Since I can remember, the glitz and glamour of Hollywood have fascinated me.
But as I grew into a passionate lover of film, the intricacies behind the scenes held equal weight. I now understand the complexities and the moving pieces of what goes into creating both critically acclaimed works of art and full-on popcorn-popping blockbusters.
It just so happens that, like the movie industry, the wedding industry shares similar complications as a high-end, Swiss-made watch—each piece playing a critical role in creating something cherished and everlasting.
The aforementioned experience is something I instantly noticed when consuming social media content of wedding planner titan, Innayat Haresh Khubchandani, Founder of Innaz Communique.
Based in Bali, Indonesia, the man operates his business like a studio head, with a commanding presence and upholding the integrity of teamwork in a high-pressure work environment. The reality is, he has to; it’s quality above all.
And to understand the root of this drive and passion, I had the pleasure of sitting down with him to paint a clearer picture.
How were the early phases of this journey?
We began planning our first event in 2005 and executing it in 2006—at a time when hiring a wedding planner in Southeast Asia was virtually unheard of. Most families handled weddings themselves, and the common refrain was: “Why would I pay someone to do my wedding?”
It was an experiment, particularly in Indonesia. There was resistance at first, especially given our age, but over time, we demonstrated our value, built trust, and earned respect.
There’s no “black book” in wedding planning. It’s about experience and logged hours, much like a pilot’s flight time.
The final step was positioning: were we volume-driven or boutique, destination-focused or local? Navigating those questions shaped our identity and proved to be a steep but necessary learning curve.
From the first steps to now becoming a seasoned veteran, how many weddings or events do you oversee nowadays?
When we first began, we were doing about five to six weddings a year. As we were growing and getting our name out there (pre-COVID), we were doing about 35 weddings a year.
This was a time of excitement, and our reputation was being built as a highly sought-after wedding planning service.
However, there was a turning point, just before the pandemic hit, as I got married. My wife decided to join me in the business, but it led to a very important conversation about the future of the company.
We decided that we didn’t want to be known as a wedding factory. We wanted to be known as boutique wedding planners; there had to be a pivot.
We wanted to position ourselves to work with clients who were on the same page as us. As a result, the interviews are mutual now.
There has to be a shared understanding where both parties are happy with each other in order to move forward with the planning.
We needed to establish a more personal approach to each wedding, where we work together to create memorable events.
This has led us to working on 15 weddings a year, maximum. We want to be able to provide the right amount of time and quality to our clients.
Attention to quality and detail is very apparent. Just the way you run the business seems so cinematic, as if you are running the company like a major studio executive. Where was this instilled?
Interestingly, I’ve recently been told by people who are really close to me that I am the face of the company.
In a way, that makes me feel guilty because there is so much more that goes into wedding planning that people really don’t see or even know about.
So, whatever you see on Instagram or through video content is to show people how I am in my natural environment. I want them to see that the team that is working with me and supporting me is what makes all of this come to fruition—the same people who enable me to do what I am capable of doing.
All of the content we produce on social media is not put on or scripted. In fact, my wife is the one who comes up with the ideas and decides the appropriate times when content can be produced organically.
This began a few years ago, as we started to notice there was no mention of the people who actually make this magic happen. Where are the unsung heroes?
I’m not getting an ego boost by someone telling me that I’m the face of the company. But it’s important to note, even with my blood, sweat, and tears into this company, the unsung heroes matter as well.
Without them, this wouldn’t be possible. It takes an army.
You do need a great number of people to pull off a herculean task like an Indian wedding, especially when working with clients who have varying budgets or big visions. What is an extraordinary or unexpected request you’ve ever received?
We actually don’t always work with clients with big budgets, and we can’t really control how much they actually want to spend.
We do, however, want to work with clients who aim for and appreciate better-quality events.
That being said, we recently did a wedding with 350 guests in Portugal. The client also happens to be a very close friend of mine, so he requested that I not break the bank on this and to watch his back through the planning.
Naturally, I have his trust.
Barring the headline superstar performers, which were not a priority, we delivered quality in terms of food, entertainment, visuals, and how guests were welcomed. It was done with great taste and quality.
The success comes from how you put it together, not how big it is.
On that note, was there a wedding that stands out the most to you? Perhaps the biggest challenge you and your team had to overcome?
It was actually a wedding in Phuket, Thailand, with 1,200 guests.
