’s wedding is much grander than UK’s Royal Wedding. ‘Wedding fit for a King, niece of the six wealthiest man in the world to wed at Ciragan Palace’ reports a newspaper in Istanbul. Vartika, daughter of Lakshmi Mittal’s brother Pramod Mittal got engaged to Utsav Goenka, in October last year, at one of London’s hottest new exciting venues—The Boiler House in the Battersea Power Station.

Over five hundred guests from around the world have flown in to Turkey for the three-day festivities and three hundred rooms have been booked at Istanbul’s most exclusive hotel Ciragan Palace Kempinski (reports state the Mittals have paid over two and a half million Euros just for the rooms). The festivities commenced with a welcome dinner at the Sait Halim Pasa, a charming mansion. The pre wedding ceremonies– the Bhaat, Mudda Tikka and Mehendi were at the Ciragan Palace Ballroom after which guests were ferried on boats to the Sangeet venue– Suada, the private island. The main wedding function and post wedding cocktails are at the Ciragan Palace Gardens. The Wedding Planners are Meptur Luxury, Turkey’s leading destination management company and Cineyug, the entertainment services company run by the Morani brothers.

Istanbul has become one of the most preferred international wedding destinations for billionaires. The destination offers anonymity and all lavish western comforts; it’s a shopper’s paradise, a gourmet’s delight and a centre of culture with ancient Ottoman palaces, treasury of miniature art and architectural marvels.

Ciragan Palace Kempinski

Tags: Cineyug, Ciragan Palace, Daughter, Destination wedding, Indian wedding, Istanbul, Lakshmi Mittal, Meptur, Moranis, Niece, Pramod Mittal, Sait Halim Pasa, Suada, Utsav Goenka, Vartika Mittal, Venues, wedding, Wedding Planners

Memories of the Royal Wedding

Apr 18, 2011 Celeb Weddings to Watch out for

Much before India became obsessed with the Big Fat Indian Wedding, there was a whole generation who were fascinated with the fairy-tale Charles-Di wedding. WeddingSutra gets well-known Wedding Planners to talk about their love affair with the most beautiful white wedding.

“In between class breaks we’d see photos of the fairy tale wedding”
Gurleen Puri, Mumbai
Gurleen excitedly recalls all the conversations and picture-sharing in her class, at Modern School in Vasant Vihar, Delhi: “We would chat at length about Diana, imagining what it must be like to lead the royal life; who can forget her beautiful hand bouquet, it was so heavy I’m sure she experienced much pain, yet she looked super-graceful! We couldn’t stop looking at the pictures of so many stylish royals in elegant gowns accessorised with beautiful pearls. One classmate brought the Vogue special that featured the wedding, and what a nice feeling it was to touch Vogue.”

At that time, Gurleen had no idea that there existed a profession called wedding planner, but flowers always fascinated her most: “I would look at the floral decor and all the little details at the functions and sit-down dinners first, and only after that I’d notice the clothes and jewellery.”

“Diana’s gorgeous oval blue sapphire ring with diamonds, I got an identical ring.”
Rimjhim Bhagchandani, Dubai:
I was so excited about the upcoming Charles-Diana wedding, a little apprehensive too since I was not sure if it would be telecast live in Dubai. Fortunately, our local TV Channel 33 did not disappoint. I can’t forget the day, it was like a fantasy– Diana looked so innocent, she smiled a lot but her Prince looked grumpy and unhappy (I didn’t think too much of it then, presuming protocol expected him to behave that way). I couldn’t stop admiring Diana’s iconic 18-carat sapphire surrounded by 14 brilliant-cut diamonds. I got an identical one made (though it was nowhere as gorgeous as hers). I still have a picture of her hand bouquet and I’ve designed similar bouquets for many brides.”

“Diana was the Queen of Style”
Vithika Agarwal, Bangalore
I was very young when Charles-Di wed, but some of the images are etched clearly in my mind. I think it was the first white wedding I witnessed and as I grew older, thanks to Hollywood films, my love and fascination for white weddings grew. There was something about white weddings—they seemed more romantic, perfect and intimate. But no other bride in white caught my attention like Diana—she was truly the Queen of Style!

Ironically, my British husband was fascinated by Indian weddings. So we didn’t have a church wedding but a fun, colourful and traditional Indian shaadi!

“London looked most beautiful on 29th July, 1981”
Dinaz Noria, Hyderabad
Dinaz worked with British Airways as a stewardess before she embarked on her career in decor & wedding planning, and she was in London on the landmark date. She says: “There was magic in the air, like all hotels, even the hotel where I was staying was specially decorated and on the menu was a sumptuous wedding feast. While I was glued to the TV I would keep looking out of the window, to see the happy crowds on the street. I bought the famous ceramic plates with the couple’s image as memorabilia for my little sister and cousins, and for many months I preserved my favourite photographs in a special file—the one I liked best is of Prince Charles kissing his bride on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.”

