Shot by sephi bergerson at the leela palace udaipur
The
Wedding
Special
Inside: India’s most in-demand
wedding purveyors, the evolution
of the bandhgala, the perfect
bridal trousseau, and dream
weddings at the Leela hotels
Winter 2013 – The Leela Magazine
49
Wedding Special
The Dream
Weavers
Meet the
specialists
who turn a
wedding
into a fairytale affair.
By Aekta Kapoor
I
t takes two to wed, but it takes a set of professionals to
make a marriage event magical. Here, then, is a look at some
of the country’s most in-demand wedding purveyors. If some
of these specialists ensure that the décor bespeaks opulence,
there are others who capture on camera the joie de vivre of the
occasion. If some of them are luxury florists, there are others
who are makeup artists par excellence.
Sephi Bergerson | FotoWala Photography
Wedding and documentary photographer
From the shores of Kanyakumari, in south India, to Dar es
Salaam, in Tanzania, Tel Aviv-born photographer Sephi
Bergerson has traversed thousands of miles capturing beaming
couples against awe-inspiring backdrops. After spending a
considerable number of years in commercial photography,
Bergerson, along with his family, moved to India in 2002, to
foray into documentary photography. He began specialising
Begerson has shot
weddings at
The Leela Palace Bangalore
(left) and The Leela Palace
Udaipur (above)
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The Leela Magazine – Winter 2013
in wedding photography in 2007. “I’d then just completed
one book, Street Food of India, and was invited by a friend to
shoot her sister’s wedding, at The Leela Kovalam (in Kerala),”
says the 48-year-old about his first wedding assignment. “The
Winter 2013 – The Leela Magazine
51
Wedding Special
Meher Sarid, who is one of the
most famous wedding planners
in the country.
Brought up in an Army
household,
Delhi-based
Sarid
worked for several years in the
hospitality and airline industries.
In 1998, she joined her husband,
Sunny Sarid, an award-winning
DJ
and
restaurateur,
in
his
entertainment firm, Sound of
Music, and proposed the idea
of venturing into theme-based
events.
The
division,
which
started out organising social and
corporate events, now specialises
Meher Sarid has handled weddings of a
slew of celebrities, from director Farah
Khan to cricketer Gautam Gambhir
in weddings.
Soon after, Sarid launched
Flowers Etc, which does floral
backdrops
for
weddings
as
idea of Indian weddings became the subject of my next book,
well as events, and, then, Wedding Art, a design company
which now, six years and lots of weddings later, is complete.”
that creates magical backdrops for weddings. Taking all the
Goa-based Bergerson, who has photographed marriages
companies together, you can say that Sarid and her husband
of a multitude of Indian traditions, finds their sheer variety
offer 360-degree wedding planning services. If all that is
baffling and dazzling. “That’s the fascinating thing — when
not impressive enough, Sarid also runs Dream Weavers,
someone asks me to describe one element that’s common to
a consultancy firm for luxury commercial and residential
Indian weddings, I have no explanation,” he says. Bergerson
interior design.
says many of his clients have been NRIs and foreign couples
Ambika Pillai | Ambika Pillai Salons
who’ve had their destination weddings in the country.
Makeup artist and salon-chain owner
Meher Sarid |
Wedding Art,
Flowers Etc,
Sound of Music
During the wedding season in Delhi, it’s not a surprising
Theme designer and
and sari-tying done. Perhaps
wedding planner
India’s greatest success story
The Bachchans and the
in
royalty of Gwalior trust
started operations 18 years
her to conceptualise the
ago, and now owns eight
themes for their family
salons across Delhi, Gurgaon
weddings;
and
Gautam
hired
her
industrialists
to
plan
or
his
celebrities
nuptials.
want
South Extension studio to
get their makeup, hairdo
cricketer
Gambhir,
Indeed,
to
sight to find dozens of brides-to-be flocking to Ambika Pillai’s
plan
The Leela Magazine – Winter 2013
A
Pillai
three-hour
session at one of her studios
top
means the bride is bound to
wedding
look, not merely good, but
extravaganza, it’s a good bet that they will approach
52
Kochi.
makeup,
too,
when
a
bridal
stunningly beautiful.