It took place in a 3-star hotel, but we were given the task of making it seem as if it were a 5-star venue.
This particular hotel had never hosted an Indian wedding before. We had to take over management of the entire hotel for about a week, while attending to our event planning responsibilities simultaneously.
It was possibly one of the biggest weddings we had done in terms of dollar value, with 30 to 40 entertainers, four different caterers for an all-vegetarian wedding, and Bollywood artists as guests (their demands were ridiculous).
This wedding had numerous logistical aspects that would have been nightmarish if things had gone wrong. Although plenty of things did, they were manageable.
We had 150 hairdressers in one room, turning on and off their equipment; each hairdryer used about 1,000 watts, which means you need 150,000 watts of electricity. No ballroom in the world uses that much.
We had to install a generator just to cater to that setup.
Not to mention, closing down the water park to stage LMFAO and their performances. At the same time, there were kids drinking and using the water slides, hoping it didn’t lead to serious accidents.
If that wasn’t enough, a hurricane paid a visit and blew away the tent where the sangeet was to take place.
It was the Hail Mary of weddings, basically. But we still pulled it off, everyone pulled their socks up, and created a wedding that people still talk about today.
You mentioned Portugal, as you’ve worked across the globe. How do they compare to doing weddings in Southeast Asia, regarding client expectations, logistics, and overall experience?
You have countries or cities that do countless Indian weddings. Those destinations are equipped to host Indian weddings.
The necessary vendors are all there; these are found in places such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and so on.
But then you have the likes of Portugal or the city of Baku, Azerbaijan. Where do you find the mehndi lady or the doli-wala?
Now, you have to bring these people in.
For example, if you are planning to bring in a caterer, you are talking about logistics that cover bringing in 20 chefs and cooks or an event planning team of 50.
You have to fly these people out to the event.
There is a dedicated team taking care of all of the details most guests never see or hear about. It can be as small as bringing in the paan-wala, but he needs the betel nut leaves to make his paan.
You can’t bring them through customs so easily to places where betel nut leaves are not native.
Keeping this in mind, it’s always fun to visit new destinations, but it is always better to host an event in your home city, where the cultural nuances make more sense.
To lessen the burden, if you had a client who came to you with virtually a blank cheque and told you to plan anywhere in the world, where would you want to plan a wedding?
[A moment’s pause.] I’m still waiting for that client, by the way. [Laughs.]
People seem to think all the clients we have are people with big budgets.
One of my favourite quotes in the wedding industry, and I use this quite a lot, is: It’s easy to take a million dollars and make an area look beautiful, but it’s very difficult to take a hundred dollars and make it look like a million bucks.
In reality, all our clients have a budget constraint.
At the end of the day, we are battling with nearly every vendor to strike a deal to lower prices.
With that said, I would choose Las Vegas.
Vegas has no limits.
What I mean by that is once they had a baraat on a private jet, and the private jet terminal in Vegas lands right in the middle of the city, which is just 30 seconds away from the strip.
All guests were back in their hotel rooms within five minutes.
Imagine doing that in Bali—it would be a six-hour baraat! I don’t think I’d have any issues bringing in whatever I wanted in Vegas.
On the opposite end, without naming names, what was the wildest moment you had to manage?
Moving a wedding in 28 days, from Turkey to Dubai.
We were planning a wedding in Turkey for nine months.
Last year, if you can remember, there were political issues between India, Pakistan, and Turkey.
Our clients were Indians, and this was being planned just at the beginning of the political tension. Naturally, our clients were very nervous to go to Turkey.
Thirty days before the wedding festivities, the groom came to me and seriously considered cancelling the plans.
In my professional opinion, I told him that if he continues to contemplate, it’ll be a catastrophe. He needed to yank the bandaid off and talk to his family.
If we stay, we stay; we make the most of it.
But a lot of guests had pulled out because of their fears, understandably.
We had to move on, and they gave us the decision to change locations and pull off nine months of work within 28 days in a completely different location.
What’s next for you and the company?
My dream would be to educate.
I would like to utilise my experiences and hardships that contributed to building our company to help newcomers or up-and-coming event planners with the tools to navigate this industry.
I would want to eventually pass the baton to the next generation.
Additionally, create an ecosystem within our community and put systems in place within this chaotic industry of ours that ultimately make it easier for everyone involved.