Plans B, C and D

Over time, Patel has deliberate multi-day celebrations throughout India in addition to internationally, together with the French Riviera, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Europe, and Italy, and now Japan, the place they’re curating celebrations that fantastically mix Indian traditions with Japanese tradition. Inside India, she has labored extensively throughout Rajasthan, Goa, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mussoorie, and several other different cities.

After 13 years, Patel, 33, says she nonetheless approaches each wedding ceremony with the identical pleasure she had when she deliberate her “very first one”. “I believe that’s what has saved this journey so fulfilling,” she provides.

Edited excerpts:

Q: What made you begin your personal luxurious wedding ceremony planning firm at 19 years of age?

Devanshi Patel: My journey into the world of weddings started lengthy earlier than I realised it could grow to be my life’s work. Whereas I used to be nonetheless in faculty, I interned on large-scale occasions and productions, which gave me a robust basis in planning, logistics, and execution. Throughout that point, I had the chance to witness an extravagant wedding ceremony in Jodhpur, and it utterly modified the best way I checked out celebrations. What stayed with me wasn’t the grandeur; it was the emotion. Watching generations of a household come collectively, celebrating traditions whereas creating new reminiscences, made me realise that weddings have the facility to inform tales not like some other occasion.

At simply 19, I took a leap of religion and based Shreem Occasions. What started with a dream has developed right into a luxurious wedding ceremony planning firm that has curated celebrations throughout India and internationally, working with entrepreneurs, enterprise households, world Indians, and celebrities.

Over the past 13 years, I’ve had the privilege of planning a whole bunch of celebrations in locations starting from Rajasthan and Goa to France, Italy, Japan, Thailand and past. Each vacation spot and each household has taught me one thing new, however one philosophy has remained fixed—no two weddings ought to ever really feel the identical.

Q: Take us by means of Anshula and Rohan’s wedding ceremony.

Patel: Each wedding ceremony begins with one query for us: not what it ought to appear to be, however what it ought to really feel like? That grew to become the inspiration of Anshula and Rohan’s celebrations. Over eight months, we labored carefully with them to know their personalities, their households, their reminiscences, and the experiences they wished each visitor to take dwelling.

Nothing was added as a result of it was trending. Each design resolution, each leisure component, and each meals expertise had a private story behind it. Their greatest transient was to recreate the heat of dwelling. Friends entered by means of a conventional jharokha impressed by Anshula’s childhood dwelling earlier than arriving at a big grazing desk that celebrated each Punjabi and Gujarati cultures. Household reminiscence partitions celebrated generations on each side. Throughout the pheras, friends participated utilizing handcrafted ghungroo sticks, symbolising blessings, pleasure, and constructive power, moderately than merely witnessing the ceremony.

The cocktail night mirrored one other aspect of their personalities. We recreated one in every of their favorite bars, launched nostalgic snack stations, interactive audio-video cubicles, and included delicate references to Rohan’s love for cinema all through the house. None of those experiences existed for spectacle; they existed as a result of they mirrored who the couple actually are.

That’s what made this wedding ceremony particular. Luxurious at this time isn’t about scale; it’s about authenticity. When friends go away saying, “this felt precisely like them,” that’s the most important praise a planner can obtain.

Their transient was refreshingly easy. They didn’t need one thing designed for social media or pushed by tendencies. They wished each visitor to really feel welcomed into their world, nearly as if they have been moving into their dwelling. What stood out most was how concerned they each have been all through the planning course of. They’re extremely detail-oriented, and each dialogue revolved round visitor expertise moderately than appearances. Whether or not it was meals, music, personalised experiences or household traditions, each resolution was intentional.

Anshula is splendidly organised, a planner’s dream in some ways. She all the time introduced outstanding readability to discussions, whereas Rohan balanced each dialog with considerate concepts and a robust artistic perspective, and a variety of pleasure. Collectively, they made each planning assembly collaborative, making it simpler to remodel their imaginative and prescient into actuality.

One considerate element that Anshula insisted on was creating fantastically stocked powder rooms with necessities reminiscent of hairspray, perfumes, vogue tape, security pins, band-aids, mints, and different emergency gadgets. It might sound like a small gesture, however when friends are celebrating and dancing for 5 or 6 hours, these considerate conveniences make a outstanding distinction. It grew to become some of the appreciated parts of the marriage.

Q: Take us by means of your interactions with actor Arjun Kapoor and the Kapoor household.

Patel: Whereas this was the primary time we labored collectively so carefully on a marriage, it wasn’t our first skilled interplay with the Kapoor household. Over time, I’ve had the chance to work on a few of India’s largest dwell occasions.

Throughout my early years with Wizcraft, I labored on initiatives such because the IIFA Awards. Later, by means of varied large-scale celebrations, together with leisure administration on the Ambani wedding ceremony, I had the chance to work together with a number of members of the movie fraternity in knowledgeable capability. These experiences taught me the significance of discretion, precision, and delivering beneath stress—qualities that proceed to outline how we strategy each wedding ceremony at this time.

What made Anshula and Rohan’s wedding ceremony completely different was that I bought to witness the Kapoor household past their public personas. All through the planning course of and the celebrations, they have been utterly invested in guaranteeing the marriage mirrored Anshula’s imaginative and prescient and that each visitor felt welcomed and cared for.

