The Ultimate Guide to Choose A Wedding Planner In Chennai

A wedding is one of the most important and grand functions of any family. For the couple, it’s special for the obvious reasons. For the families, it’s a great occasion to come together and meet all the relatives. For these two main reasons, a wedding is a gala ceremony that needs to be hosted in all its glory, without any glitches.

Everyone knows how much of effort goes into planning a wedding. It’s impossible for the couple and their family to take all of it on themselves, simply because it’s too much to handle and it’s after all their family’s celebration and they don’t want to be worried about sambar getting over, flowers not being ready for decors and things like that. Till a few years back, the close relatives of the family used to break it up into small tasks and that’s how everyone got lightened of the burden.

But the same has become more difficult nowadays mainly because of the nuclear families and working couples. Everyone gets to come to the function just on time and they have to get back before even the occasion could get over. This resulted in the need for someone to manage all the billion tasks that make up the perfect big day.

The role of wedding planner has evolved over the years. Especially after the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the trend of a big wedding frenzy was set on. Almost overnight, weddings became the fairytale lavish productions of artists and hundreds of services were born to make it one.

Again, who manages all these tasks?!

Do You Really Need A Wedding Planner?

It is impulsive to think that a wedding planner is an additional cost. But hold on…

Look at the number of venue options you have now! Mandapams have sprung up all over the city. Finding a venue is the first step. Gone are the days when you have only a handful of mandapams in the city and each of the venue being owned by a far relative. Going through each of the options, evaluating it, getting the best deal and finalizing the venue becomes a tedious job. Again you don’t really know about the quality of food and service. If it’s a banquet hall at hotels that you are looking at, each of them come with a set of facilities and restrictions. How about someone who has done weddings in few of these venues and has a fair knowledge about them?

Venue is just the first step. Look at the other million things that go into making this day into a memorable, cherishable, fairy-talish occasion that the couples want it to be! Decors, stage, orchestra, catering, bridal makeup, jewelry and all the jazz! Each of the service multiplied by five vendors! That is the minimum amount of brands/people you need to contact to design the day to its perfection!

Besides, people are not really romantic anymore about the how-we-used-to-enjoy-planning-a-wedding way. Everyone has a packed week and nobody has any time or energy left.

But you need to make informed decisions when it comes to hiring a wedding planner in Chennai, as it is quite difficult to spot the real one amongst the crowd of self-proclaimed wedding and event planners.

Arvind of Memorabilia Events, Chennai is concerned about the number of wedding planners in Chennai. He says,“If I’m a caterer with 10 years of experience, I can definitely get you vendors for all your wedding needs. But that doesn’t mean I’m a wedding planner! When someone says that he can get you other vendors as well, but his main service is catering or decor, then you need to careful. Because they can get you vendors and best prices. But you still need to manage them on your own. Similarly, if they give you an album with beautiful design to choose from, be cautious. A wedding planner sits with you, understands your wants and creates it the way you envisioned than telling you to choose from a list. He also stays on the day of the wedding and makes sure everything goes right.”

What Services Does A Wedding Planner Offer?

In a nutshell, all that is needed and wanted for a wedding. Wedding Planning has also become a discovery platform. When you start planning for a marriage, you would be surprised at all the creativity and services that have sprung. Like how you would’ve been surprised by the concept of theme weddings 3 years back.

Wedding planner guides you through the entire process of hosting a wedding, co-ordinates with all the vendors and makes sure everything goes on as planned on your Big Day.

Budget Management For Your Wedding

Making and monitoring the budget for the overall ceremony and also for each of the vendor services. Budget is one of the criteria that you should keep a tap on with the wedding planner and it’s important to stay updated and make any changes if needed. You don’t want to be overwhelmed by the end of the function.

Event Timeline

An event timeline is made including the designing and production schedules of the whole preparation and the final event.

Vendor Management

Referring vendors, obtaining quotes, getting the best deal, contracting, coordinating and communicating with them. This is the part where a wedding planner comes in as a boon for you. They will save you an unbelievable amount of time, effort and cost.

Venue Management

The first decision to make once you do the budget breakdown is to find the venue. You need to pick a venue that can accommodate your guest list, situated conveniently for your guests, suits your wedding theme and well within your budget. Fixing a venue involves contacting multiple mandapams or banquet halls, checking availability, visiting the venue for inspection, testing the food and then finally signing the contract. There are a few tricks of the trade here, knowing which you can get cut your venue costs by about 30%. A wedding planner in Chennai should have a fair idea of the hotels and banquet halls in Chennai and their prices.

