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Wedding wows - adding pixie dust to fairytale celebrations

From orchestrating the couple’s entry with a fleet of camels and elephants to giving away designer outfits

India has an insatiable appetite for opulence and there is no better time than the wedding season to set the stage for it — quite literally. A dedicated bunch of wedding planners are doing just that. From orchestrating the couple’s entry with a fleet of camels and elephants to giving away designer outfits and sky-diving experiences to guests, no wish is too big and no request too bizarre for them. We spoke to a few of the country’s most sought-after names that do a swell job of adding pixie dust to fairytale weddings. The names of the hosts as we learnt, are more often than not, a closely guarded secret. And budget, what’s that?

Neelabh Kapoor

For Neelabh Kapoor, founder of Neelabh Studio, the challenge lies in transforming raw, ordinary spaces into dramatic environments, translating the clients’ visions into awe-inspiring reality. His clientele includes business leaders and corporate bigwigs along with some Bollywood names such as Riteish and Genelia.

While putting together an event that attracts names from showbiz and politics, the biggest areas of concern remain the security and keeping out the paparazzi. “Press strategies are planned as per the wedding, as each is different from the other. There are some weddings that are gated in which we do not allow the press. In others, we incorporate a separate a section dedicated to the press and the media persons are briefed beforehand.”

A lot of times keeping the paparazzi at bay means the couples taking secret routes such as backdoor entries and service elevators. There are others of course, who do not like the idea of making an understated entry.

One of Neelabh’s other clients, film distributor Kishore Lulla for instance. “His daughter wanted a crane entrance for the wedding. The event took place at Mehrangarh fort that sits on top of a hill. The upward climb along with the lack of a motorable road made it very challenging to carry our equipment to the top of the fort. So we dismantled a crane and brought it to the venue where we assembled it again. We had an entire team dedicated to this procedure alone. But when it finally happened, it was quite an entrance.”

Aditya Motwane

Aditya Motwane, founder of Motwane Entertainment and Weddings, has over the past 15 years, organised some of the most lavish Indian weddings around the world. The latest one being for actor Salman Khan’s little sister Arpita Khan and beau Aayush Sharma at the Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad.

“Given that it was Salman’s sister’s wedding, there were hundreds of VVIPs, so ensuring the security and privacy of these guests was my biggest concern,” says Aditya. It included three functions — mehendi, wedding and reception. While there wasn’t a particular theme for the functions, they had heavy floral decorations. The emphasis however, Aditya says, lay largely on making the guests feel at home. “Everyone received a hangover kit after the party with a message from the couple and everything from the hampers to the napkin holders were personalised with each guest’s initials,” he adds.

One of the biggest attractions of a big fat wedding is its location. “For one particular wedding, the Ferragamo family (of the Italian luxury brand) lent us three of their villas in Florence for a wedding and dinner party. On another occasion, the owner of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz opened up his hangar in Salzburg where he keeps his fleet of Formula 1 cars and jets. For one month, my guy stood there and everyday requested to have it as a venue,” he says.

The drama spills on to every aspect of the wedding of course — like the couple’s entry or the garland ceremony. Aditya has had couples zipping in through speedboats, flying in through choppers and riding an elephant that itself travelled by sea to make it to the venue — Marigold Group’s CEO, Gaurav Assomull’s wedding in Monte Carlo was one such affair.

About the jaymala (garland) ceremony he says, “It was for a wedding in Europe where we arranged for three jets to fly over the mandap with the Indian tricolour. Since the airstrip was 20 minutes away from the mandap, we had to time it in a way that the jets flew exactly when the jaymalas were exchanged,” he says.

Vandana Mohan

Having been in the business of events for 25 years now, Vandana Mohan, founder of the Wedding Design Company, has been part of multiple big fat weddings. Her clientele includes Priya and Vikram Chatwal, Katy Perry and Russell Brand and corporate honchos among others. The most recent nuptials of real estate giant RNA’s scion, Gokul Aggarwaal, was particularly talked about for its scale. Recounting the experience Vandana says, “The wedding took place in Chantilly, France, over three days in three different locations — a château, a Concorde hangar and a hotel. Instead of a traditional mandap, the wedding took place under a humongous chandelier. The idea was to replicate the feel of the Palace of Versailles and since we were in France, it blended beautifully.”

