Meet the Wonder Weddings Manager
Sep 6, 2012 Wedding People & Planners
Saurabh Agarwal
Ahmedabad based Saurabh Agarwal runs Red Events, one of India’s most successful Wedding Management companies. Agarwal’s clients include India’s super-rich who opt for a big, fat wedding in their home-town or a wow destination wedding in India or abroad. Little wonder, whenever we call Saurabh, he is travelling, either for a celebration organised by Red Events in Amby Valley, Goa or Rajasthan, Thailand, Singapore or Mauritius. Or he’s on a trip to explore a new wedding destination. After all, everyone interested in a slice of the wedding pie, be they a Tourism Board, International Luxury Resort or a wedding specialist know, that if they wish to reach out to the super-rich Indian planning a wedding, Saurabh Agarwal is the man they should meet.
Wedding at Manek Chowk, Udaipur
Recently Red Events bagged two prizes at the EEMAX Awards 2012 in the Best Wedding Category. The award night was part of EEMAGINE 2012, the annual convention of Event and Entertainment Management Association of India (EEMA), dedicated to honoring exemplary work in the Events and Experiential Marketing space in India. The Awards saw entries from over 50 event management companies and Red Events took home prizes for the Hira Group scions wedding in Raipur and the Parekh-Kothari wedding in Pune.
Having organised over 500 weddings till date, few players in the event management & wedding industry have achieved a scale in operations as Red Events has. Industry observers attribute Agarwal’s success to his depth understanding of what super-rich Indians want at celebrations, and his ability to form long-lasting relationships with big business barons from different towns, who trust only him when its time to plan their son or daughter’s wedding. While most individuals with a creative interest choose to foray into the world of weddings, how did the astute businessman decide to venture into this field over ten years ago. He tells us: “The idea occurred to me in 1998. A friend was getting married, and he was finding it difficult to get a Piano which was required for one of the celebrations. He told me that since I am resourceful I can surely arrange for one- the mere task of procuring the Piano triggered a spark and gave me the vision to tap into the space of wedding management.”
The magnificent Hira Group wedding in Raipur
Parekh-Kothari wedding in Pune
Tags: Red Events, Saurabh Agarwal, Wedding Planner
Cricket Carnival @ The Big Fat Indian Wedding
Apr 5, 2011 Wedding People & Planners
The cup of joy is overflowing, so what do shaadi specialists say on Team India’s influence@ Big Fat Indian weddings. Manoj Gopalani, Director of Seventy Seven Events and Var Vadhu, believes the influence will be huge, atleast for the next few months: “In the last few weeks, many corporates arranged for screenings and spent between Rs 2 and Rs 25 lakh per event, but Big Fat Weddings, will see real cricket, pre-wedding events, where families spend a few crores or more on recreating an IPL-style ambience. He adds: “Cricketers will also be much sought-after wedding guests. Film-stars and TV artistes are and will always be in demand, either as entertainers or as guests, but for now, some families will request for cricketers as the celebrity guest, even if it’s at an astronomical fee.”
According to Saurabh Agarwal of Ahmedabad-based Red Events, many more of his high profile families are interested in their signature ‘Cricket Carnival’. “Last year we organised IPL style cricket matches as part of the grand celebrations of different weddings in Udaipur, Ahmedabad and Nagpur. In one of the matches Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli, captained the bride’s and groom’s teams, Harsha Bhogle was the special guest, Mandira Bedi the host, while Veejays Ranvijay and Anushka cheered the crowds; there were team banners, flags and posters, uniforms with logos, and the trophy was named the ‘Cup of Love’, drums and cheerleaders entertained the audience, and there were specially composed team anthems too.”
Wedding Filmmakers like Mumbai’s Vishal Punjabi and Delhi’s Raja and Badal Jain are now getting ready to capture not just the shaadi, reception, mehendi and sangeet, but the cricket carnival too. Says Vishal Punjabi whose next assignment is a destination wedding in Bali: “I’ll be filming a cricket match for the first time, and I’m so looking forward to it.” Raja and Badal Jain talk about their experience of filming the Big Indian family@ cricket matches, where some audience is not in sporty attire, but dripping diamonds and colourful chiffons: “Filming cricket is interesting, but obviously not as exciting or entertaining as Bollywood-inspired wedding moments.”