Catering and Menu

If it’s a banquet hall in a hotel, then you need not worry about repeating the process for selecting a catering vendor. But if it’s not, then you need to hire a caterer and coordinate with them by giving them right details about the guest list, menu and beverages.

Wedding Invites

Once you have zeroed in on the wedding venue, you are all set to print the wedding invites and start inviting the family and friends. When it comes to designing your wedding invite, the sky is the limit for creativity! Wedding planner assists you in designing the invite in the wedding theme, coordinating with the vendor and getting it done.

Decor

After understanding your vision of the Big Day, conceptualizing the entire ambiance including the floral setups, lighting and other decors in the best way defines how it is going to materialize. Hiring the right vendor each of those needs is again extremely important.

Wedding Ceremony

Making the required arrangements for the actual wedding ceremony including the priest, pooja items and the like.

Bridal Styling

Bridal styling includes the make-up and bridal wear. It’s her day and extreme care should be taken so that she looks her best at her wedding.

Photography & Videography

Hiring the best photographer is tricky as their schedules get tight for muhurtam dates. Finding the right one, arranging for pre-wedding photo shoots as well as for the wedding defines how the beautiful moments would be captured.

Coordinating on the date of wedding

This is the most important time when your wedding planner becomes your savior. They make sure that all are in place and ready for the event. They closely monitor all the activities during the function and be ready for any contingencies. You get to spend all your time with your guests and cherishing the gala event.

Honeymoon Packages

Yeah! It is a part of their services. They help you out in planning, scheduling and arranging accommodation for your post-wedding getaway too!

What Should You Look For When Choosing Your Wedding Planner?

There is no doubt a wedding planner is there to help you out; to create a beautiful place to host your wedding and to make sure the entire ceremony goes on without any glitch. When you place all this at the hands of one individual, it better be someone who can execute it! You don’t want to end up with someone who over promises and under delivers.

Divya Jennifer of Red Thread Events says,“Of course the expertise of the wedding planner is foremost. But also consider how friendly and easy they are to work with. What you want them to do is design your wedding in the way you dream it and not the way they could do the best!”

It’s worth all the time and effort to find the right wedding planner because from then on you’ll be relieved off all the chores. Asking the following questions will help you understand the wedding planner better. It’ll give you a better judgment of how well he/she can understand your needs and materialize the same up to your satisfaction.

How is his portfolio?

Be sure to ask for his portfolio. Take a glance at his past works, especially weddings. Enquire about the various vendors involved in the event. Portfolio and experience is a very good measure of judgment.

Does he understand your vision?

Convey all that you have in mind regarding the theme, decor and everything and get a sense of how well does he/she understands your vision.

How are the vendor relationships?

How many vendors does she work with? Can she work with other vendors whom you could suggest?

Are there any wedding packages?

They usually have wedding packages which are more cost-effective. However, if you are going to customize it, make sure if she can work well within your budget.

How is the pricing and payment policies?

Does she charge a flat rate or a percentage commission? Will she provide a detailed list of items included in her fee as well as all the expenses?

Asking these questions will put both the parties in better perspective. All that matters is both of you get on the same page regarding how the wedding should look on the final day and in what budget. Then it’s just a matter of choosing among the options the wedding planner gets on the platter. Everything else will be taken care.

One of foremost and critical step when it comes to wedding planning is to find the perfect venue that suits your needs. With 500+ venue options in Chennai, at BigFday.com, we help you find the best venue depending on your ambiance, location and budget needs. Enquire with us for up to 45% discounts at top hotels in Chennai including 5 Star hotels. Check out this this page for the list of venues we have and the discounts we have with them.

Source : https://bigfday.com/blog/ultimate-guide-wedding-planner-in-chennai/

Wedding Return Gifts – 10 Simple Ideas That Actually Work!

Gift giving has never been an easy process for anyone. Sure there are those who are experts at it, but for the average person, birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries are very difficult times of the year. One has to wrack their brains as to what to buy, whether the intended receiver will like it, the budget constraints, the color, and so much more! Of all occasions, I believe that wedding return gifts are the hardest to decide on. The wedding party has to decide on an age-neutral gift that everyone will appreciate and remember- all this above the banquet hall booking and wedding planning! Anyone would go nuts.

So being half Santa Claus, we can’t just stand by and watch. We’re here to help make your planning process a little easier. Scroll down to find our list of chic, useful trinkets that you can gift to your guests!

Mini Toiletries

Convenience has been the order of the day ever since life started rushing by us. And nothing screams convenience like travel-size. So go tiny with travel-size toiletries such as lotions, body mists, and shampoos. There are so many exotic fragrances that you can gift your guests.