Probably the most memorable moments for me was watching the whole Kapoor household welcome the Thakkar household throughout the baraat. There was no sense of celeb or protocol—it was merely a bride’s household warmly receiving the groom’s household with immense love, heat, and emotion. Each member of the household got here collectively to make the welcome really feel heartfelt, creating an environment that was deeply private and exquisite to witness.

Regardless of the difficult climate situations throughout the wedding ceremony, Boney Kapoor ji and Arjun Kapoor personally walked by means of the venue with us, discussing visitor motion, manufacturing changes and methods to make sure the expertise remained seamless regardless of the heavy rains. Their precedence was by no means simply the occasion; it was the consolation of each visitor attending the celebration.

It was equally particular to witness the household of their private roles. Arjun Kapoor strolling Anshula down the aisle and delivering an emotional speech, Janhvi and Khushi celebrating each second with their sister and internet hosting the mehendi occasion, and the whole household coming along with such real affection mirrored what weddings are actually about: household, love, and togetherness.

Glimpses from Anshula Kapoor’s wedding ceremony (Picture: Epic Tales)

As planners, these are the moments that stick with us. Behind each celeb wedding ceremony is a household celebrating some of the necessary days of their lives. Being trusted to convey that imaginative and prescient to life is a duty we worth deeply, and it’s experiences like these that proceed to encourage us.

Q: What was the most important studying from this wedding ceremony?

Patel: One of many greatest classes in luxurious weddings is that regardless of how detailed your planning is, dwell occasions will all the time shock you. Anshula Kapoor and Rohan Thakkar’s wedding ceremony coincided with one in every of Mumbai’s heaviest rainfall intervals. Regardless of months of planning and a number of contingency plans, town was positioned beneath a crimson alert. Roads have been flooded, logistics slowed down, and even components of the venue infrastructure have been affected.

At that second, planning was about fast decision-making. Our workforce, together with each manufacturing companion, lodge workforce and vendor, labored nearly seamlessly as one unit. We constantly tailored layouts, adjusted visitor motion, protected experiences from the climate, and ensured that the celebrations continued with out friends ever feeling the stress behind the scenes.

That’s why I all the time say that the true check of a marriage planner isn’t how fantastically they execute Plan A, however how confidently they navigate Plans B, C, and typically even D. Friends ought to by no means see the chaos behind the scenes.

This wedding ceremony additionally reaffirmed one thing we’ve all the time believed: visitor expertise ought to all the time take priority over every little thing else. Lovely décor and leisure actually create pleasure, however what friends keep in mind years later is how comfy, welcomed, and cared for they felt.

Equally, one other memorable expertise was at a big celeb wedding ceremony the place the visitor depend ultimately grew far past the unique estimates. Together with the rise got here further security protocols, VIP actions, and government-level preparations that needed to be accommodated in actual time. Conditions like these can’t all the time be predicted—they must be managed with expertise, calmness, and teamwork.

Q: How was it planning actor Allu Sirish and Nayanika Reddy’s wedding ceremony?

Patel: It was a beautiful expertise as a result of from the very starting, the imaginative and prescient was extremely clear. They wished a celebration that felt intimate, elegant, and deeply rooted in Telugu traditions moderately than one thing created purely for spectacle. The affiliation got here collectively by means of conversations with the household, and from our very first interplay, there was a robust alignment in values. They wished a marriage that mirrored who they have been as folks, whereas honouring their tradition and bringing each households collectively in a significant means. That’s precisely the sort of transient we take pleasure in probably the most.

All through the planning course of, each households performed an necessary function in shaping the celebrations. Our duty was to translate their imaginative and prescient into experiences that felt seamless, private, and genuine.

Q: How do celebrities steadiness privateness with creating Instagram-worthy wedding ceremony moments?

Patel: Privateness has grow to be one of many best luxuries for celeb {couples}. Individuals usually assume celeb weddings are created for social media, however in actuality, they’re at first intimate household celebrations. {Couples} need the liberty to chuckle, cry, and rejoice naturally with out continuously feeling like they’re performing for the digital camera.

Inside Anshula Kapoor’s wedding ceremony (Picture: Epic Tales)

Sarcastically, that’s precisely what creates probably the most memorable content material. The moments that audiences join with most are not often staged; they’re real feelings, heartfelt speeches, spontaneous laughter, and actual household interactions. As planners, our duty is to create an setting the place {couples} really feel protected sufficient to be themselves. When that occurs, lovely pictures and viral moments occur organically. One of the best Instagram second is rarely deliberate—it’s genuinely lived.

Q: What’s subsequent for you?

Patel: Sooner or later, our focus is on creating fewer however way more significant celebrations. Somewhat than measuring success by the variety of weddings we undertake, we’re deliberately changing into extra selective, selecting initiatives the place we will actually make investments our creativity, time, and strategic planning to ship one thing distinctive.

From understanding a pair’s journey to weaving their personalities into each touchpoint, I imagine one of the best concepts come when there’s time to suppose, create, and collaborate. That’s the sort of work we wish to do.

We’re additionally persevering with to develop our presence within the worldwide wedding ceremony house, bringing Indian celebrations to distinctive locations whereas thoughtfully integrating native tradition, hospitality, and experiences. Each vacation spot has its personal story, and our function is to make sure the marriage feels deeply linked to each the place and the folks.

Finally, our imaginative and prescient is straightforward: to create signature celebrations that would belong to nobody else. What’s private to 1 couple can by no means be replicated for an additional, and that’s why personalisation will all the time stay the very best type of luxurious for us.

We’re not attempting to create extra weddings; we’re attempting to create extra unforgettable ones.