Tags: Charles Diana Wedding, Childhood, Dinaz Noria, Fascination, Favorite Photographs, Gurleen Puri, Hand Bouquet, india, Memories, Pictures, Rimjhim Bhagchandani, Ring, Royal family, Vithika Agarwal, Wedding Planners, White Weddings

Janakpuri to Sainik Farms: BBB shows Big Fat Weddings in Delhi

Dec 14, 2010 Wedding People & Planners

Band Baaja Baraat (BBB) is a fun movie—for those who enjoy romantic flicks or like anything to do with shaadis. When we heard about the latest release by Yashraj Films with two Wedding Planners in the lead role we were excited, hoping they make a fun yet realistic portrayal on the life and times of people in the shaadi business. The film doesn’t disappoint. They are bang on when it comes to insights on how all families (wedding clients) behave—what they want (or don’t want to), their unreasonable demands and the big bollywood obsession. Equally interesting, are the insights on why so many youngsters want to be a part of the shaadi business—happy, childhood memories of weddings and the chance to eat yummy, delicious shaadi food.

Bittoo (Ranveer Singh) and Shruti (Anushka) are both from middle class families, and like all ambitious youngsters they have big dreams and aspirations. Fresh out of college they embark on a career in Wedding Planning. Shruti’s hard work and creative skills, and Bittoo’s sharp understanding of Dhanda (business) help the duo carve a niche. They quickly establish a name as the budget wedding planners in Janakpuri but Bittoo reminds Shruti that organising weddings in the budget of Rs 2.5 to Rs 5 lakh will take them nowhere, and they need a “high jump” to Sainik Farms. Luckily they gain a foothold in the space of big, fat weddings and they organise the Rs 2 to Rs 5 crore glitzy celebrations at farmhouses. But like life which cannot be a fun, happy celebration always, the film also makes a shift- to focus on Bittoo and Shruti’s differences and their relationship.

There is of course the filmi angle and the lead duo are projected as the super-creative, super-talented, super-efficient professionals. He has the ability to dance and entertain like Shahrukh Khan and manage clients as skilfully as Event magnate Wizcraft. She has the style sense of Manish Malhotra and the creative skills of decor queen Gurleen Puri. Together the duo create magic like India’s ace Wedding Planner Vandana Mohan—all this in a span of less than three years. The music is average and the sets and decor are just so-so. On the fashion front, we quite liked Anushka’s mix of Indian dresses- from dhinchak to rich and elegant worn in her official capacity as Wedding Planner at all the different locales.

Tags: Band Baaja Baraat, Career, Gurleen Puri, Manish Malhotra, Shaadi Business, Shahrukh Khan, Vandana Mohan, Wedding Business, Wedding Planners, Weddings, Wizcraft, Yashraj Films

The Wedding Planners in Band Baaja Baraat (BBB)

Dec 9, 2010 Wedding People & Planners

You often see Wedding Planners in Hollywood movies, but only occasionally in Bollywood movies– where slick and fashionable Wedding Planners conjure exotic themes and decor for picture perfect destinations. An exception was Dubeyji in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding. The foul-mouthed Jugaadu decorator, who performed all his tasks in the last-minute, but kept all his promises.

Band Baaja Baraat, a Yashraj Films Production releases on Friday, 10th December and the lead-duo are both Wedding Planners. Actress Anushka Sharma who plays the lead role in this romantic comedy spoke to WeddingSutra on her role: “We play wedding planners but the film is not about wedding planning- it’s just the backdrop. Band Baaja Baraat is a love story where I play the role of Delhi girl Shruti Kakkar. My role didn’t require me to delve too much into the world of weddings—but gain few insights into the typical life of event and wedding managers- so I learnt how to speak fast, give a lot of directions, and repeated instructions quickly. What I really worked on was speaking in a way a Delhi girl would talk. I am from Bangalore and I had to learn a certain lingo—and that was fun.”

We visualise lead actors Bittoo (Ranveer Singh) and Shruti (Anushka) doing those fun, crazy kinda tasks and coping with the unreasonable demands of stressed wedding families. We’re waiting to watch how real their reel roles will be. And since so many youngsters would love to be a Wedding Planner, we hope the film does not just showcase the ‘glamorous’ side of this career.

