Indian weddings are the ultimate celebration of indulgence, opulence, togetherness and unforgettable memories. Adding to the festivities, The Singleton of Glen Ordin association with the Vogue Wedding Show hosted a bespoke evening atTaj Palace, New Delhi, on 7th August with Reserve Brand Ambassador Nicholas Ord playing a befitting host. Introducing the guests to the finest malt selections from theUSL-Diageo portfolio, Nicholas curated an interactive masterclass that helped enthusiasts appreciate the Classic Malts and showcased some exotic cocktail concoctions that are sure to enhance any wedding celebration. Taking guests on a flavour trail, The Singleton Masterclass traced the legacy of the Singleton of Glen Ord 12 YO, whisky that has a special appeal for the Asian palate. The malt conversation further dived into busting myths on how‘Single Malt is not for cocktails’. Nicholas created an interesting mix of malt cocktails like the delicious Singleton Sour, The Singleton Maple-Smoked Rob Roy and Singleton Vanilla Julep with sweetened almond. Interesting recipes combined with a tasting session of The Singleton and mixology tips on the finest must have blends at your wedding bar, etc., were few among many highlights at this delightful evening that prepped the audience for planning the perfect wedding bar/party.
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With a population of 1.2 billion, it is no surprise that India is sold on the idea of weddings. During peak season, on any given auspicious day, thousands of people are known to tie the knot in our country. Big cities, small towns or villages, if you’re somewhere near 30 chances are your family has spent the last decade deliberating your wedding. Stereotyped across the world for our inherent miserly nature, ironically when it comes to weddings Indians suddenly develop a no-holds-barred attitude. And so with every passing year the business of weddings is flourishing leaps and bounds. It is actually the perfect business model – demand is high, unbounded cash-flow, forecast is perennial and possibilities are endless. But wait. Ever stopped to think who may be the ultimate beneficiary of this upswing? (Drumroll)…AND THE WINNER IS…well, not you! We’ve been made to believe that when there is great advancement within an industry the entire economy stands to gain from it. But if this was true, shouldn’t the payback be somewhat noticeable by now? What happens when money raised does not trickle down the funnel? When business becomes the monopoly of a selected few? The rich become richer and the poor even poorer. Sadly, thats exactly the model our wedding industry is based upon. If Bittoo tikki walla is contracted at a wedding and his live tikki station is operational for a standard duration of three hours within which he sells an average of 30 tikkis/hr at the rate of 1 tikki every 2 minutes, then he sells all of 90 tikkis on each stall. Even if there is a minimum of 3 stalls, thats 270 tikkis consumed at the party. The standard rate of a popular tikki walla at a wedding exceeds 1.5 lakh Rupees. If a plate of 2 tikkis is retailed at Rs 30 thats Rs 15 per tikki as opposed to Rs 210 per head at a wedding. We think you get the point being made here. “There is unfortunately a complete disconnect between the private sector and the government with regards to wedding – and the potential of it as an industry. Weddings even today are seen as largely private affairs. YOU spend what YOU can afford and that really is your own business that does not concern anyone else”, says Chetan Vohra of Wedding Line. He adds, “10 years ago, having a DJ was still a luxury reserved for the classes. Today there is a DJ at every function for no matter who and at what budget they have. Such is also the evolution being seen in decor, in F&B and in the number of functions you “need to” host. Everyone wants bigger and better – and it does not matter if they can afford it or not – they must have it because they want to secure their social status, and this social status is so strong that it eclipses all before it.” Baraats have become a public nuisance and there is no state intervention to alleviate this problem. “The simple ghori now has to contend with elephants, camels, chariots – sometimes with up to four horses, vintage cars, DJ set ups on the move and, of course, if its Delhi then the famous Car-o-bar cannot be left behind. Baarat processions in modern times are probably comparable to political processions or rallies. If you have the might – you have the right”. Says Vohra. Although one needs to notify the local area police station as a forewarning of the anticipated baraat, a simple box of ladoos can relax the rules to a great extent. It seems the government has turned a blind eye to the immense potential to raise revenue from the wedding industry. And because it is not profitable for the government it does not excite the state enough to invest in. While the ‘baraat’ causes road blockages, there are no government standards for health and safety at the venues, state owned lands for weddings are highly restricted and provision for parking is often poor. Vohra says, “It is indeed a pity that we in India have not matured to look into these aspects of revenue generation or simply develop a broader mindset. Our monuments and palaces come with a list of do-nots that sometimes exceed the checklists associated in making an event happen. I did once speak to someone to explore the possibilities of doing a social event for a client at the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta. The official was at first amused and then proceeded to reprimand us by giving us a sermon on how it was against the culture of the state and these were public areas allocated for the general enjoyment of everyone and could not be hired out even if it was for a day. There is a serious dearth of government approved spaces for weddings and events across the country. Mumbai has the Turf Club and then the set of Gymkhanas that line Marine Drive where one is at the mercy of private cartels that operate without check, simply because they are privately run. Delhi has people being restricted to commercial or private farm houses, but again have very few parks or landscaped gardens that may lend itself to the kind of clientele that is willing to spend money on a venue, that would add to that special day.” The state needs to realize that if money could be raised from leasing state owned lands and monuments it could be channelled towards the maintenance and upkeep of the neglected historical establishments. The not-so-fortunates could be given subsidies on land and state-run facilities so that a dream-wedding is a privilege available to all and not just a monopoly of the classes. “It is indeed sad to see how easily people stray to avoid taxation and thus choose alternative routes. The downfall of India came with the invention of “Jugaad” and that has come to rule us today. Everyone wants to fix what is not right, rather than be right and have to avoid the fix altogether. There seems to be a certain thrill in beating the system, similar to the school-boy who snuggled in a little chit into the exam – not knowing that he is not cheating the system but himself in the longer run”, adds Vohra.