The event brought together resources from across the world — caterers from London, hairdressers from Lebanon, dancers from India and florists from Italy. Vandana loves the idea of working around a concept. “I personally love the old world Indian theme, but we've also done Burlesque, Alice in Wonderland and Marie Antoinette and those are my favourites too.”

What's as important as the wedding itself is the entry to it. London-based Grover family that hosted a wedding in Cannes last year and had the likes Shah Rukh Khan and Rakesh Roshan on the guest list makes for a fine example. “The wedding was at the Ritz in Cannes where the mayor shut down the famous 'Cannes Walkway' for two whole hours for the baraat. The only other time that it's shut is during the Cannes Film Festival. Since it was the first Indian wedding in Cannes, the Ritz painted a huge sculpture of the hotel in the colours of the Indian tricolour. It became the most sought after photo op.”

Shyam Bhatia

Architect, art designer and owner of Leesha Designs, Shyam Bhatia has revolutionised the way sets are perceived in the country. The man behind the sets of most popular television shows (Bigg Boss, Dance India Dance, Indian Idol), Shyam organises weddings “on the side” mostly for his close Bollywood friends. Shyam has over the years, entertained the most outlandish of requests only because “it's impossible to turn down a request from a bride”.

“Like this time when we were doing a pre-wedding photo shoot in Coorg. We had set up our equipment in front of a monastery on a hilltop, but at the last minute the locals complained about it, so we actually set up a replica of the monastery right next to the original and even planted moss on it to make it look like a spitting image of the original.

All in a day,” he says. In what could be construed as a huge compliment to Shyam’s team, this one time people mistook his wedding decorations for a palace property. “It was a wedding at the Jaipur City Palace for the Vandana business group. A lot of effort was put into making the location look like an extension of the palace itself. The palace is open for visitors till 5 pm everyday. On the day of the wedding, tourists were clicking pictures of the wedding location, mistaking it for the real palace until they were redirected,” he tells us.

Often, the run-up to a big fat wedding (read bachelor and hen parties) is as grand as the D-day itself. “It was for a Bollywood friend that we built a snow house in Mumbai. The waiters and waitresses serving the guests doubled as a ‘entertainers’ for the latter part of the evening,” he says.

Gurleen Puri

Often, there are responsibilities that planners have to take up that weren’t part of the original deal — like doubling up as a counselor as Gurleen Puri points out. She has among others, been part of weddings such as Kareena-Saif, Twinke-Akshay Khanna and Sahara group to name a few. “There are times when the groom refuses to get off the horse or the bride has a panic attack in the makeup room. Since we grow close to the family in the course of the wedding, we either counsel the couple ourselves or rope in a shrink at the last minute,” she says.

Despite putting together some glitzy affairs, ones that are understated resonate more with this planner. She recalls, “It was a beach wedding in Visakhapatnam. The bride’s family owned works of celebrated artists such as Raja Ravi Varma and Anjolie Ela Menon apart from some elaborate Tanjore paintings. We incorporated those in the mandap and seating area for the guests. How do you even put a price on something like that? That I believe is truly classy.”

While the couple has a fairytale wedding, those invited are lucky too. “Since a lot of the big weddings are between two business houses, the hosts go all out to pamper their guests. We’ve organised everything from a scuba diving experience, private island dinners, sky dives, safaris and luxurious spa sessions for the guests. Being invited to the big fat Indian wedding is no less fun than hosting one,” she says with a smile.

Priti Sidhwani

For Priti Sidhwani, chairperson and co-founder of Dreamz Kraft, a perfect wedding is one where all of the bride and groom’s requests are met — however difficult they may be to pull off. One of Priti’s clients wanted her wedding day to look just like her mother’s big day. “So we recreated the era and essence of the bride’s mother's wedding for her daughter. We recreated the floral arrangements, old world chandeliers and the detailing of the décor to suit the bride’s mother’s big day. It was an emotional ride for the both of them.”

Earlier this month, Priti organised a beach wedding for actor Pulkit Samrat. “It was special for many reasons, one of them being the fact that the kanyadaan was done by Salman Khan. Pulkit had a tight work schedule until a few days before the wedding and it dawned on him four days prior to the functions that he does not like the food spread. So we had all of four days to fly down chefs from across the country into Goa and cook up a meal for the guests. I still can’t believe we pulled it off!” she confesses candidly.

( Source : dc )
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