“How I made a successful business in the wedding industry” –  Four creative women entrepreneurs share their story

Young and Inspiring - Aug 16, 2023

The world of weddings is a melting pot of artists and creative professionals offering diverse services and talents to stay in step with the ever-evolving trends and ideas sought out by modern couples today. While long-established services such as planning, photography, makeup, etc boast a lion-share of the industry, every once in a while we are blown away by a trailblazer with a new and exciting venture which is off the beaten path.

Here we bring you 4 such exciting powerhouse entrepreneurs who identified the need for a unique offering in the wedding space and grabbed the opportunity to make their mark!

Srishti Kapur – Floral Art by Srishti
What sparked the idea for your company? Tell us a bit about your journey. What made you choose the wedding industry as your focus?
“Floral Art is a gifting, design, and décor studio that specializes in everything floral – from wedding and party décor to wedding accessories, trousseau packaging as well as our highly in-demand floral jewelry. We customize designs as per your need and work with both fresh and artificial flowers.

Started 21 years ago by Kavita Kapur and later joined by her daughter – Srishti, Floral Art grew from a humble bouquet design and delivery outfit to handling nearly 5-6 events, packaging orders, countless accessories, and floral jewelry units per month. Trained in the art of Ikebana, both Kavita and Srishti have a strong understanding of flowers and arrangements, which has helped them put together breathtaking designs that stand apart.”

What do you love the most about your work?
“We love to cater to a niche audience as we get to let our creativity loose and constantly innovate to create new designs and concepts with florals and packaging.”

What advice would you give a budding entrepreneur aiming to enter the competitive wedding industry?
“Dream big and work towards your dream! If you have the talent and passion to make it big, success is inevitable!”

Mansi Mahansaria – Just Deliveries

What sparked the idea for your company?
“I had to pick up a birthday cake for my sister and it melted due to heat and traffic – 2 of the biggest problems in most Indian cities! That is when I realized there is no delivery partner for perishables and delicate products. All delivery partners have riders or vans without cooling. I used my savings to buy 2 AC vans and set about creating ‘Just Deliveries‘ – a service that would make life easy.”

What are some challenges you faced early on in your career? How did you overcome them?
“Going from working in a private equity fund with peers from the best of institutes to managing transportation was a huge leap in career and work culture, not to mention quite challenging. Hiring and training delivery boys on the sensitivity of parcels and setting up SOPs to ensure safe deliveries took time and immense patience. Getting them to use technology was also an uphill but necessary battle as I wanted to ensure complete transparency in the delivery chain. Moreover, as it was a bootstrapped business, we could not hire great resources. With no marketing budgets, we were very dependent on referrals and client goodwill to grow.

There were numerous times when I had moments of self-doubt, after all, we were attempting to create and succeed in a whole new category. But the appreciation we got from our customers for providing a service that solved their problems kept us going.”

What do you love the most about your work?
“I absolutely love my work. The growth I have witnessed, both personally as a leader as well as in business fills me with the greatest sense of achievement.
When you set your sights high, the aspirations and ambitions force us to grow and the learning curve is immense. The entire wedding industry and ecosystem including the planners, the gifting experts, and luxury brands and platforms like WeddingSutra have the most amazing people who are out there to collaborate and grow together.

We are now present in 3 cities – Bangalore, Pune, and Mumbai, and our next target is NCR where the largest number of weddings happen! I am so grateful for an amazing team that believes in the vision and is building Just Deliveries from the ground up.”

What advice would you give a budding entrepreneur aiming to enter the competitive wedding industry?
“There are just 3 nuggets of wisdom I would offer:

• – Ensure your product or service is solving a ‘real’ problem. It is the best way to carve out your niche.
• – Know that the first 1000 days are the toughest, and if you survive that and get past all the lows and self-doubt, you have a pretty good chance of becoming successful.
• – Your team is the most important! Bring onboard people with the right attitude who will share your wins, share the vision, and grow the business together.

Sanjana Chatlani – The Bombay Lettering Company

What sparked the idea for your company? Tell us a bit about your journey.
“Since my school days, I have always been drawn to art and considered myself a creative individual. After graduating from college, I began working at LVMH, in their wines and spirits company – Moet Hennessy. It was during my time there, at the age of 25, that I had an encounter with a professional calligrapher who visited our office. This experience intrigued and fascinated me, revealing the existence of a demand for calligraphy as a profession. Although I had previously dabbled in calligraphy and enjoyed it, this encounter sparked a realization of its commercial potential. It served as a driving force that piqued my deep interest in pursuing calligraphy further.”

2 years into my professional journey as a calligrapher, one of my clients asked me to design her wedding cards. That was the first time we explored doing something more than just calligraphy, and there was no looking back! Today, we are a calligraphy and design studio – The Bombay Lettering Company, focusing heavily on the wedding industry.”

What made you choose the wedding industry as your focus?
“Calligraphy plays an integral role in weddings, be it the addressing of invitations, or working on signages, placards, welcome letters, and more! It’s the handwork and personalization that goes a long way. Hence I feel the wedding industry is a great place for calligraphers to be in.”

What are some challenges you faced early on in your career? How did you overcome them?
“In the early stages, I faced the challenge of educating people about the true essence of calligraphy. Many perceived it as fancy handwriting or a hobby, but I had to emphasize that it is a highly technical art form requiring skill, dedication, and attention to detail. Educating them visually and showcasing the commercial possibilities of calligraphy was crucial. Furthermore, the prevailing disbelief that a successful calligraphy business could exist posed additional hurdles. Overcoming these perceptions and proving the viability of calligraphy as a professional pursuit demanded persistence and determination.”