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Welcome to today’s nuptials at a great indian big fat wedding. From whatsapp wedding invites, twitter ‘jhoota chupai’ contests to facebook bride side vs groom side gupshup. Digital trends and tradition intertwine seamlessly to make the social extravaganza called ‘the wedding’ more fun and experiential. The wedding scenario has revolutionized in several ways. A special #hashtag is created so guests can upload all the candid moments and cool selfies, some instant post-able proof that they are right-now-this-very-minute witnessing the wedding. Although a large-scale event, there are few loved ones who miss out especially destination weddings. Today’s new age couples prefer a live feed of the whole event on their wedding page, So no matter where guests that can’t attend are, they can feel like they are there! Wedding websites have given way to webapps. Along with larger than life showcase value, they are also functional in nature. They help in event micro management where the guests can directly upload their passport details, browse the wedding itinerary and enjoy sangeet tutorials right at their fingertips. “We did a wedding in Abu Dhabi where we placed live instagram walls at the venue to encourage all guests to upload their memories with the unique hashtag created for the couple. In this way, we captured all the candid moments that the photographer might have missed and eventually made all guests potential photographers. Team Social Shehnai also presented the couple with a bless book that had been secretly made constituting of all the blessings bestowed upon the couple by their guests who weren’t that tech savvy, which was later also uploaded on their wedding page. The idea is to integrate social media with real life conversations to capture the buzz around a wedding and build a unique ‘experience’. It should be a right mix of fun content both digitally and on ground,” says Diksha Haria, Executive Director at Social Shehnai. Social media is undeniably a great tool for communicating, participating and sharing. And isn’t that what weddings are about? – Families getting to know each other, sharing and participating from a distance, slowly developing a certain level of comfort. We might very well be staring at a new trend. It should only be a matter of time before we see some wedding specific social media apps. Ever wondered how Hum Apke Hai Kaun would be in today’s social age?
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The ACE 2014 maiden event that started with enormous spirit of enthusiasm attracted event managers and guests from across the country who became a platform for great knowledge sharing and exchange of ideas. Several topics catering to the event and entertainment industry were discussed in depth by the experts from their respective domains. Nothing can be as exciting as weddings in this country and India being a melting pot of traditions and cultures, the scope it offers through its diversity is heart-warming. Weddings as we all are aware of have become a much classier and grand affair these days. The celebrations have become massive by collaborating with innovative ideas and approach. Beginning from ‘ghar ka aangan’ till the ‘destination weddings’, the customs have changed tremendously. Prince Lakshyaraj Singh- Executive Director, HRH Group of Hotels, Samit Garg- Owner E-factor, Dr. Jaydeep Mehta- World Wide Weddings and True Events and Saurabh Agarwal- Red Events being on the panel, discussed their thoughts on the Wedding trends in this country. Dr. Mehta looked back in time and shared his views about how the business of weddings is changing in the country. Starting from corporate events he elucidated on the shift of culture differentiating corporate events with social ones. Trends are changing in the great Indian wedding market. Speaking on reasons that made him shift his focus from corporate to weddings, he said, “since, largely my clients were from real estate vertical and I was already serving them for corporate events, but when they required someone to do their social events for them, they approached me and insisted on taking it up. That’s where the idea to set up one-stop shop that caters to both corporate as well as weddings came to my mind. Now, my company World Wide Weddings specializes in signature and destination weddings.” Moving further to Saurabh Agarwal, he threw light on the advent of weddings in Gujarat. He said that Ahmedabad was always understated and there wasn’t much respect paid to a wedding planner initially and slowly and gradually people started accepting concepts and market trends. “After Band Baja Baraat movie, people started looking at the wedding with respect, said Mr. Agarwal.” He discussed how the integration of technology has played a great role in the enhancement of this business. According to Mr. Agarwal, weddings are no more a platform for love solely but a status symbol as well. Thus the concept of Indian wedding has seen drastic changes, over the last few years. In the yesteryear, a wedding used to be a brief affair, confined to an economical budget. On the contrary, in today’s times, the ceremony is generally celebrated in an elaborated way, with numerous rituals and activities conducted before, during and after it. A splendid, colorful and extravagant venue, lavish feast and a series of guest entertainment activities build the show these days. The session was concluded by one of the most renowned wedding planners in this country, Samit Garg. Weddings have become larger than life because they are platforms to share happiness getting together people to rejoice. Technology has been advancing and it is being incorporated in the realms of the events that we produce; we have inhabited a 360 degree approach towards our events. “Weddings are extremely inspirational, said Mr. Garg.” He elaborated on the fact how event managers dream their projects and bring life to them. Samit also mentioned that there are massive costs incurred at times because of a certain dream statement which is to be achieved. The experts then moved on to share that one wedding that remains closest to their hearts and what lead to the execution of those weddings. Some great knowledge and ideas were discussed and showcased at the stage of EMF.