You can also gift some essential oils that come in beautiful glass bottles. Tie on some colorful ribbon to the neck of the bottle and, voila!

Brands like The Body Shop and Marks and Spencer have tons of them – you can mix and match a few to customize a slick package and done!

You can package it in a small wicker basket or even throw in a travel pouch. Choose wisely, according to your budget.

Jams, Honey, and Sauces

Food is by far the best thing you can give at your wedding! After all, we Indians like our delicacies and we love to flaunt them: so here’s your chance to lay out a spread.

There are so many different flavors of jam you can gift someone, and a variety of sauces as well. Go exotic with these treats and pack them into beautiful, multi-functional, mini jars. Honey seems to be another big wedding favor, so look for innovative packaging and interesting flavors.

This is also a chance for you to hop on the organic food bandwagon. Organic jams and honey burst with flavor and make a memorable and tasty wedding return gift.

Personalized Cookies or Cupcakes

In keeping with the food theme, we suggest gifting personalized cookies or cupcakes.

Don’t just buy cookies in wholesale! Instead, add a personal touch to them. For starters, you could play around with shapes.

Think of shapes that incorporate elements from the wedding itself – the groom’s pagdi, flowers, wedding rings, the bride’s shoe, shehnai. Or even incorporate a general desi theme with adorable elephant-shaped cookies. Oh, there’s so much you can do with your imagination!

As for the cupcakes, you can get them iced with the wedding date or the couple’s initials. And add some funky chocolate to go on top.

Lo, you are the new sweet thing!

Crockery with a History

No, we aren’t talking about the set of 6bowls in a large cardboard box. Instead, pick an artsy set of knives, dinnerware or glassware that have some kind of a history behind them. Collectible crockery tell a wonderful story and they’re sure to be a memento worth taking away. You can also get personalized crockery, with the initials of the happy couple monogrammed on to them.Or personalize them such that they match your wedding invitation.

Mugs are a great option too! They’re immensely useful. You can get hold of a designer, or come up with quirky designs yourself, to make your guest look back on your wedding with a smile!

Coffee or Tea Samples

Lately, everyone’s been bitten by the chai and coffee bug. Trying out artisan teas and coffees is the new pastime.

It also turns out that they make pretty great wedding return gifts. There are so many flavors of tea that you can choose from and several kinds of coffee beans too!

Go a step further and experiment with exotic blends of tea leaves.

You can really tap into your creativity when it comes to packing your gift. You can add little notes to the tea bags, with small facts about the happy couple or even pack the beans in a cute, desi portable coffee cup. These are sure to make a delicious and unique return gift.

Flower Matkas

Matkas make a unique and Eco-friendly gift option. Get some gorgeous hand-painted matkas. They can be used in hundred different ways- a versatile wedding return gift option!

You could also help your guest start their mini herb garden by equipping your matka with soil and coriander or fenugreek seeds.

Or store the traditional return gifts in them, such as sugar, fruits, nuts, or sindhoor. It’s all up to you and your imagination!

These little pieces from tradition are sure to put a smile on your guests’ faces!

Candles and Candle Holders

Scented candles are a great option as a wedding return gift. They serve both a useful and decorative purpose.

Further, scented candles come in a variety of relaxing fragrances and in aesthetically pleasing designs as well.  Popular fragrances are rose, lavender, and vanilla.

You can also choose to gift a candle holder along with the candles. There are some beautiful elegant designs you can choose from and several materials as well. Stone and colored glass are popular choices for candle holders.

Candle holders make an elegant decorative piece both indoors and outdoors: a useful and chic favor!

Sindhoor Box

Sindhoor boxes are mandatory in every Indian household. Over the years, artisans have come up with various designs and materials for the simple sindhoor box. It’s exquisitely handcrafted and is an item that every woman would use, making it extremely useful as well.

Depending on your budget you can pick from a variety of sindhoorboxes. You can go for a wooden one, decorated with mirror and embellishments or the more common metal ones which are either copper, gold, or silver plated.

Glass ones are slowly picking up in trend for the colored glass lends an exotic look to the box.

Whatever it is made from, the sindhoor box is a traditional, classy, gift!

Artifacts

Artifacts are beautifully crafted handmade items that make the perfect wedding return gifts. They can range anywhere from dream catchers and wall hangings to small trinket boxes. They make a perfect gift for culture-lovers! Artifacts can be easily bought at exhibitions and from vendors.

You can opt for simple and colorful cane boxes or carved wooden ones. These boxes are multipurpose and make a lovely addition to the dressing table.

There are also unique handcrafted wall hangings, candle holders and any other gift item that you can think of! That’s what makes them a perfect choice- the wide range of items that are available to you.Contact a handicraft association, and they will be able to get you a catalog of items that you can give as your wedding return gift.