Tags: Anushka Sharma, Band Baaja Baraat, Bittoo, Bollywood, Career, Dubey, Monsoon Wedding, Ranveer Singh, Shruti, Wedding Planners

The Great Indian Wedding and The CommonWealth Games

Sep 27, 2010 Marriage & Wedding Trends, Wedding People & Planners

Delhi’s Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, not very long ago compared preparing for the games as preparing for a great Indian wedding. Replying to a question about projects running late, she stated that it is like weddings in India where everything in the beginning is chaotic and unorganized but later everything ends well; the baraatis go satisfied and happy with all the arrangements. Is that really the way Big or Small Weddings typically happen in India? WeddingSutra spoke to UK and India based Wedding Planner Anita Patel on how Wedding Planning in India is different from Wedding Planning in the West.

Huge Creative Talent, but different Efficiency Levels
Having worked in the international circuit in weddings for some time there is a vast difference in the styles of the East and the West. There is an enormous amount of creative talent in India; however the on-ground vendors lack the organisational and efficiency levels of the West. The actual working processes are harder in India due to the internet not being as fully utilised as much as in the UK. In India if I send an email to a vendor, I have to telephone and tell them check their email, defeating the purpose of email. The exact opposite is in UK- in most instances vendors respond within an hour.

The Written Word
There are many key differences in the planning process between two countries. Brides in UK want to see everything in writing. Contracts are prevalent for all venues and vendors, and clients like to see what is included and what is not, so it is easier for them to identify what else they need to get organised in addition to what the venue will provide.

Emotional Ties
Both in India and abroad, venues have a much friendlier approach with a wedding client as it is not like a corporate client where there is no emotional tie to the occasion.

Personal Attention
Unfortunately, even the most professional Hotels in India, lack personal attention to enquiries—so typically proposals for weddings are all standard ‘templates’. This is not the case in UK, where more time is spent in the proposal preparation stage, and this ensures a higher success rate of conversions.

WeddingSutra Editor’s view
Anita Patel’s view on the high creative levels and lower efficiency of Indian vendors makes for an insightful comment. But we believe wedding venues and vendors in India are forced to behave differently— because Indian clients are very different too; they often call up twenty different venues or vendors to get the best possible deal. Sometimes they spend a lot of time and get loads of information from one party, and in case they aren’t hiring their services, they don’t even bother to inform them about their final decision.

‘Idea shopping’- Many clients spend a lot of time with vendors, knowing well that they can’t afford their services. This forces vendors to look at clients with ‘suspicion’ and not part with the best samples of their work.

‘We can do it better’: Clients typically prefer to outsource creative work only—like decor and design, but don’t want to pay too much money for organising or communication kinda work—like RSVP ing, Vendor Checklists, Travel and Transport Coordination and Help Desks. People in the West will be surprised to learn that the logistics/ coordination aspects in the Weddings hosted by big business or corporate head honchos are not managed by Wedding Planners but by the hosts office staff; for a fortnight or upto a few months, the staff ignore important business work and concentrate all their time and energies on the Big Boss’ wards wedding.

All ‘Last-minute’: As most clients are busy getting quotes from other vendors, the chosen one is informed in the last-minute, when there is little time for detailed proposals or written documentation.

As Delhi’s Chief Minister so rightly described it, “all is well’ in the last minute at Weddings. We pray the same is the case with the Commonwealth Games too!

Tags: Anita Patel, Commonwealth Games, Creative Talent, Efficiency, india, Organisational, Talent, Tania Tapel, The Great Indian Wedding, Wedding Planners, Wedding Planning

Former Beauty Queens set to earn new title “Queen of Wedding Planning”

Sep 10, 2010 Marriage & Wedding Trends, Wedding People & Planners

Divya and Vithika, two Bangalore based friends are the sought-after Wedding Planners for well-heeled families not only from Bangalore, but for the super-rich residing in smaller towns around Bangalore. The duo who are both former models and Beauty Queens state: “We receive many calls from brides in towns like Tumkur, Coimbatore, Bellary and Tirupur who need help with shopping in bigger cities especially understanding fashion, colors and styling, grooming, nutrition and skin care. According to them, many of their clients have the unique requirement of wanting South Indian creations with a designer touch. “While some clients look for traditional or timeless creations from Ritu Kumar, or dazzling wear by Neeta Lulla, many still prefer elaborate kanjeevarams, especially for the wedding functions. So we take their kanjeevarams to designers who embellish the saree with original one of kind designs, and sometimes they even create an interesting langa davani (which is a fusion of the South Indian pavadai davani and North Indian lehenga choli).”

The largest wedding which Divya and Vithika organized was for 11,000 guests in Tumkur. “The Kalyana Mandapams (marriage halls) continue to be sought-after for the main wedding function, and now most clients prefer the five-star hotels for the pre or post wedding parties, or a venue like Palace Grounds, if their guest-list is huge.” With years of experience in modeling and their great interest in fashion, decor and style, they believe they possess a unique edge, in matters of wedding management: “A wedding is a very creative event. And while we are pretty organized on the management and logistics support aspect, we also add immense value by giving clients extensive inputs on colors, trends and styles—be it for their trousseau, the wedding themes or venue decor”, say the duo who share a common passion for people and all things bright and beautiful.

