Weddings are a favorite family celebration, and one of the most joyous and important events in the life of the marrying couples. But planning a wedding has become complex and time-consuming.

Gone are the days when organizing an Indian wedding simply meant renting a venue, hiring a caterer, a mandap decorator, and a priest. Parents took care of these with cursory involvement of the couple, who focused on invites and outfits.

Now, in the United States, couples themselves take the helm in planning their wedding because there is a great emphasis on making the event unique with highly personalized touches. Aesthetics are now as important as function. Busy work schedules and distances make coordinating even more complex, and interracial/interfaith weddings add another dimension to the planning of the look and the ceremony.

Moreover, Indian weddings are often large-scale, multi-function events with hundreds of guests. Couples and their families find themselves overwhelmed by the task of organizing them.

“I hardly remember anything about my wedding,” stressed-out couples often lament, looking back at what was supposed to be their most memorable day.

Except for those who discovered the wedding planner.Over the last few years, many Indian Americans have found it beneficial to hire their services. Hiring a wedding planner, they say, allowed them to heave a sigh of relief and savor the occasion.

Why Hire a Wedding Planner?

Planners say they are a one-stop shop for most wedding-related services. They become the point-person clients can go to for every aspect of planning and coordination. Clients make the decisions, but planners take over the tedious task of executing their vision.

Many families realize halfway through the planning that it is not worth their time to take on the nerve-wrecking nitty-gritty such as screening numerous vendors and venues, said San Francisco Bay Area-based wedding planner Purvi Shah (Avant Planners). “Our job is to save them time and money, and guide them in the right direction,” she told India-West.
 

Pasadena, Calif.-based Neha Jespersen (Circle 7 Event Planning) said couples come to planners for their experience and creativity because no one wants a cookie-cutter wedding these days.

Those who want an elaborate wedding particularly need a wedding planner, said Sheryal Rozzelle (Unique Elegance) who specializes in detailed, high-end weddings.“I don’t know how my Indian clients can do a wedding on their own,” she added.

The Newport Beach, Calif.-based planner is of Lebanese origin but 90 percent of her clients are Indians. Most people who have used their services say wedding planners streamline the planning process and make sure everything comes together smoothly on the wedding day, leaving the couple and their families stress-free. Planners take a client’s ideas, simple or elaborate, and implement them.

Prajna Dasgupta and Sanjay Lal said they had several reasons to hire a planner for their wedding in Cupertino, Calif., last October: full-time jobs that left little time for planning; no family help because their parents lived oversees; both being new to the U.S., she coming from India and he, from Canada; and a small window of time within which to get married.They sought the expertise of Shah of Avant Planners.

Manish Srivastava and Ying Soong, who is Chinese, thought they needed a planner to help them deal with the complexities of their wedding. They live in Toronto but got married in a Hindu ceremony in Maui. “I just couldn’t have coordinated everything on my own and made it come together seamlessly,” Soong said.
They hired Rozzelle of Unique Elegance.

So What Exactly Do Wedding Planners Do?

Planners first meet with the couple and their families to scope out their vision for the wedding, including the number of events, the look and the budget.“Sometimes clients don’t have any idea, so I show them photos and make suggestions depending on their personality,” Shah said.

Planners then prepare lists of venues and vendors for different services based on budget and taste, and get quotes. “Families may know maybe one or two, but planners have a network of professionals and can negotiate the best price. I give 2-3 choices for each service to my clients that fit within their budget,” said Rozzelle.

Selecting vendors and signing contracts can be tricky, the planners warned. They help their clients avoid costly pitfalls that could occur if they overlook the fine print.

Deepali and Ajay Gupta said planner Shah had excellent resources and negotiated with vendors for their wedding in San Francisco last September. Deepali said Shah also created a spreadsheet showing the breakdown of costs and helped them stay within budget. “Purvi did a great job of keeping the timeline through the months of planning. Her suggestions and expertise were invaluable,” she added.

