“It is the bride who can learn to let go, that will have the most successful and enjoyable day”.
Just imagine planning the most important day in someone else’s life – as a full time job! Not only do you have to deal with a bride and groom who want their wedding day to be perfect (of course!) but you have to juggle the constant ear bashing of their family members. We caught up with two industry professionals who’ve mastered the art of wedding planning. Whether you’re planning your own wedding, or hiring a professional this is a must read…
Could you please tell us how Amore came to be?
Hemali and I co-founded Amore just over three years ago. We met whilst working at another wedding planning company. Unfortunately the owner of that company closed down due to ill health. Despite leaving that company, we were still getting approached by past clients to help plan their family member or friend’s wedding. As we started to get back in touch with our suppliers, they all said that we were the face of the company and that we should set up our own. We had always had a fantastic relationship with our suppliers and worked well together, and so we did. The rest, as they say, is history…
So if I was a blushing bride, what services could your company offer?
As wedding planners, we have built up a huge database of suppliers covering all aspects of planning a wedding. However we have vetted a preferred few in each category that we recommend foremost to our clients as our ‘Approved list of suppliers’. These are companies, who we know from experiences, are professional, fair in their pricing, reputable and we know won’t let our clients down. (the market has become so saturated and competitive that it’s difficult to tell the difference between the good and the bad). And having built up a relationship with Amore, they are always willing to offer some form of discount to our clients or go that extra mile.
We offer a range of different services from a complete wedding planning and coordination package, to a more bespoke service where clients can opt to buy in services from our preferred suppliers. Whichever service our clients opt for, we offer advice on all elements of the wedding and tend to get phone calls filled with questions and advice from the parents, siblings, uncles, aunts etc. Since we are planning probably the most expensive and memorable day in not only the lives of our couple’s but their families also, it is important to us that we get to know the families on a personal level. We have to say, our favourite part of any wedding / wedding related event is on the day itself when the family members come up to us with smiles and hugs, looking relaxed, stress free and thank us for all our hard work. It’s great seeing months of hard work come together on the actual day and appreciation is like the icing on the cake.
Now I know that you Urvashi married recently, what was it like planning your own wedding and what were the major highs and lows?
My husband is also in the wedding industry; he runs a highly sought after videography company, Shaadi Videography. We therefore had a lot of pressure on us as expectations were extremely high of our big day. However we thoroughly enjoyed every moment of working with our trusted suppliers and friends within the industry to create three truly amazing wedding events; a civil wedding day, mehndi night and the big Indian wedding. Having both been involved in so many weddings, we know what works and what doesn’t. We therefore created a wedding day that was elegant yet informal, with great attention to detail. Stemming from our Indian Summer theme and colour scheme throughout our wedding stationery, mandap and flowers, to ensuring there was ample food served throughout the day with our favourite signature dishes created especially for us and selecting entertainment that was both interactive and unique. It was important to us that our wedding reflected our personalities and would stand out in our guests minds. I can’t say there were any major lows, as thanks to my wonderful Amore team, everything went to plan! However with so much else to do such as juggling full time work with countless shopping trips, arranging overseas guest accommodation, preparing for pre-wedding events etc there were times when I thought had I not been a wedding planner I would have definitely hired one!
What advice would you give to a bride and groom planning their wedding in less than six months?
You must be organised and set yourself weekly targets as well as a deadline to have everything done at least two weeks before the celebrations begin. It can be both emotionally and physically draining and the last thing you want is to not have been organised from the offset and find yourself running around frantically during your wedding week. Be realistic as to how far your budget will stretch and about the limitations to what will be on offer at short notice. Couples planning short lead weddings must be willing to be more flexible with their requirements. Also don’t try and do everything yourself; delegate but only to the people around you who you know are organised and responsible. Finally contact us at Amore! Remember we have all the reputable suppliers you will need and we know what is and isn’t possible in any particular timeframe. From having 18 months to 1 month to plan a wedding, we’ve done it all!
Finally what have you learnt most about brides after spending so much time with them?
There are two types of brides that we come across; the bride who worries and stresses about everything and the bride who knows what she wants and plans her wedding with confidence. From our experience, it is the bride who can learn to let go, that will have the most successful and enjoyable day, and it’s this latter category that most of our bride’s fall into. Our advice to any bride who isn’t looking to hire a wedding planner, is to plan your wedding with utmost precision and delegate so that you can confidently let go and enjoy yourself on the day. After months of planning, the day itself goes so quickly and it’s a shame to see a bride worrying about things going on around her rather than enjoying the moment.