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A recently conducted survey suggests that the past decade has witnessed the re-emergence of the wedding card industry. In their pursuit to have a big fat wedding, people are taking special care of every small detail. Wedding cards in the past were used as a formal invitation to the nuptial but with the advent of technology and with more creative ideas flowing; people now use wedding cards as a tool to generate anxiousness and excitement for the guests. EE reached out to few notable wedding card designers in the country to get an insight into some rapidly evolving ideas and trends in the wedding card business. Rahul Jain, Co-Director, King of Cards says- Well, the industry has changed completely. There was a time when people would ask us for discounts on wedding cards and bargain but today they are willing to pay even 1500 INR for a single card even when they are ordering in bulk.” When asked upon the latest trends existing in the market Jain told us, “Recently new concepts like in built personal message and musical messages are very much in trend. Also, electronically designed LCD cards are being appreciated. These cards actually have an LCD panel installed in them that plays a customized video when you open it and the LCD can also be used for other purposes.” With people willing to thrive on unique and innovative ideas a strong demand for unconventional wedding card invites such as inflated balloons, small baskets with toys, chocolate engraved wedding invites and saplings of plants are also being widely used. Vikas Marwaha, Owner, Baklawa House responds by saying, “Few years back we have had musical cards that played a musical message but now pop up cards are the new buzz word. These are actually made inside wooden boxes with the help of laser lights and as soon as someone opens them you have a laser light effect that displays the invitation. People today want their wedding cards to be unique and hence we have recently used a lot of metal work to design them.” Speaking on some of the most demanded cards Vikas says,” Our customers today easily spend around 5 per cent of the total wedding expenditure on invitations and they also want special invites for bachelor parties. We have recently used gold printed metal sheets that give a 24 carat gold effect and engraved the invitation on the same to add a royal touch.” Himanshu Sharma of Wedding Cards says, “Today, the trend is heavily determined by technology as the people want to get their art-works, doodles, lifestyle and memories incorporated in the wedding cards to give it a more personalized touch. The most recent trend is also of Whatsapp cards which have to be digitally designed. Also today people want to give expensive gifts to the invitees and hence the invitation is also engraved on gifts like selfie sticks tablets and mantle showpieces.” Sharing his personal favorite from the wedding invitations Himanshu says, “For me laser pop-up cards are definitely a must try. Today if an overall wedding budget is 2-4 Cr then people at least spend 5-10 percent of that on wedding cards which is a tremendous amount.”