For both Divya who won Miss India Earth crown in 1997, and Vithika who won the same crown in 1998, their most memorable wedding experiences, are their own respective weddings. Vithika, a Marwari married a British Joseph Cairns at the Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur while Divya a Rajput married Awanish Kumar at the Asiad Towers, near Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi. “Equipped with eight years of experience in events spanning from corporate to private parties we realized that true job satisfaction came from being a part of a very special wedding. No other event brings the satisfaction as that of seeing two families unite”.

Divya Chauhan and Vithika Agarwal

Vithika and Joseph Cairns Wedding

Weddings by Divya Vithika Wedding Planners

To get in touch with Divya and Vithika log on to www.divyavithika.com. You can also meet Divya and Vithika at “Trousseau Carnival” at UB City, Bangalore where they have organised workshops every evening between 5.00 pm and 7.00 pm, till 12th September.

Tags: Awanish Kumar, Bangalore, Divya Vithika, Joseph Cairns, Kalyana Mandapams, Kanjeevarams, Langa Davani, Miss India Earth, South Indian Brides, South Indian Weddings, UB City, Wedding Management, Wedding Planners, Wedding Planning

Ex Hotelier Neha Seth to head Var Vadhu

Feb 14, 2010 Wedding People & Planners

Neha Seth Arora who earlier worked as Director (Events) at Grand Hyatt, has joined hands with 7ty7 entertainment to form ‘Var Vadhu’ where she will be the CEO and Managing Partner. Says Neha who has close to 10 years experience in different roles in the hotel industry: “At Var Vadhu we will provide clients a complete one-stop shop wedding experience. We will be their concierge and provide a unique and customized experience. Besides offering the regular wedding management services some of our unique offerings will include Legal Assistance (like name changes on the passport/ pan card), Event/ Wedding Insurance, Setting up the Gift Registry and a customized Wedding Website.”

We wish Neha and Var Vadhu all luck in their new, unique endeavor!

Tags: 7ty7 entertainment, Neha, Neha Seth, Neha Seth Arora, Var Vadhu, Wedding Management, Wedding Planners, Wedding Services

News from Wedding Planners

Dec 1, 2009 Wedding People & Planners

Divya Chadha resigns from 360 Degrees; sets up her own event management company. Neha Arora resigns as Director (Events) of Grand Hyatt.

Divya Chadha worked in the wedding division of 360 Degrees, the event management arm of The Times Group.  She is setting up her own event management company. Neha Seth who worked as the Director (Events) of Grand Hyatt earlier worked as Associate Director (events) at Hyatt Regency.

Divya lived in London before she relocated to India in 2007. She talks about her rich experience at 360 degrees: “One of my very first brides’ in Bombay was an NRI client from Lagos. I spent close to 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for 3 months at my clients’ residence until we flew to Udaipur where the wedding was held.  The week before the wedding I was spending about 14 hours a day at their residence.  It’s not an easy task because one gets involved in the day-to-day family affairs when working in such close proximity with a client”. One of the projects that she holds close to her heart is a merger of two hearts– a New York bride and a Mumbai groom. Divya says: “We had planned an elaborate Sangeet function which would in turn become a Family Awards ceremony similar to that of Filmfare Awards! I recall endless hours going over the MC’s script and collaborating costumes for all the family and friends to wear for their dance sequences.  One of the lighter moments involved hunting around the city for the multi-color skirt that Madhuri Dixit had worn for  her famous ‘ek do teen’ song so we could use it as part of the sangeet!”

Divya is now busy with managing wedding projects in Delhi, Mumbai and Jalandhar: She says: “The first wedding will take place in mid-December in Goa.  The theme of this mixed caste wedding involves a Zen Buddha Lounge for the Cocktails followed by a very contemporary mix for the Reception.  The Mumbai wedding is for a Marwari family and will follow a more traditional décor for the home functions; the engagement & sangeet will have a contemporary design.  The wedding in Jalandhar is for an NRI Sikh Punjabi couple and has a Bollywood theme for the Sangeet and a Royal theme for the main reception.”

For a change, Neha Seth is attending weddings and not organizing weddings. Between Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency Neha has handled over 500 weddings.  She got married to Chetan Arora (the Subway man), last year and after a very hectic year at work in 2009, she decided to quit her plum job at Grand Hyatt to spend time pursuing her leisure pursuits.

Tags: 360 Degrees, Destination Weddings, Divya Chadha, Goa, Wedding Planners