Shruti Tiwari speaks on how the pandemic has affected the wedding industry in Goa and how she has managed to plan weddings in these trying times.
Shruti Tiwari, a well known name in the Goan wedding planning space, says “A wedding is not just about the event. It’s about working towards someone’s dreams and making sure everything is right when they take their first step to a new beginning.
“Event planning has helped me grow and has also helped me find my calling as a wedding planner early on in life,” she says.
Shruti, founder of VLW Global has handled numerous projects, personally planned, executed and attended so many weddings, which brings her immense joy and makes each wedding a memorable event for her and the couple.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 has thrown a spanner in the works for every couple who were planning their dream wedding. The big-fat-Indian-wedding has become leaner, having to adapt to the new normal.
With various stages of Unlocking in the country, weddings have begun taking place, with a ceiling on the number of guests one is permitted to invite.
Shruti shares her views on the impact of the pandemic on various planned events and wedding. “With Covid-19 being a novel virus everyone was extremely skeptical about hosting events / weddings for the longest time. We had weddings in April and May 2020 which were postponed or the families decided to go in for an intimate wedding at home. The events industry definitely suffered big losses.” During the lockdown, Shruti was glad to take a break from work as she was able to spend a lot of time at home with her son. She dabbled in a little bit of cooking and took up, all the things that she would otherwise find herself too busy to do in everyday life. She consciously worked parallel in other businesses, too. Shruti speaks on the outlook of her business with the opening up of hotels in Goa. “As hotels open in Goa and welcome tourism with all the rules, regulations and precautions in place, we look forward to having destination weddings taking place again. There’s no doubt that the celebrations will be smaller and more intimate but we have already started getting enquiries for November December 2020 weddings and we look forward to a good season. There is a change in the mindset of guests / clients but I really feel it’s going to pick up surely!”
Regarding the destination wedding market, Shruti feels that the market will pick up slowly and gradually, but considering so many post COVID regulations, she feels that there will be considerable change in the way weddings will be planned, henceforth.
Shruti’s company VLW Global is now almost 4 years in the market and running quiet strong. She says that the best part of her company is that they had been planning intimate weddings for long. “We work very closely focussing on the smallest details! We have consciously worked on special packages considering the ongoing pandemic; and we have got a good response for the same!” Business may be down due to the virus and high taxes being levied may discourage people, but the picture of Goa as a great wedding destination remains and that will be a great source of comfort and happiness to all in the wedding business