While ‘Feeling Blue’ acquires a whole new meaning, Uttara Shah, Mumbai’s luxury wedding card designer says two of her clients are considering cricket theme logos, invites and give-aways. She says: “One client is thinking of flags, t-shirts or caps, which the guests can wear or bring along to the match. And for another die-hard cricket fan groom, we’re looking at designing a box in India colors—the invite is a ticket or a certificate, and in the box will be mini bats with a message from the couple.”
We always thought the Big Fat Indian Wedding was one Big Party, whoever thought, it would be one Big Game too!
Pictures courtesy: www.badalraja.com
Tags: Badal Jain, Cricket Carnival, Cricket Matches, Cricket Theme, Decor, Manoj Gopalani, Red Events, Uttara Shah, Var Vadhu, Vishal Punjabi, Weddings
Star Entertainers @ Destination Weddings in Thailand
Sep 15, 2010 Destination Weddings, Wedding People & Planners
Ahmedabad-based Red Events managed the magnificent wedding celebrations for two business magnate families in Thailand. Bangkok based billionnaire Anil Kothari hosted his daughter Ankita’s marriage to Sitesh Hirawat. And Mumbai-based Divya Dhadda married Abhinav Daga in Phuket.
The events at the Kothari wedding in Bangkok included a music melange with Rodney, a mehfil-e-mehtaab, a pre-wedding party with performances by Vishal & Shekhar and a ghazal evening by Roopkumar and Sonali Rathod. For the Dhadda-Daga destination wedding, a team of 200+ event managers and executives, 100 + artists, several florists, chefs, skilled Bengali artisans, sound and light engineers and technicians travelled from India. Since the wedding was in the monsoon season, and the family wanted a wedding by the beach, Red Events set-up transparent centrally air-conditioned water-proof marquees, which cost a bomb, almost as much as the decor.
The entertainment@ Divya and Abhinav’s wedding included a Grand Illusion show by Joe Conrad, a performance by talented singer Krishna Beura whose hits include ‘Soniyo’, ‘Main Jahan Rahoon’, ‘Deedar De’ and ‘Aap Ki Kashish’. Sonu Nigam performed at the Sangeet. On the day of the Wedding, Abhinav arrived on a Thai elephant and accompanying him in the grand parade were the high spirited baraatis, a host of Thai dancers and musicians, and Bhangara performers.
Divya Dhadda arriving in a beautifully decorated Doli
Left, Divya Dhadda and Abhinav Daga. Right, Ankita Kothari and Sitesh Hirawat
Divya and Abhinav’s jaimaala and pheras took place in the transparent marquees set-up on the romantic white sand beaches of Phuket
Roopkumar and Sonali Rathod at the Bangkok Wedding. Sonu Nigam in Phuket.
Tags: Abhinav Daga, Anil Kothari, Ankita Kothari, Bangkok, Destination Weddings, Divya Dhadda, Entertainers, Indians Wedding, Joe Conrad, Krishna Beura, Phuket, Red Events, Roopkumar and Sonali Rathod, Sitesh Hirawat, Sonu Nigam, Vishal & Shekhar
Daddy’s Big Day
Jun 20, 2010 Marriage & Wedding Trends, Wedding People & Planners
The most successful Wedding Planners in India, are those who understand the mind of the Big Daddy. And who have ample experience in organising Big Business conferences and events. Parthip Thyagarajan of WeddingSutra.com wrote this article for Times of India Crest
Mumbai’s la-di-dah circles still talk about the dream wedding Parmeshwar Godrej organised for her eldest child Tanya Godrej Dubash, over a decade ago. Parmeshwar, for the circle was the superwoman- super stylish and talented, highly enterprising and ambitious, and a supermom who organised an affair that oozed style and elegance. Today, supermoms don’t receive credit for hosting the Great Indian Wedding. Quite often it’s an event management agency and the super successful Dads who bask in the glory. Not surprisingly, agencies who have experience in organising large business and trade conferences are leaders in the wedding management space. They may not understand the mind of the mom, but they sure know what the bride’s daddy wants. The teams work round-the-clock over several months, to organise for him a world conference scale event, so his VIP guests experience magic in a fairy tale setting.
