Planning a luxury Indian wedding? Celebrating Vivaha 2008 is the best place to be at with its grand opening which bedazzled New Delhi at Hotel Ashok from August 1 to August 3. With its 6th successful year, the exhibition continues in major cities like Mumbai, Indore, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad with the finale in New Delhi in December 2008.
Brands like Celeste - The Artisans of Fine Chocolates, La Solitaire, Lustre by Bajaj Jewellers, Diamond Constellation, Aura by Sushma Surana, Yvonne Designer Sarees & Kurtas, Zari, designer Vikram Phadnis, Tantra, Yellow Stone, VLCC were all in magnificence. Precisely from Chocolates, gift wrappings, honeymoon destinations, bridal wear to jewellery, it is a one stop destination for all wedding needs. World's best brands in home luxury like Lladró, Villeroy & Boch, Harnn, Christofle, Rosenthal/Versace were also in full attendance at Hotel Ashok.
Preston Bailey, New York's famous Wedding/Event designer in collaboration with Ferns & Petals in India was also being launched at the exhibit.
Preston Bailey: "I want to work in India all the time"
- How has your experience been in Celebrating Vivaha 2008 in Delhi. What are things you liked/disliked?
My experience has been amazing, everything has blown me away. I have been amazed by the craftsmanship of the artisans. I have never seen anything like it before. The people here have been so wonderful, warm, and open. I feel a kinship to them. I feel like I could move here and be happy for the rest of my life.
- What is the key to creating a royal wedding?
For me the key to a successful Royal Wedding is really listening to my clients and understanding what they want, and show them everything before hand so there are no surprises the day of the event.
- What challenges do you face?
Every event is a challenge due to that every event needs to be original. Coming up with an new design every time is very challenging but is also the best part of my job and the part that keeps me going after all these years.
- Which celebrity wedding would you want to design in India in future?
All of them! I want to work in India all the time so I would love to work for everybody.
The enthusiasm and craze for Indian weddings went on with the lavish display of the epitome of Indian culture, the six yard wonder; Saree to Bridal Lehengas in various colours at the exhibit. A word with the young, talented designer, Shruti from the label SSquare who did her fashion designing from the U.K. and has been designing since 3 years in India with exhibitions in Bangkok, India, Dubai:
Shruti: "We have been doing exhibits at Vivaha since 3 years"
1. Where did you study fashion from?
We started our label SSquare 3.5yrs back. We are into bridal wear, skirts and corsets, sarees, tunics. I did my fashion graduation from NIFT (National Institute of Fashion technology) Hauz Khas, New Delhi and then fashion business course from London College of Fashion.
2. Is this your first exhibit at Celebrating Vivaha? Do you see Celebrating Vivaha as a launch pad to a bigger market?
We have been doing Vivaha since about 3 yrs. It has been a good exhibition. Yes it is a good platform.
3. What colours are "in" this season for Brides?
For brides we are doing a lot of colour rather than just red colour. We are doing rust, carrot pink, gold, mango.
Mehendi Queen Veena Nagda added a golden touch as Indian Weddings are incomplete without the Mehendi ceremony. When SATimes asked her who her favourite bride has been, she cheerfully replied, "Suzanne Khan." She has done bridal Mehendi for Priya Chatwal, Liz
Hurley and Bollywood get ups for Rani Mukherji (Hum Tum), Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra (God Tussi great ho), Kajol (U me Aur Hum)and many leading stars in the industry. When asked what is it that makes Mehendi so significant for the bride, Veena told SATimes "It is Mehendi that completes the beauty (singhar) of a bride and the darker the Mehendi colour is on the hands of the bride, the more love, care and affection she would get from her Husband's family." As impressive as her Mehendi is, her thoughts about the tradition of Mehendi on weddings are even more delightful.
CEO, Tarun Sarda is proud to take "The Grand Indian Wedding Exhibition" to Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai in October making the event international. SATimes asked him about the billion dollar wedding industry and more:
Tarun Sarda: "We understand the pulse of Indian Weddings"
What was the turnover last year?
With the passing of each year, Celebrating Vivaha has turned bigger and better than before, both in terms of quality and quantity of participants. In addition to the best of brands and designers, we have added several cities in our ambit over the last two-three years and all the cities responded to the initiative most encouragingly, reaffirming the belief in the stature of the Indian weddings and the Celebrating Vivaha exhibitions. Last year we hosted the exhibition in about seven cities-New Delhi, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, and an average turnover of an exhibition in a metropolis like Delhi, is about Rs 100 crores.
What is the turnover that you expect this year?
The wedding business is on an all time high and a growth of 20 to 25 per cent is expected this year.
Which designers are the highest crowd pullers this year till now?
The Delhi exhibition was a rolling success and almost every participant did well. But the stalls that witnessed heavy traffic were of ace Bollywood designer Vikram Phadnis, Aksh-Kolkata, Yellow Stone, Vibrrant by Radhika: The Fashion House, Unifrutti, Essvee Jewels by Punjab Jewellers, Srihari Diagems, and Studio XLNC by Anjali and Ruchika.
Any plans to hold the exhibitions in US in the future years?
We are looking at bringing the exhibition to USA by late next year or early 2010 and are targeting New Jersey, Chicago and LA for the same.
What makes Celebrating Vivaha 2008 special?
Years of experience has primed Celebrating Vivaha to understand the pulse of Indian weddings, which in itself has gone through a big transition, both in terms of traditions and money involved. In fact weddings are no longer just about clothes, jewellery and beauty products. We know that weddings have moved beyond the basics. These days families with a good spending power look forward to a wedding that's truly memorable, extravagant and encompasses the luxuries of life, and families leave no stone unturned to facilitate that. And that's where an exhibition like ours comes into the picture by bringing in all the options that make a wedding complete. Be it wedding designers, honeymoon destinations, packaging, gifting, chocolates, beauty, home décor, henna artist or astrology for that matter, we endeavour to get all that for you to ease you off your worries.
Celebrating Vivaha in itself is 'Special' because it's not just about wedding shopping and profits made at the stall. Celebrating Vivaha is a platform for building careers. People have launched their brands with our exhibition. We have nurtured talent and turned housewives into entrepreneurs. Our clients have grown by leaps and bounds, in their own words, primarily by their participation in Celebrating Vivaha, apart from other attributes like their own marketing efforts and high standard of products and services. Celebrating Vivaha has worked as a perfect platform for them to launch or establish themselves in the trade. It's a great feeling of satisfaction for us.
By Nikki Rattan
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