We recently sat down for a tete-a-tete with Chirag Shah, the founder of Events of Happiness – a celebrity/international artist management company that makes all your special occasions even more memorable.
Please tell us a bit about your company. How did you start?
I started working as an event planner in 2009-10. The first wedding I planned was for about 300 people. Can you imagine how much I got paid for that wedding? (laughs) 1800 INR! But it was a great learning experience and there has been no turning back ever since. From 2009 to 2011, I was working with some external wedding vendors who weren’t a part of my team. But from 2011 onwards, I started my own production house and today, I have my team of decorators, caterers, and other wedding professionals. We have offices set up in Pune, Ahmedabad, and Udaipur with plans of expanding soon.
With the Covid-restrictions in place, weddings are getting small and intimate. Why should couples hire a wedding planning team in such a case?
Now, more than ever, couples-to-be and their families need an efficient wedding planner. After all; no one wants to leave the safety of their homes and that is how it should be. So, that is where a wedding planning company like Events of Happiness can make a difference. We know all the rules and regulations imposed by the Government. We are adept at securing all requisite permissions and we also provide end-to-end solutions. All the running around can be very difficult for couples-to-be and their families to arrange for.
So, I would highly recommend that families consider hiring a wedding planner to handle the nitty-gritty of planning an Indian wedding, no matter how small or intimate it may be.
What precautions and hygiene standards are you and your vendors following?
I have a trusted team of wedding vendors that work with me – they are not freelancers so they only work on the weddings we are planning. We ensure strict measures of checking every member, before, during, and after the celebrations. On-site, we sanitize all the materials, surfaces, and decor items. With all the lockdown and travel restrictions, couples want us to handle everything from the start to the finish and that includes honeymoon packages as well. My team members are talented professionals and they are highly experienced. We are also sticklers for rules and regulations and follow them to the T. We take care of all events from the Sangeet and rest only after the couple has left for their honeymoon!
Have you planned a wedding during this lockdown? If yes, what were some of the challenges you faced?
Yes, we planned several weddings after the first lockdown was over. The most challenging aspect of handling these weddings was that people wanted us to ‘break the rules and regulations’ imposed by the government. These days, weddings cannot host more than 50 guests. But, we always get requests from the wedding parties or the bride’s family to allow more number of guests. I refuse that right away. I tell them I cannot be a party to these weddings where they are not following protocols. A similar thing happened during one of the weddings we were planning in June. The hosts wanted to invite 200 guests. I refused. Later on, I found out that many from the wedding tested positive for Covid-19 and some were even extremely serious.
Can you walk us through a typical client meeting?
Now, everything is online over video calls and chats. Before the pandemic, we used to actually take the couple around in order to get a sense of their preferences, style, etc. Now, everything is over video calls, phone calls, and texts. It gets limiting, but we manage to give them exactly what they are looking for, within their budget.
Finally, any advice for couples getting married in late 2020/early 2021?
The main thing I tell couples-to-be that come to me now is not to get married this year. If they can, they should postpone their wedding to the early half of next year. If possible, postpone it to the latter half of 2021. Things will settle down by then. We also have many destination wedding spots identified which are safe and ‘green zones’. So, if your budgets permit, get hitched in a destination wedding spot in the presence of a small number of guests. Safety is paramount.
To plan your wedding with Events of Happiness, click here.
All images courtesy Events of Happiness.
Chirag from Events of Happiness is a gem of a person, thoroughly professional who knows his job inside out. One can blindly trust him and his team, and be rest assured that everything will go as planned, with 100% satisfaction. No false commitments. No over commitments. If there is a wedding in your family, Chirag and his team of Events of Happiness is your one stop solution.