Say ‘I do’ with Manori

Saturday, 15 November 2014 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Excitement and happiness aside, planning out a wedding can be a very nerve-wracking experience for a couple or their family. From planning out the decor to the wedding gown, wedding cake, food, music, invitation cards, photography, the list of things to do is endless and right up to the last moment, there will inevitably be little bits and pieces to attend to, little disagreements, lots of running around and even fights.

The emergence of wedding planners has brought relief to many a bride and groom. Wedding planners lift the load off our shoulders as they can make all the right connections – they know where to go for the best caterers, photographers, gowns and everything else. The trick is in finding the right wedding planner! The Weekend FT met up with ‘I – Do’ Founder Manori Perukanda, an event planner with a deep passion for weddings. She works tirelessly, paying attention to the most minute detail, to make sure that she gives the perfect little ‘dream wedding’ for each and every one of her customers. Prior to taking up this career, she had been working in various companies for over six years, in jobs that had no similarity to what she is doing now. When asked how this colossal shift took place, she said: “Before this I have worked as a Marketing Executive, a Shipping Executive and an IT Executive but all this while I had the passion for weddings. I’ve always dreamed of being a fashion designer but somehow it didn’t happen. I wanted to be a fashion designer so I can create beautiful wedding dresses – that’s what I wanted. Since I couldn’t do that, I got involved in planning weddings. It’s all about weddings actually – I love weddings – that’s the thing. So that’s how my love story starts.” “Though we started this about two-and-a-half years back, I was able to plan only 10 events so far because I got pregnant three months after starting, so I couldn’t work. I didn’t give up however; I gave birth in June 2013 and waited till my baby was a little older and then I started it this year in May. I did my first wedding (planning + decor) on 17 May, which had a beach theme,” she added.

Events and sleepless nights

“I like to get involved in small events and parties rather than in huge events because when it comes to huge corporate events I can’t be more creative as we have to work on budgets, etc. I would like to get small parties so I can get more creative and use a lot of stuff,” she said. She does the entire decor herself but outsources the cake, food, bridal gown and grooming. The amount of time the preparation takes depends on the kind of function it is. “For the latest wedding that I did, it took a whole three months; there were four or five sleepless nights and no meals for days,” she said. In addition to the weddings, she has done a few other events like birthday parties, a corporate event and even a ‘hen’ night, all of which she also enjoys though weddings are her passion! “I love detailing the decor. If it’s a kids’ birthday party, I create bottle tags, straw flags, napkin rings, birthday banners, backdrops, sweetie table and all sorts of things – by myself – I don’t have anyone working for me. “Recently I covered a Lanka Hospitals annual get-together. There were 100 tables. Normally the decor people just display a vase, light candles, etc., but for this event I dressed the cylinder up with glaze, buckles, ribbon, etc., so they really liked it.”

Biggest strength behind the scene

“My biggest strength behind the scene is my loving husband! He has helped me a lot and he’s the one who’s behind this. When it comes to the business part – actually starting it – he’s the one who encouraged me by creating a facebook page and promoting it,” she said. This way, with him handling the business and marketing area, she can just focus on the decor and planning, which is all she’s interested in. When planning the events, though she does practically everything herself, she gets solid back-up from her family when things get overwhelming. “When preparing for an event, if there are 20-30 tables, most of the time I do it by myself and even with 20-30 tables, for each table I make around 200-300 napkin rings! However, if there are more than 50, 60 or 100 tables, my family helps me.” “It’s not easy but it’s so interesting – when you love doing what you do,” she added. I – Do also designs birthday albums. “We have a photography package where we give a pre-birthday or wedding shoot for free if they’re going with our third package. My husband’s hobby is photography so all my events are covered by him. He also helps with the invitation cards. I design it first then I get the art work done by him. It then goes to the printer. Finally I attach pearls, lace, ribbons, etc. according to the theme. This takes a lot of time,” she said.

Vintage wedding

Manori is particularly proud of the latest wedding that she planned – a vintage wedding. Showing some samples of the decor work that she had prepared for the wedding, she explained, “This took me three-and-a-half days.” She was referring to a little piece of lace cut to the shape of a bridal gown and another, the shape of a groom’s suit, both in miniature sizes. “These are for the champagne glasses – I did it for the head table – it was so pretty on the head table!” she exclaimed with pride. “It was a very low budget wedding but it was the best wedding I ever did! There were so many details – I used jam jars, bottles and other stuff. Also this had 15 different centrepiece set-ups whereby for each table there was a different centrepiece. I also did the invitations and bouquets. That’s why I said I love to get involved in small events and parties where I can do a lot of creative stuff. This was the latest wedding – it is one of my favourites,” she said.

Future plans

At the moment she does her work from home; she dreams of setting up her work in a studio so the customers can see for themselves what she has to offer. “After planning weddings for a while I thought to myself that I should do something on my own to make the weddings more beautiful and magical. One day I want to have my own studio, to make all sorts of unique decor creations like themed napkin rings, chair ties with catches, table runners and place cards. “I want to create new set-ups for weddings such as couple tables, family tables and cake tables – things that are not generally highlighted at weddings here but have great potential in terms of adding magic to the ceremony. I’m also looking forward to introducing proper window dressings to shops and shopping malls,” she said. She plans to display each sample of her decor – if the customers want a vintage wedding, they can see that particular section in her studio where she displays the kind of decor she offers for that particular type of wedding, including the varieties: “For the vintage theme, we have vintage themed napkin ring sample: 1, napkin ring sample: 2 ….. they can have three choices,” she explained. Likewise if it’s a beach theme, she displays accordingly. “The other thing I want do is private romantic dinner set-ups!” she said and finally spoke of her admiration of famous fashion brands like Burberry London, Louis Vuitton and Coco Chanel and added, “I guess it will be a revolutional change if I get a chance to do these here in Sri Lanka.”