This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 29th, 2016 at 12:13:02 pm and is filed under Wedding Planning, Young and Inspiring.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Young and Inspiring – Wedding Planner Noureen Morani of Cineyug
Wedding Planning, Young and Inspiring - Mar 29, 2016
Our series ‘Young and Inspiring’ showcases fresh, exciting new talent powerhouses from the fashion and events domain who specialize in creating dream weddings for couples with stars in their eyes. Meet Wedding Planner Noureen Morani, Head of Weddings at one of Mumbai’s premier entertainment companies, Cineyug.
Q) Tell us a little about your education and early work life.
I finished my Bachelors in Commerce, with an associate degree in Fashion Merchandising from FIDM in Los Angeles. I lived in the US and ran my own design business for many years. Although I grew up in a media and entertainment business family, it wasn’t until I moved back to live in India 4 years ago, that I really started to explore my love for the big, fat Indian weddings and all the elements of design, creativity and sharp organization that go into it!
Q) What do you love most about your job as the Head of Weddings at Cineyug?
The fact that someone has called me to accompany them as they embark on planning their most significant dream! I’m an absolute romantic at heart. Whether it is the bride or her parents or the groom and his family, the Indian wedding is an amalgamation of so many closely held dreams and aspirations, you end up feeling quite overwhelmed to have the privilege to have been part of that process.
Q) How have weddings changed from the time you got married, and today?
The core emotion, the stress parents go through, the format, rituals, and functions we absolutely must celebrate, these have endured. What has changed dramatically is the sheer scale! And entertainment. I don’t remember weddings being so much about entertainment acts and performances as they are today. It has its upside and downside, but that’s where we come in as experts. This is ‘our part of the business’. We understand exactly how to bring in the right amount of glamor and spunk without losing the personal intimacy of a family function.
Q) One input/ piece of advice you’d like to share with every bride-to-be or to-be-wed couple.
I know the last thing a wedding planner needs to advise a couple is ‘enjoy your big day!’ because that’s why they’ve hired you in the first place, so you can facilitate that but I am a firm believer in the power of positive energy. I’ve seen an optimistic, smiling, hopeful bride have the most spectacular sunset wedding in Thailand after waiting out three days of a frightful tropical storm! Somewhere I believe it all comes down to how firmly you choose to just enjoy this day, no matter what! Everything works out!
Q) One of the most memorable wedding planning experiences.
I had jumped into the deep end with one of my first weddings. It was for the Goenkas in Jodhpur and had everything you could ask for – a fabulous setting (The Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace), a multi-cultural mix of people, a beautiful vibe, great wedding vendors who really handheld and guided me like family through those weeks of wedding planning and the events, and of course a dream client who was open to ideas, creatively involved and just as excited about every little detail as I was!
Q) One destination where you would like to organize a wedding.
The colors of the Mediterranean have always fascinated me. Greece is one of my favorite holiday destinations and though I haven’t had the opportunity to plan a wedding there yet, I have a lot of ideas constantly swirling around for a Greek island wedding that I am waiting for the right client to come along and bring those to life for. And I’m also looking forward to weddings in Oman, the Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa and Al Bustan Palace in Muscat are the hottest new international destination for weddings.
Q) How do you unwind and what hobbies do you pursue in your spare time?
Fitness and wellbeing are very important to me, so time spent doing yoga, swimming, reading something light or inspiring and, spending time with my daughter Athina are some of my favorite things.
Q) The Indian Wedding only seems to get bigger and bigger. Do you agree?
Yes, and I am constantly in awe of the fact that just when you think you’ve seen it all, that it can’t possibly get any more extravagant, it just does! From 2-mile long baraats and entourages of 100 dancers for bridal entries, the lines are quickly blurring between the awards shows we also produce and actual, real-life weddings! It feels good of course to be constantly on the top of that game, in terms of what we can pull off being Cineyug and given our history with grandeur and scale.
For more on Wedding Planners, click here.
