Candice Pereira, Creative head and Co-founder of Marry Me Wedding Planners shares her experiences, thrills and joys of working with about-to-be married couples and making their wedding day a memorable event.
Tell us a little about your tryst with wedding planning:
My parents have been in the wedding business for the last 25 years. I have seen so many weddings all through my growing up days that understanding client expectations, attention to detail, organizational skills and creativity come to me naturally. I even used to plan wedding of my friends. One day after a chat with Jarret D'Abreo (co-founder and partner, Marry Me), we decided to start Marry Me - The Wedding Planners.
Share with us your most memorable wedding experience.
There was a wedding in which some members of the bride’s immediate family couldn't be there due to various reasons. The bride was of course, devastated. We live streamed the wedding and the joy and smile it brought to her face was the most memorable moment for us! :)
What was the experience of planning the first ever wedding?
Our first wedding was very interesting. The couple was getting married in 15 days and they had done nothing for the wedding. The groom had the responsibility of planning the whole wedding. We decided to do the wedding as we all felt very sorry for this groom that had nothing done 15 days before the wedding. It turned out to be an amazing experience. The Wedding went extremely well and we had to work on 6 different functions for this family in 15 days. They were extremely happy!
Tell us about the team at Marry Me.
Our core team is 12 members who have backgrounds such as hospitality, events, food and beverage, art and more. We have top experts in every aspect of the business. The passion for weddings inspires our team to create magical wedding.
How do you make sure that the bride, groom and their family feel a part of the planning process?
By hiring a wedding planner, you can choose to be as much or as little involved as you wish. We always suggest that couples and/or their families get involved in the process to make the wedding personalized and unique.
What can go wrong with the planning or execution of a perfect wedding? How does Mary Me take care of the hitches or avoids them?
Lots of things can go wrong! It’s but natural when orchestrating one of the biggest events of your life. We of course, do it all the time – so we have back up plans in case of emergency. Let’s just say we have a lot of people on speed dial!
What, according to you, is the ideal budget for the colloquial ‘Big, Fat, Indian’ Wedding?
It totally depends on the client’s budget. We have executed fabulous weddings in good budgets and in extremely huge budgets too. Of course, the sky is the limit with any budget.
Trends on the Indian wedding scenario:
Nowadays, we are seeing more of smaller, intimate celebrations and destination weddings. Couples are playing an active role in their wedding planning and selection of various details for their wedding.
The most enjoyable part of your work:
Working with couples and their families for months on end and then finally on the day, seeing it all play out and the look of joy on their faces. We just look forward to clients say that they had the best time ever at their own and they would like to do it again.
Why Marry Me? Three reasons:
About the Company