Wedding Special
“Brides these days want to stay closer to their own
skin tones. That’s quite a relief. It’s nice to do cleaner, softer
makeups rather than do over-the-top makeups that most
brides opted for in yesteryears,” says Pillai.
Vikaas Gutgutia | Ferns N Petals
Designer Weddings
Luxury florists and
decorators
Florist Ferns N Petals (FNP),
which started off in Delhi,
in 1994, now has outlets
in 65 cities and delivers in
150 countries. But the firm,
founded by Vikaas Gutgutia,
also has a designer wedding
Ambika Pillai’s
Kochi salon was
inaugurated by
Sushmita Sen
events division, which, over
the last decade or so, has
partnered
with
globally-
acclaimed names such as JJ
Valaya, Tarun Tahiliani, the New-York based Preston Bailey,
floral designer Harijanto Setiawan, who’s the founder of
Singapore-based Boenga Flower Design, and more. “These
people come with an expertise in design and décor. After they
conceptualise the aesthetics, FNP works as the production
house. So, the execution of the colour scheme, theme, layout
“This year, we’re shooting
on a giraffe farm, in
a Turkish palace and
on a remote island off
Thailand,” says Chowdhary
and the placement of props and accessories are done by FNP
Weddings,” says Gutgutia. About 20 per cent of the firm’s
many films, cinematographer and special effects expert Vishal
wedding assignments are either designer or luxury weddings
Punjabi and scriptwriter and producer Zara Chowdhary
— that is to say, highly customised affairs. “The time
found their true calling in 2010. After the couple’s wedding
constraints in people’s lives have become a chief driver for the
video went viral online, their friends wanted the duo to now
shoot their wedding videos. Since then, The Wedding Filmer
wedding planning sector.”
has created an average of 15 films a year, each with a four-
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The Leela Magazine – Winter 2013
Vishal Punjabi and
Zara Chowdhary |
The Wedding Filmer
minute trailer. “We have shot at the most beautiful and bizarre
Wedding
their own. This year, we’re shooting on a giraffe farm, in a
cinematographers and
forest clearing, in a Turkish palace and on a remote island off
filmmakers
Thailand,” says Chowdhary.
locations under the sun. Some people have backyards that spell
warmth; some have had weddings in palaces that are actually
Everyone dreams to star in
But extravagant shoots come with their share of challenges.
their own movie, and The
For instance, during one of the firm’s recent assignments, at
Wedding Filmer allows to
The Leela Palace Udaipur, two crew members got injured while
you do just that. Having
recording with the chopper camera. “The hotel staff came to
worked at Shah Rukh Khan’s
our rescue and arranged for all the transport, even looking
Red Chillies Entertainment on
after our equipment,” says Chowdhary.
Wedding Special
Bergerson’s very first wedding photography
assignment was at The Leela Kovalam
Vivek Sahni | Vivek Sahni Design
firm do is crafting intricate and ornate bespoke wedding cards
Graphic artist and wedding invite designer
— your wedding invite thus becomes memorabilia. Using one-
An alumnus of the New-York-based Parsons The New School
of-a-kind stationary, from laser-cut paper that mimics lace to
for Design, Vivek Sahni has
faux-leather boxes, Sahni might create a collage of the family
created graphics for quite a
heirloom or anything else that the client fancies. “Recently,
few fashion names — among
a bride kept raving about her Paithani saree (known for its
others, Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit
intricate weave of pure silk and gold), so I decided to use it as
Bal and Malini Ramani —
an element in the card design,” he says. Till not too long back,
as also for a slew of big
his wedding cards had been very ‘in-your-face’: with large
companies,
and
bags and elaborate boxes overwhelming the actual invite. “Of
Apollo Tyres. He has also
late, though, clients have been asking for invites that focus on
managed events for luxury
design and content rather than size.”
like
DLF
brands such as Fendi and
Gucci. But an even more
The author is the editor of Wedding Vows magazine. Contact:
interesting thing he and his
[email protected]
Vivek Sahni crafts intricate and ornate bespoke wedding cards
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The Leela Magazine – Winter 2013