So excuse the sporadic use of them in the article. So, keeping falling head over heels in love with someone and finding a soul mate aside, marriage is a conscious decision to spend the rest of your life with a person and sticking with him/her through fights and celebrations. [break]
A start of a new chapter, the wedding day is said to be one of the most important days in the lives of the bride and the groom.
And the last thing they or their family should be worrying about is the caterers meeting the food requirements, the florist making sure there are enough carnations to fill the venue or their guests from out of station reaching the venue on time.
This is where the three elegant young women of The Premiere Events (TPE) come in. A wedding planning company started by family friends Desal Lama, 26, Diki Sherpa, 27, and Jamyang D. Lama, 26, on January 1, 2012, TPE takes care of all pre-wedding stresses in terms of management.
Normally in Nepal when one goes to a wedding, it’s about showing up, eating, and that’s it. Most of the times the hosts don’t even remember who came and who didn’t, so all the hard work goes to waste.
“But when you hire a wedding planner, they take care of all the behind-the-scenes work, so that the hosts can enjoy,” says Dicky.
The three partners, who are all unmarried, thought wedding planning business would be a good venture now as many people around them are getting married and one day they too will tie the knot which they will want to do in style. But don’t go by their young age and foreign degrees: these young lasses have other fulltime jobs as well.
Desal takes care of her father’s furniture business, Dicky helps her father in his trekking company, and Jamyang is the owner of Jammy’s Bubble Tea.
These ladies felt the need to start something on their own because they weren’t satisfied with just working for their fathers and felt unfulfilled despite doing their best.
“Despite having our separate businesses, we sat together and thought we should do something new, and decided on wedding planning,” reveals Desal and goes on to add, “It’s a new business, though there are people in Nepal who do this but not as we thought they could do. Our company owns a lot of the things that we use in weddings which means clients can rent them out and we can reuse them, making it more cost effective.”
TPE usually subcontracts other people and micromanages them to fit your budget and theme.
“We take care of everything while the other wedding planners tell the clients who to go to and in return take commissions from those they have recommended,” says Jamyang.
Desal adds, “We add that personal touch, we’ll do a wedding as though it’s our own which I’m confident that even 5-star hotels, which are a popular choice these days, can’t match.”
Specializing in grand Bollywood-style mandaps, TPE uses its links with hotels and party palaces to provide a rate that is both budget friendly and doesn’t compromise on the overall look.
“Our clients get the rates we do, which saves them a lot of money which can be used for other things such as flower decoration and table setting etc,” says Desal.
When talking about their experiences of planning six weddings till date, they sigh and say together “it’s hectic” but are quick to add that people are nice and there is a good understanding between the clients and them.
Shedding light on the ongoing trends, Desal says, “Usually, people want to spend money on the reception and they prefer to keep the functions at home low key but we’re trying to convince people that those functions too can look pretty and well organized.”
TPE’s biggest account has been Rs 900,000. But mind you, hiring them doesn’t mean you tiff off many of your relatives who want to get involved in the wedding preparation. “We understand wedding is a family affair here, and we’re open to people getting as involved as they want to,” says Desal.
These marketing graduates have thought of everything, including keeping the company afloat during non-wedding seasons.
“Since there are specific wedding seasons here, we do weddings then and do other events during the dry seasons,” says Desal. TPE successfully organized Heritage Night, their first musical evening at Le Sherpa on April 28.
Young, determined and focused, these young ladies have made a career out of the most important topic of conversation in every Nepali’s life.
“Since you get married only once in life, get married in a way that people remember it and you and your family enjoy it and be more open towards wedding planning and planners who take your stress so that you can make joyful memories of the day,” says Desal in her husky voice.
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