Kavneet Sethi is one very busy woman. The founder of The Wedding Galore possesses an uncanny ability to divert her attention from one task to the next in the blink of an eye as if a linguist were code-switching amid a foreign delegation at the United Nations General Assembly. This is something that struck me immediately in our first conversation at her office. However, the intensity she expresses in her work does not translate to her interactions with others; she is warm, welcoming, and attentive to your wants or needs. It’s the balance you would want from a wedding or event planner—someone who is dedicated to her field of expertise without sacrificing the importance of human connection. In fact, for Kavneet, it’s not about prioritising one over the other because it’s all the same. You can’t have one without the other.
Living in Thailand for the past 20 years, Kavneet began her journey in Thailand by marrying into a Thai-Indian family when she was quite young. Soon after earning her bachelor’s degree, and faced with the decision of choosing a career path, she decided to take part in the family business, Destination Siam. The company was established 19 years ago, while she had the pleasure of experiencing it for 18 of those years.
“Me being an Indian from India, I have plenty of existing contacts in the form of professional relationships, friends, family members, and so on,” Kavneet began her explanation of what sparked her interest in event planning. “We were already taking care of the travel needs to Thailand for many Indians, organising their anniversaries, birthdays, and other special occasions at private pool villas and the like. I realised I started to enjoy the details of helping to facilitate these holidays and small events. Fortunately, around 15 years ago, destination weddings started to pick up steam, and people were looking to invest more outside the traditional confines of hosting wedding events. So, over a decade ago, I diversified from working with a destination agency to opening up this wedding planning spectrum within the company itself.”
The Wedding Galore came into existence nearly a decade ago, and it has been a high-octane, always-on venture for Kavneet. “It’s incredibly time-consuming – a very high level of commitment, but fortunately, I really enjoy my job,” she adds before offering me a cup of chai for the third time, which I had to begrudgingly and politely decline. By this point, I had consumed too much caffeine but appreciated an endearing gesture from an authentic desi who exuded the essence of being South Asian. It just made it ever-so-clear as to why she would be thriving in this industry, given her background and experience.
You’ve been fully immersed in the event and wedding planning space for nearly a decade now. What continues to fuel your passion in this field?
Each and every wedding that we plan and execute teaches us something new. It also comes with its challenges. Though we have been doing it for a fairly long time, we understand this business well. We understand the basic needs of every Indian wedding and the wedding requirements of couples and their families. And when we overcome all the new challenges, that’s what gives us the strength to continue our work and do a better job than the last. We have learned from clients or the circumstances that surround them, and how we coped with them. Even after overcoming certain struggles or challenges, which are sometimes unseen and guests at the wedding have absolutely no idea of it, they go back to raving about the entire event, congratulating the entire team. That gives me immense pleasure and a sense of accomplishment; this is what keeps us moving forward. All those months of hard work pay off in just three to four days of execution.
Wedding planning is like a painting. You go from the first strokes of the brush to bringing it to life – the colours come alive and evoke certain emotions when you finally view the bigger picture. We are working towards that feeling, the satisfaction we receive from the reviews, to where the guests go back home happy. The hosts also leave reviews for us, and every review is absolutely authentic, unadulterated, and straight from their hearts. We’ve exceeded their expectations, which is no greater compliment.
We are tirelessly working for 14 to maybe 18 hours on-site to make wedding dreams come true. The physical stress is obviously there, but the mental stress is what can drag us down. But seeing the satisfaction and genuine happiness on our clients’ faces is what makes it all worthwhile.
I’m sure there have been out-of-the-box requests by newlyweds and their families over the years. Is there a particular event that stands out for you because of bizarre requests or happenings surrounding it?
The island weddings have been quite challenging because we are working with new hotels that have never done Indian weddings, and who do not understand Indian wedding customs and traditions. There is so much back and forth, and there are so many changes that happen during the planning process or even during the execution. We have to be on our toes and keep our communication clear and fast with a new team altogether, so that’s a challenge in itself.
Recently, we had two very big weddings at the recently opened Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas. We actually put down our money and faith in a property when it was not even open. But because our client was walking hand in hand with us, they were up for the challenge. Not everyone is up for the task, but the property looked amazing, and it was love at first sight. We guided them throughout the entire process, but then having artists flying in every single night was a challenge; bizarre requests, such as wanting to drop 50 kilos of rose petals on the bride and the groom by a helicopter! Those kinds of requests were coming in, which we unfortunately could not have fulfilled because it’s not allowed, even if you asked for permission. Do we feel bad about it? Yes. We feel bad about not being able to give them what they wanted on their big day.