Some planners, like Rozzelle, offer only full-service packages. Others, like Shah and Jespersen, also provide partial planning for couples on a budget, customized packages that include a few chosen services, or a la carte items such as doli or horse and carriage.

A common list of services includes assistance with complete design, accompanying clients to venue inspection, reviewing contracts from vendors and service providers, floor-plan layout of ceremony and reception, photographers and videographers, rental equipment, out-of-town guest accommodations, ceremony rehearsal, overseeing set-up of ceremony and reception, and wedding-day coordination.

 Many prefer to hire a planner just for the wedding day.Shah’s client Dasgupta said, “It was absolutely worthwhile to have a planner to do the running around on the wedding day.” Shah coordinated the numerous vendors, met the strict requirements of the wedding venue, and made sure everything went according to schedule, she added.

Having Shah oversee everything allowed the families to participate and enjoy, Dasgupta said. “Only someone who has done this before could have handled it.”

Some seek their services for destination weddings such as a wedding on a cruise or at a picturesque location away from home. For the Maui wedding of Srivastava and Soong, Rozzelle brought a horse for the baraat, a Hindu priest, a special mandap, and the music from outside the island. She even helped the bride choose a lehenga to wear at her wedding.
 

Often couples want the overall look and feel of the wedding to reflect their personality and taste. Rozzelle and Shah said they participate in designing the décor, including color scheme, lighting and layout.

Shanti Mathan was very pleased with the exquisite, detailed look planner Connie Kearns created for her daughter Sareena’s reception at the San Francisco Ritz Carlton in 2005. “Connie implemented my ideas beautifully in all aspects of the wedding,” Mathan said. Kearns was in charge of the wedding-day planning and coordination. For the mehndi and sangeet, Mathan hired an Indian planner.

Planners are also well-prepared to meet client demands based on trends. “Go Green” is the current trend, Shah and Jespersen said. Many couples prefer to use environmentally friendly decorations and recycle them through the wedding functions. Some even request caterers who use organic foods.

Adding Western Touches

Rozzelle said Indian American weddings are getting increasingly westernized. She has had couples who picked out centerpiece designs from American magazines, chose pastels rather than traditional Indian bright colors for their outfits and décor, requested menus with a blend of Indian and non-Indian cuisines, and hired American comedians for entertainment

Some years ago, everything traditional was in, Jespersen said, such as village-style decor. Today, couples opt for fusion fare.In many respects, most weddings, even those where the bride and the groom are Indian, turn out to be “inter-cultural,” said Jespersen, because parents want a traditional event while the couple, born and raised in the U.S., prefer to add western touches. Planners have to artfully blend the two.

Couples where only one is Indian form a large segment of the planners’ clientele. Jespersen said planners have to research different cultures and religions to be able to meet the requirements of a specific inter-cultural wedding. Jespersen’s own wedding, which she designed last year, was an inter-racial one: her husband, Philip, is Danish-German.

They had a destination wedding in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and a reception in Los Angeles. Fusion worked well at their reception: She had bridesmaids, dressed in saris, to complement her husband’s groomsmen, attired in salwar-kurtas. She and her husband wore western outfits.

Some planners are also experts at suggesting alternatives to impractical demands. Jespersen once had to discourage a client who wanted live peacocks during the ceremony. But she came up with a creative substitute — floral peacocks placed around the wedding hall — that immensely pleased her client.

How Much Does It Cost?

Planners’ fees vary greatly, ranging from $1,000 to $30,000, depending on the scope of the services provided.
Rozzelle, a veteran planner of nearly 15 years, charges between $13,000 and $20,000 for her full-service package.
Shah charges between $1,500 and $6,000 while Jespersen’s fees range from 12 to 15 percent of her client’s total budget.

Planners say monetary and time-related savings that their clients get from hiring them easily offset their fees.
“Planners make the event run smoothly and look beautiful,” Jespersen said. “They make sure the flowers are fresh during the ceremony and the champagne is cold and bubbly at the time of the toast,” Shah added.