Plants

In this day and age, the earth could do with a little support. There are so many ways in which you could go Eco-friendly at your wedding!

A really great way to incorporate this into your plans is by gifting small plants as your wedding return gift. The best part is, your guest wouldn’t even need a garden to house these plants. Visit a nursery and bring back with you a bunch of bonsai bamboo, small aloe plants, cuttings of money plant or even succulents!

These plants are easy to take care of and will make a lovely, fresh table center in your guests’ homes.Think of innovative ways to gift these plants. You can choose to pot them in colorful hand-painted matkas, copper planters, or pretty, mini glass bottles….

This list should help you get the hang of things, and satisfying your wedding guest should be much easier.  Take it easy this wedding season!!!


Source : http://bigfday.com/blog/wedding-return-gifts-ideas/

Top Venue Booking Sites In India

Do you feel venue booking in India as a daunting task? It is no longer so. Digitization has made everything available at your fingertips. Even if it is about booking banquet halls in Chennai, it can be done online. Gone are the days of spending days and weeks visiting different venues in the city and then narrowing down the options them based on various factors like size, pricing, facilities so on and so forth. What if you get all these details as a platter? Wonderful, isn’t it? Yes, with the arrival of venue booking sites in India, you can now book your venues seamlessly. Here are few top venue booking sites in India:

BigFDay

With a number of venue bookings in India, BigFDay is one among the most referred website to book banquet halls in Chennai. Be it wedding halls, birthday party halls or rooms for conference, BigFDay is a great platform that allows you book venue with just a few clicks. With their connection with more than 100 professionals in the event industry and 500+ venues, they have a number of venue options available to choose from. Also, the support team, being friendly and extremely supportive, you just need to share your requirements and rest will be assured as you sit back and relax.

Reserv.Place

Though based out of Chennai, Reserv.Place does a great job in bringing the property owners and people together on the single platform. You just need to visit the website through your mobile phone or computer to find the list of venues, discover more about them and then book event online. Irrespective of whether it is birthday party, wedding party or a conference, you can get desired venues just within few clicks.

Build My Event

Build My Event is also a one stop destination to book venues for all kinds of events. They connect you directly to the venue managers, allowing you to discuss your needs and finances and then help you book party halls, business venues and banquet halls in Chennai as desired. They are available 24*7 with transparent pricing and no hidden costs.

Urban Restro

Urban Restro is also one among the trusted sites for venue bookings in India. From wedding parties, cocktail parties to conferences, all these can be done on one platform. This may not be suitable for banquet halls in Chennai, as they currently operate in 3 cities Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. You can browse free and make reservations free of cost with few clicks of the mouse.

Just Dial

Just dial is a reliable, comprehensive and fast informational provider to people across the country. Apart from the reviews, large database is also their main user selling point. However, their service is limited to just listing of venue bookings in India in most of the cases. The volume of reviews and calls that they get everyday highlights their importance in the market. In addition, the mobile app that they have gives you all the information required on the move.

Now that you have great information on venue bookings in India, you can seamlessly book wedding halls, conference halls and banquet halls through any of the websites mentioned above. So stay relieved from the hectic task of wandering under the scouring sun in hunt of venue for your party. All that you need to do is to go online, visit this venue booking websites, express your requirements, pick the desired venue, make the payment to the venue provider and enjoy your party at the fullest. What are you waiting for? Start booking your venue today before others grab the golden opportunity.

How to Choose the Event Photographers

Event planning is a not an easy going task unless done by the experienced. With a number of event planners in Chennai, finding the right team of photographers in Chennai capable of capturing the auspicious moments of your event has to be done carefully. Few people pick amateurs in order to save money but doing so you may have to compromise on the quality of work. It does not mean that hiring photographers in Chennai as an expensive affair. You can hire affordable, highly professional and proven photographers just by following some basic tips. Mentioned below are few among them:

Prefer References

Asking your family and friends who have hired professional photographers in Chennai for any of their events would be perfect idea. Word of mouth is the most trustworthy source to find good photographers in your area. As you finalize on the referred photographer, do not forget to quote the name of the person who referred you. Who knows you may discount from the photographer for being a referral.

Go Online

Online is also a good source to get information on the good photographers in Chennai. Turn to Google to get customer reviews on prominent photographers in your area. You then go to the website of the photographers with good reviews. Visiting their website will give you an idea on their typical photographic style. If their website isn’t presented well, be cautious while short listing them as just like their website, their work might be experienced one.

