How Top Wedding Planners Find The Right Partners For New Destination Collaborations

by  Madiha Khan Weddings | April 2, 2018 | News

Cineyug Wedniksha Milestones to Memories Momente Wedding Planners Platinum World Grroup

Every wedding planner understands how difficult it can be to plan a wedding in an unknown destination. Though a recce helps them know more about the destination, rules, and regulations plus gives an idea on how things can work out for a flawless management, there are a few wedding parties who cannot compromise on the quality of work they expect from planners. 

And industry experts who are also the top destination wedding planners know exactly how to bridge the gap and make a fresh wedding destination feel like home to the guests and the wedding parties. We spoke to the top Indian wedding planners who share their thoughts on how they manage, source partners and vendors, and also execute flawless logistics while planning a wedding in national and international destinations. Here’s what they had to say - 

Aditya Motwane, Motwane Entertainment & Weddings

We have had the pleasure of working with some great partners across the world, and I rely on them completely. When going to a new destination, we rely on other like-minded industry friends. Since we would trust them to suggest partners that are to our standards.

Of course, asking the hotels for their suggestions is also a good idea since a Hotel of certain stature would have references to credible suppliers.

At times we have even contacted the destination tourism bureau, like in the case of Barcelona, who recommended great partners for us when we were doing a project in Barcelona.

Many a time our partners themselves know like-minded companies in other countries/destinations, and then we rely on their recommendations.

Best partners: Frank Damgaard from Monte-Carlo Weddings, Stephen Hiessel from Inspira Event Services, Austria, Eleanora from Venice First and Caterina Campana from JD Events, Florence. 

Bhavnesh Sawhney, Wedniksha

A destination wedding requires a lot of planning. It is essential to conduct recces to familiarise ourselves with the material available locally and build reliable relations with vendors there, in order to ensure that they will procure and provide the best for us. 

We try and source our products from the best possible vendors from across the globe. Our vendors differ from one wedding to the other but we make sure that we maintain premium quality at all times which enables us to create the best kinds of weddings. 

Kainaz Sethna, Seven Steps

The most crucial part of a planner is to find one right source in a destination. Tried and tested are always comfort factors, so you go with those partners that previously established agencies have worked with and recommend. But in new destinations, where one is creating a legacy by hosting the first-ever such event, it's about taking help from the hotel or the venue chosen. They're the best source to know who works well and who doesn't. 

Best partners: The Four Seasons Hotel in Bahrain and the Westin Europa Regina in Venice. 

Sushil Shamlal Wadhwa, Platinum World Grroup

Fortunately, we’ve been the pioneers of doing work globally. I’ve always been helping Indian planners with info on hotels and executing weddings in any country. The most positive aspect of the wedding fraternity in India is our willingness to help one another out. I find that when it comes to finding reliable partners in a new foreign destination, that always a great way of going about things.

I for one, always suggest suppliers and partners I’ve had great experience working with. A company with experience working with Indians and are demanding projects and timelines is always a boon.
In addition to asking industry colleagues, for new destinations, we also check with the hotels we use for recommendations of good local companies doing decor etc. 

Best partners: Khun Krit from Orient in Thailand, Luis Sousa from Mr. Travel Portugal in Portugal and Briss Mathur from EuroSwiss in Switzerland.

Darshan Shroff, Momente Weddings

We get in touch with various vendors mostly through research, networking, portals (like EVENTFAQS, etc) and word of mouth (we are lucky to have a wedding fraternity that shares information). Also, a lot of vendors do keep sending us their profiles. We also get in touch with various convention bureaus, tourism boards, and DMC’s for the same). 

Of course, ultimately the vendor is finalised after doing the due diligence from our end, in terms of delivery, flexibility, price, reliability, etc.

Aarti Manocha, Milestones to Memories

If we’re planning a wedding in a new destination for the very first time, we take suggestions for vendors and partners from our industry colleagues who have already worked in the location. We also ask tourism boards and hotels to help us with recommendations for vendors and partners. Then we finally do a recce to understand more about the location and find partners that fit the requirements. 

While we are selecting our logistic partner for a destination, we ensure that we inspect their inventory of vehicles, do surprise checks so that we know that good quality is their standard operating procedure and not just done for our visits. 

We ensure that the company is reliable and has a credible name in that destination. We interact with the drivers during the recce to evaluate their guest interaction skills.

These are a few key factors that cannot be compromised in our logistics partners.

As the guests come to the event, their first experience begins at the airport with their arrival by the team and the services of the car. We make sure that this has to be extremely well taken care of and is of great quality.

Best partner - Sharjah National Travel Tourist Agency (SNTTA) in UAE, they have always done a great job as our partners and understand the sensibilities of the Indian weddings and guests. 

Mohomed Morani, Cineyug

We work with only the best. The sound and lighting are provided by the same partners throughout the events and wedding projects we take, but the décor is always different. We have a database of every city we’re about to travel to for an event so we go for those that are perfect as per the requirements. We also invite people to showcase their work and give chance to upcoming talents as well. We’re open and receptive in making new partners across the globe as we don’t want to get stuck. 

Best partner - Ali Bakhtiar from Ali Bakhtiar Designs. 

So, this gives us the complete idea of what goes behind planning and executing those big fat destination weddings!