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One Up Productions has brought the latest technology of video mapping for stage design in India in a wedding event they executed recently. The technology which is mainly used for monument projections and museums was adopted by the agency by fabricating a structure using cubes. After going through a series of designing process the agency finalized a structure onto which projection mapping needed to be done. This type of mapping on such a big structure for a social function has never been used in India and is most definitely a benchmark in the event industry. One Up Productions used 2x2x2 feet of cubes to build the 10 feet high structure with a width of 22 feet and 7.5 inches. The structure was placed at a height of 6 feet from ground level. The structure was in a pyramid shape and hence the content was developed best suiting for the specially designed structure. The designers prepared contents such as waterfall, underwater, forest, cubical animations and other 3D animations. Watchout software from Dataton was used for the scaling and content mapping onto the specially designed structure. This software interacts with the projectors and help to get the desired image onto the surface of that object. Both video and audio feeds are recorded onto its timeline which can be streamlined according to the sequence of the show run. The agency also placed sharpies along the cubes in an attempt to make it look more attractive. It took a night before the actual start of the event for programmers to align and scale the entire mapping onto the structure. Two Christie DLP projectors of 20,000 lumens each were used to have a high intensity as the projection is executed along with other specialized lighting and not a dark isolated place. The projection angle and the throw distance also needed to be fixed beforehand to build the content for the projection. Talking about the introduction of 3D mapping technology Siddhartha Mallik Senior Manager One Up Productions said, “It was an idea we adopted after watching a youtube video of a club party in New Zealand. Luckily, we found a client who was willing to experiment technology at a pre-wedding function. It took us one and a half months to come up with the structure and it is definitely for the elite clients. The concept is different and expensive from other technologies and we look forward to now experimenting more with it. “
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Anmol Jewellers recently hosted a soiree to celebrate their 29th Anniversary, at their boutique in Mumbai and a specially designed ‘Sparkling Champagne Bucket Challenge’ was the star attraction of the evening wherein the attendees of the soiree were involved in numerous engaging games and activities all surrounding the use of the champagne bucket. Celebrities like Preeti Jhangiani, Aditi Govitrikar, Aarzoo Govitrikar and Kaykasshan Patel graced the event with their presence and designerBabita Malkani also was spotted raising a toast to this special occasion along with Anmol’s loyal clients. Anmol Jewellers recently hosted a soiree to celebrate their 29th Anniversary, at their boutique in Mumbai and a specially designed ‘Sparkling Champagne Bucket Challenge’ was the star attraction of the evening wherein the attendees of the soiree were involved in numerous engaging games and activities all surrounding the use of the champagne bucket. Celebrities like Preeti Jhangiani, Aditi Govitrikar, Aarzoo Govitrikar and Kaykasshan Patel graced the event with their presence and designerBabita Malkani also was spotted raising a toast to this special occasion along with Anmol’s loyal clients. Anmol Jewellers recently hosted a soiree to celebrate their 29th Anniversary, at their boutique in Mumbai and a specially designed ‘Sparkling Champagne Bucket Challenge’ was the star attraction of the evening wherein the attendees of the soiree were involved in numerous engaging games and activities all surrounding the use of the champagne bucket. Celebrities like Preeti Jhangiani, Aditi Govitrikar, Aarzoo Govitrikar and Kaykasshan Patel graced the event with their presence and designerBabita Malkani also was spotted raising a toast to this special occasion along with Anmol’s loyal clients.
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A recently conducted survey suggests that the past decade has witnessed the re-emergence of the wedding card industry. In their pursuit to have a big fat wedding, people are taking special care of every small detail. Wedding cards in the past were used as a formal invitation to the nuptial but with the advent of technology and with more creative ideas flowing; people now use wedding cards as a tool to generate anxiousness and excitement for the guests. EE reached out to few notable wedding card designers in the country to get an insight into some rapidly evolving ideas and trends in the wedding card business. Rahul Jain, Co-Director, King of Cards says- Well, the industry has changed completely. There was a time when people would ask us for discounts on wedding cards and bargain but today they are willing to pay even 1500 INR for a single card even when they are ordering in bulk.” When asked upon the latest trends existing in the market Jain told us, “Recently new concepts like in built personal message and musical messages are very much in trend. Also, electronically designed LCD cards are being appreciated. These cards actually have an LCD panel installed in them that plays a customized video when you open it and the LCD can also be used for other purposes.” With people willing to thrive on unique and innovative ideas a strong demand for unconventional wedding card invites such as inflated balloons, small baskets with toys, chocolate engraved wedding invites and saplings of plants are also being widely used. Vikas Marwaha, Owner, Baklawa House responds by saying, “Few years back we have had musical cards that played a musical message but now pop up cards are the new buzz word. These are actually made inside wooden boxes with the help of laser lights and as soon as someone opens them you have a laser light effect that displays the invitation. People today want their wedding cards to be unique and hence we have recently used a lot of metal work to design them.” Speaking on some of the most demanded cards Vikas says,” Our customers today easily spend around 5 per cent of the total wedding expenditure on invitations and they also want special invites for bachelor parties. We have recently used gold printed metal sheets that give a 24 carat gold effect and engraved the invitation on the same to add a royal touch.” Himanshu Sharma of Wedding Cards says, “Today, the trend is heavily determined by technology as the people want to get their art-works, doodles, lifestyle and memories incorporated in the wedding cards to give it a more personalized touch. The most recent trend is also of Whatsapp cards which have to be digitally designed. Also today people want to give expensive gifts to the invitees and hence the invitation is also engraved on gifts like selfie sticks tablets and mantle showpieces.” Sharing his personal favorite from the wedding invitations Himanshu says, “For me laser pop-up cards are definitely a must try. Today if an overall wedding budget is 2-4 Cr then people at least spend 5-10 percent of that on wedding cards which is a tremendous amount.”
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