Tiger Shroff performing at the launch of Shaadi by Marriott Bonvoy | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Eighty kilograms of silk flowers, 52 lanterns, Karan Johar with his witty repertoire, Shiamak Davar’s dancers with lit props that look like fireflies moving in a rhythmic pattern, and Tiger Shroff doing his signature moves .
Over the weekend, the lawns of JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar re-launched Shaadi by Marriott Bonvoy Re-Imagined, an end to end wedding service solution, with an event they like to call “The Biggest Sangeet of the Year”. We do. While no actual wedding was taking place, it was Marriott Bonvoy’s way of showing what they were capable of hosting if their clients were willing to marry with them.
South Asia Marriott International Inc. Khushnuma Kapadia, Senior Area Director, Marketing, Key says, “Weddings are a very important business segment for us. 12% of their revenue came from wedding-related events last year. The wedding market is currently witnessing a recovery rate which is the highest since the pandemic. He further added, “The last two quarters of FY2022 have been extremely promising considering the spike we have seen.”
Karan Johar was the master of ceremonies
“Planning weddings can be stressful for families and with our services they can leave it to us and enjoy the festivities,” says Khushnuma. Each hotel has a wedding specialist. With a list of services that extends from menu curation, beauty rituals, entertainment, decor, and even honeymoons, the Marriott is no longer just a venue today. “We take care of the little things. For example, if a family is conservative and has dietary restrictions, their King Come and cook in our kitchen,” she adds.
From exchanging vows on the beach to intimate ceremonies in the hills, they’ve organized it all. The St. Regis, Goa and Mumbai, JW Marriott, Mussoorie, Sheraton, Indore, W, Goa are some of the popular properties for destination weddings. “We have 138 hotels and resorts in India,” says Khushnuma. Now this curated wedding service will be available in more destinations with new hotels and resorts coming up in various locations including the Himalayas, Shillong and Coorg.
The world is constantly changing and everything is evolving, wedding trends also go through upheavals. The wedding team keeps up with these changes, be it in the culinary department or the bridal wear. There are experiments and innovations that happen in the home as well. “At launch, we had a never-before-seen dessert bar that was completely decorated with hanging lights,” she says. As for the food menu, while guests got to sample global cuisine, what stood out was the Fermentation Lab (which featured “gut-friendly” dishes made with technology using 2% lacto fermentation and kimchi) and the Eno-Vegan. which had unconventional flavors like Puran Poli Ice Cream, Sand-Pit Roast Potatoes, and Nitro Kharwas,