With such a niche offering, how did you find and build your clientele?
“Being niche is an advantage, in my opinion. When I started my calligraphy company, we were one of very few in the country. I do feel a lot has to do with timing, and being in the right place at the right time. We had the first mover’s advantage, which helped us become a category creator. Social media played a big role in the initial few years, whether it was for Priyanka & Nick’s wedding or Deepika Padukone herself reaching out to us, Instagram got us some of our biggest clients and projects. With word of mouth, our network has gotten strong over the years and works tremendously well in building our clientele.”

What do you love the most about your work?
“However clichéd this may sound, my business was built only and only out of love and pure passion for a craft. It slowly evolved from a passion project to a thriving business and the love has only grown stronger! I love the diversity of work that comes our way. There is never a dull day, each project is different from the other and challenging in its own way. One day we’re designing wedding invitations, the next we’re making pieces of art for a baby’s nursery, and the other we’re working with a fintech brand to design their newest logo. The use of calligraphy, hand lettering, design, and illustration across numerous industries is what I love so much.

I also love that my work makes me discover myself a little bit more every single day. As artists turned entrepreneurs, we wear multiple hats in a day. It’s challenging yet so rewarding to be able to create work we’re proud of, be acknowledged for it, and take the business to new heights.”

What advice would you give a budding entrepreneur aiming to enter the competitive wedding industry?
“One of the most crucial lessons I’ve learned as an entrepreneur is the continuous pursuit of upskilling. To build a business around an art form or skill, unwavering passion is vital. Even when faced with doubt from others, it’s crucial to remain resolute and take action. Hard work is irreplaceable. We need to constantly learn and make sure we’re out of our comfort zone. The moment we get comfortable, we get complacent and that’s the end of it.

Alongside dedicating yourself to your business, seeking personal and professional growth is essential. It is important to have tangible evidence and numbers to support your decisions and strengthen your confidence. Also, drawing inspiration from diverse sources such as travel, reading, and learning adds a unique touch to your work.”

Dhanika Popley – Blessing Chants by Dhanika Popley

What sparked the idea for your company? Tell us a bit about your journey.
“I have been a devotional singer for over 15 years and have been associated with the Art of Living, where I channeled my spirituality into my love for singing. It was at a relative’s wedding where I was encouraged to sing, that the idea of wedding chants and ‘musical pheras’ came into my mind. The sanctity of wedding ceremonies and other auspicious functions like Mayra, Mata ki Chowki, various pujas, etc, made it an organic progression for my craft and led to the creation of my company – Blssng Chants by Dhanika Popley. Today I work with a team of artists, traveling across the country for weddings and other special occasions.”

What made you choose the wedding industry as your focus?
“While my venture of wedding chants is new, I have been in the wedding industry for over 10 years, running a business of wedding gifting, favors, and home decor. The nuances and trends of the sector, as well as a beckoning clientele, are some things we were already familiar with and gave me a sure footing when I stepped into the wedding entertainment category. The joy and beauty of weddings have always had a big impact on me, and I was thrilled to be able to extend services that would add spiritual value to the experience of couples and their families, and give them memorable moments”.

What are some challenges you faced early on in your career? How did you overcome them?
“With the concept of wedding chants being relatively new, our major challenge while starting out was creating a presence and spreading awareness about this new wedding service. Moreover, with ritualistic chanting being such a big part of weddings and other traditional ceremonies, there was a lot of confusion from clients, family members, not to mention priests, about how to incorporate our musical chanting.

Traditions are always a sensitive area to tread around, especially around conservative or older family members, and we had to constantly assure them as well as the priests we had to work with, that we work with the utmost respect and care, and in accordance with their customs. While we also offer clients the choice to work with our own priests, many are particular about only working with their family priests, and we ensure that we educate ourselves on the customs of every new culture and family norms we work with, and always work in sync to give the best possible experience to everyone”.

With such a niche offering, how did you find and build your clientele?
“We started off with word-of-mouth marketing, offering services to relatives and friends, and reaching out to connections made from my gifting business as well, while they, in turn, took it forward. But the biggest boost we got was definitely from social media! It allowed us to expand our reach and spread awareness about our services and helped us establish a great foundation. While our segment is definitely still quite a niche, I believe the massive scope of the wedding industry has room for any and all kinds of products and services, and you can always find clients who connect with your offering.”

What do you love the most about your work?
“Blssng Chants has broadened my professional and personal horizons, giving me the chance to travel the length and breadth of the country to pursue my passion – singing. But what I enjoy the most about working with weddings is learning about new cultures. While chanting is an integral part of all Hindu cultures, each one has its own unique customs and traditions, and I appreciate being able to expand my knowledge base with every experience.”

What advice would you give a budding entrepreneur aiming to enter the competitive wedding industry?
“A wedding marks the most important day in the lives of not just the bride and groom, but also their families. Despite days, weeks, or months of prep, everything comes down to that one day, so expectations are always running high. The pressure can quite often get to you, but if you can keep your resilience and patience, there is nothing more satisfying than witnessing the joy your efforts bring to the couple. At the end of the day, if there is something you are passionate about, you should give it your best shot! As I have said before, the wedding industry is massive and has room for all kinds of products and services. You are sure to find your groove!”

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