How can any article on the Great Indian Wedding be complete, without a reference to UK based Lakshmi Mittal who showcased the Great Indian Wedding to everyone around the globe. For his daughter Vanisha’s marriage to Amit Bhatia over 1,000 guests from all over the world were invited with 20-page-thick silver-cased invitation cards. Events over five days were staged in some of France’s most famous settings.
Many celebrities including Raveena Tandon have got married at one of the Palace Hotels in Rajasthan, but the celebration hosted by US Hotelier Sant Chatwal for his son Vikram’s marriage to Delhi businesswoman Priya Sachdev was most talked about. Chatwal and Delhi-based Wedding Planner Vandana Mohan gave hundreds of guests, a never-before wedding experience spread across three cities.
South Mumbai businessman Vinod Nayar was suddenly in the limelight, when news of his son Arun Nayar’s marriage to Liz Hurley was finalised. After the much-hyped wedding in Jodhpur, Nayar was scheduled to host a post-wedding party for the who’s who in Mumbai, but word went around about the huge misunderstanding between Nayar senior and junior in Jodhpur because of which the much-awaited party in Mumbai was cancelled.
‘Bawa Villa’ a home in Khandala received national media coverage all because Shilpa Shetty got married there. The villa owner, Hotelier GS Bawa, was not distantly related to Shilpa Shetty, but Shilpa was like a ‘daughter’ to him. Bawa’s daughter Kiran Bawa was soon recognised as the ‘best wedding planner’ who in typical desi style didn’t manage a wedding as a profession, but as a gift for someone she and her family loves.
When Swatee Jayaswal’s wedding was fixed with Bangalore’s Lalit Tayal, Nagpur business magnate Manoj Jayaswal hired Ahmedabad-based Red Events which specialises in international destination weddings to organise for approximately 700 guests, a luxury wedding experience at the Grande Laguna and the Banyan Tree in Phuket. All the Jayaswal family members glittered in the most expensive, ornate and colourful lehengas and sherwanis—the picture perfect photographs showed that the Big Indian Family can afford to host a Big Fat Wedding anywhere in the world.
Tags: Arun Nayar, Bawa Villa, Big Fat Indian Wedding, GS Bawa, Kiran Bawa, Lakshmi Mittal, Manoj Jayaswal, Parmeshwar Godrej, Red Events, Sant Chatwal, Swatee Jayaswal, Tanya Godrej Dubash, Vandana Mohan
Power Packed Weddings @ Udaipur
Feb 17, 2010 Celebrity Wedding Pictures, Destination Weddings
The city of luxury holidays, played host to two big weddings this week; and both the brides were named Neha. Neha Hiranandani, daughter of construction magnate Surendra Hiranandani married Mumbai’s Varun Jalan, and Ahmedabad’s Neha Kataria wed Kolkata based Ankit Patni.
The Ahmedabad based Katarias hired the most-in-demand exclusive Wedding Planner– Ahmedabad based Saurabh Agarwal of Red Events. The Hiranandani wedding at the Leelas was planned and managed with the help of their office staff.
Guests tell us Neha’s makeup was done by Cory Walia and she wore the most hatke jewellery and bridal lehengas created by Tarun Tahiliani, Sabyasachi and JJ Valaya. On the wedding experience, one guest states: “The wedding was a most classy affair at the most luxurious locale- The Leela”. For Mumbai’s heavy-heights who couldn’t attend the wedding at Udaipur, the Hiranandanis host the wedding reception at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai today.
Friends of the Hiranandanis are also talking in hushed tones about the absence of Priti Hiranandani, the bride’s mother at the wedding. Priti and Surendra Hiranandani divorced last year— Surendra is now seeing Alka Kapoor (actor Akshay Kumar’s sister), while Priti remarried recently. What apparently angered the Hiranandani family (including daughter Neha) is that Priti didn’t wait for her daughter Neha to marry, and decided to tie the knot earlier. So Priti Hiranandani was not even invited to her daughter’s wedding!
For the pheras, Neha Kataria wore an ornate, bling-bling outfit which some say was created by Delhi’s Anjalee and Arjun Kapur. And guests guess, that this ‘out of the world’ outfit, could have cost anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 6 lakh!
Tags: Anjalee and Arjun Kapoor, Ankit Patni, Cory Walia, Destination wedding, JJ Valaya, Leelas, Neha Hiranandani, Neha Kataria, Red Events, Sabyasachi, Tarun Tahiliani, Udaipur, Varun Jalan