Go Through Their Portfolio

Even if through reference or online review, make sure to go through the photographer’s portfolio. Now-a-days, photographers in Chennai keep their website updated with the pictures of their recent works. This makes it easy for you to review their past work and make a decision. Apart from this, you can ask them for any hard-copy of their portfolio to know how the output would be. While analyzing the portfolio, focus on the types of shots they have taken, how well have they covered the event venue and how dynamic they are in their skills.

Look For Experience in Similar Events

Ask them for their experience of having shot events approximately as big as yours. Tell them about the number of people you are expecting and about how well they equipped with respect to skills and equipments to handle events of such big size. Also, get their version of what they think of your event and how well are they planning to execute it. Carefully listen to their concerns if any and look it is possible to resolve the same and move forward else look for the next option.

Official Event or Wedding Event

Go through the kind of events they have worked on. If you are to host a corporate event, make sure the short listed photographers in Chennai have experience in capturing such events. Photographers with experience only in covering wedding and other such casual family events may not be a best fit for corporate events. Their portfolio must speak about this, but if not found just discuss about experience in such similar events.

On Time Delivery

While enquiring on the kind of work they have done, not to forget to discuss on how quickly they can deliver the great photos taken. Though photographers in Chennai are great at their work, there are few who take long time to develop, retouch and develop the hard copy of the pictures taken. So, it is important that you insist on quick delivery of the images so that your investment does not go in vain.

So, on considering these points, you can easily hire the best among the photographers in Chennai.

How to Look After Your Wedding Guests

Wedding day is really a big day. Not just for the bride and groom but also for the people behind the union as well. While the people are all set to start their life with a bang, it’s time to kick start the party! As you talk about the party, what do you think would be the most important factor to be taken care of? Yes, it’s the Guests! Apart from the bride and the groom, it is equally important that the guests must also have a real good time. With a number of wedding planners in Chennai, all that you need to do is to pick the best one and there you go free to enjoy the wedding at its fullest.

The Wedding Schedule

Keeping all the wedding attendees happy might seem an impossible task. However, it is possible for the wedding planners in Chennai. With the rich experience they have, they can easily come up with ideas to keep your guests happy and satisfied. Being unaware of the wedding schedule is the most common complaint that we usually get to hear from the guests. Most of the wedding planners in Chennai keep the guests aware of the wedding events and schedule well ahead either through displaying on a chalkboard or through printed handouts.

Food And Refreshments

Food is the most essential and sensitive section to be taken proper care of. In few cases, the wedding ceremony would be over the lunch time usually. This keeps the guests waiting hungry for few hours, and at times hungry guests and turn out as bad guests. To avoid such inconveniences, wedding planners in Chennai usually opt circulating canapés in between to entice the short hunger.

Travel And Accommodation

If you have guests travelling long way to be a part of your wedding, help them in making a weekend out of it. Suggesting good places to stay that which is approachable to both sight-seeing places and the wedding venue would be a great idea. Assigning the task to wedding planners in Chennai can make things more professional and systematic as they are well aware of sight-seeing destinations, good accommodations nearby and transportation options available for comfortable trip. Also, the planners can suggest best cab companies to easy transportation making the overall trip appreciative.

Answering All Minute Requirements

When it comes to decoration and other arrangements for guests, the area that is given the least importance is usually the most used room. Yes, it’s the bathroom. On assigning the task to wedding planners in Chennai, they even ensure the most neglected room is also well maintained to satisfy the guests. They now fill the bathrooms with pieces of hand creams, lipsticks, combs and other life savers thereby making the guests surprisingly happy.

Late Night Snacks

There is no wedding without dance in the evening party. Even if all your guests are served 6-course meal, they are likely to feel hungry after all the calorie-burning dance events. So make sure to set up a snack table with treats like doughnuts, mini-burgers, pastries and what not. Seeking the expert advice like from wedding planners in Chennai can help you out in setting the menu to be served on the snack table. 

Cozy Breakout

Not everyone attending the wedding would dance non-stop. Arrangements must be made for them to relax for few minutes. A chill-out zone with comfortable sofa installed that too accompanied by refreshment table makes it perfect place for the guests to regain their energy and bounce back on the dance floor. Here too, advice from wedding planners can help you make perfect arrangement.

Wow Moments

Surprises are great way to keep your guests engaged through the wedding event. A light show, rap battle, close-up magicians or funny quizzes round the table to create wow moments. Hiring professional wedding photographers in Chennai can help you capture the moments thereby making them memories to cherish. With the support of the photographers you can even arrange trusty photo booth for your guests.

So, do consider these points while you look after your valuable guests to make the wedding event a cherish able one both for you and for your guests as well.