But just the fact that 300 people came in and out of the festivities without a single person’s luggage missing, without a single person missing a flight, 150 crew members staying at adjacent hotels, every single day check-in and check-out for the vendors, and not one of them was calling us about problems. Not even once. Everybody went on and off that island without a single call to us. For me, that was a great success. We did that first and then we did that for the second time again in November.
In November, another challenge that came to us was the weather. This month is supposed to be the end of the rainy season, but sometimes you have those late showers coming in. If that wasn’t enough, the crew was even bigger this time. Around 250 people in three properties, and everybody came in and out easily, partied till late at night, and dealt with a super demanding client. Expectations were through the roof. Multiple-course set menus for 300 people and a great decor designer from India. When big numbers are involved, the expectations seem quite daunting, so these were big victories for us.
What’s the most unique or personal touch you’ve seen at a wedding event that stood out to you the most?
There was a bride who quit her job. She actually quit her job three months before her wedding to be able to do wedding planning. I’ve never seen someone quit their job, but that bride was so thorough in her designs before we even went out for the first event. Her mood board was ready, she had her dream wedding in her mind for a very long time. She put it all in a PowerPoint – a deck of 10 to 12 pages showing us how her wedding is going to look and be like. She designed everything from scratch, from her logo on the invite to the graphic design, personalising each and every drink at the wedding, the shape of pillow cushions, and the list went on!
Moreover, her father was so nice that he never said no to a single demand of his daughter. Whatever she asked for, he made that happen. But she did not ask for anything bizarre. She wasn’t one of those bridezillas. She was a very kind-hearted, humble human being; very humble in all her requests. Her conduct in the meetings with everyone was super nice. It’s just that she was a visionary. Plain and simple, she had a vision and worked towards it. I think it goes without saying that our team really enjoyed that wedding. She was inspirational and made my job easier in the process.
Do you ever get the chance to step back and embrace it all after all the initial planning and work is completed?
You know, we appreciate our position when the client appreciates us. When the client is telling us and our team, “You are a guest, you need to come and dance. You need to ensure that your team is enjoying it as much as our invited guests,” that is when we can take it all in. In one of the weddings we did, our team was entering the pool party we worked on, and we had to ring the bell for the champagne and another bell for a tequila shot. One of the hosts was standing there and made sure that all five of us were going to do a shot and then enter the party. There were also some highly rated artists coming and performing for us, like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
We felt our being there was appreciated. Usually, it’s the people living in Western countries who appreciate our job more. But this was a family from Mumbai and Delhi, so it’s very, very rare the amount of love that we received from them.
They’re not ignorant about this business and sympathise by understanding how challenging this job can be. Their kindness was not expected, but when they gave it to us, we were really happy, elated, and loved it! And if there is another opportunity for us to do another wedding for them, we will do it over and over again. Even if it is not being done locally, if it’s happening internationally, we’ll make it happen.
What’s the latest trend in weddings that you’re absolutely loving right now?
Nowadays, social media is a huge part of wedding events, capturing the right moments of the bride and groom, and the guests is a must. At the same time, capturing all the stress of setting up the event venues, the behind-the-scenes, and so on, is also part of that trend. So, I think this is a trend that shows not only the beautiful side of it, but also all the haphazard, stressful, panicked, or happy moments behind the scenes to make a wedding event successful. This makes us appreciate everyone’s job and how tirelessly people are working towards making dream weddings.
Another trend is personalising each and every wedding event with the couple’s trademark. Hosting a wedding for 200-300 guests is quite standard, but how do you ensure those same guests return home talking about the experience for years to come? When everything is customised and there’s a trademark of the bride, groom, and their families, the guests have something personal to take with them. Be it gift hampers, the curated food menu, or the rooms they stay in, these memorable moments are more lasting and have a deeper meaning. That unique touch to each event can last a lifetime. Additionally, big weddings are not happening as much, so they are smaller, and in turn, make it easier to customise each occasion.
What is one piece of advice you would give to a couple planning their wedding?
When you want to apply your unique touch to your wedding, you need a professional on board with the planning. We’ve planned for couples from all walks of life, with different customs and requirements, and it’s important to have a guide that helps you invest your money in the right places and things, assists you in overcoming hurdles, and is adaptable to your needs. Life is so much easier when you hire a reputable wedding planner and team. Once all that planning is done from the hands of experts or professionals, you can come to the wedding and actually enjoy it, rather than stress over every little detail and miss out on the beauty that is your wedding day. Make the most out of those three or four days you have with your family and friends.