All In The Planning - Ultimate Wedding Planner's Raj Somaiya
The Ultimate Wedding Planner’s Raj Somaiya shares his wealth of wisdom on planning a dream wedding
Raj Somaiya is an esteemed events architect and CEO of Silverfox Events, a business that's dominated the global events industry and led him to manage events in Dubai, Bali and Paris. Raj specialises in high-profile weddings for people of all faiths and is famous for his groundbreaking design ideas and bespoke creations as well as for his role as a judge on BBC2's The Ultimate Wedding Planner. Having crafted himself as a spokesperson for the industry, he's also featured on The Apprentice: You're Fired, hosted by Tom Allen, showing off not only his expertise, but also his brilliant sense of humour and immaculate dress sense!
Raj also owns a restaurant called GupShup in Hale, which translated from Hindi, means chit-chat or gossip. It's one of the best known and most popular Indian resturants in the North West, being one of Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury's favourites. Raj runs both businesses with Sheetal, his wife of 30 years, and they live happily with Raj's father and their three children in Hale, Cheshire.
County Wedding Magazines' Kelly Andrews caught up with Raj recently to find out more about his life and career so far, as well as seeking some top tips just for you.
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What inspired you to become a wedding planner? I fell into this job from the beautiful card shops we had, before venturing into helium balloons, which we were the first company to do in the North West in 1987. We then opened a wedding flower business to complement the balloons. Soon, I realised my love for weddings and events and decided to move into full event management.
Once armed with a budget and brief, where do you start bringing an event to life? The most important link in the chain is the venue, so this is what we'd concentrate on first. Architecturally, once the venue has been chosen, everything else can be built around it. Start with a blank sheet and everything is possible.
Tell us about the most lavish wedding you've ever planned. This would have to be the Dubai event, which was executed at the Pavilion in front of the Burj Khalifa for 300 guests outdoors, including 40 artists from Italy, florist designers from France, and Craig David who played at the secret nightclub in the Armani. It was a wicked event.
What's your proudest achievement so far? I have two! Organising an insane event at the Opera Garnier in Paris, and being given a role as a judge on The Ultimate Wedding Planner.
Why is enlisting the help of a wedding planner so important? There are so many reasons! The main ones though are a stress-free wedding day from having an expert on your side to choose the right suppliers at the right budget; and overall advice from someone when you have questions or concerns about your wedding day and even your family.
What differences are you seeing in the weddings you're planning since Covid as opposed to before? The main difference is the number of guests, which has been reduced dramatically. There's also an extreme amount of personalisation along with a massive focus on a great guest experience.
It's easy to make an intimate day with a small guest list every bit as special as something more lavish with hundreds of guests. You just need to pay more attention to individuals and their needs, to make sure they have a fabulous day. Consider things like personalised information such as the drinks they like, what food they love so you can cater to all their needs.
I also feel guests become more engaged and involved with the formalities of a wedding like cake cutting and speeches. You don't get anyone chatting in the back row! I think it's essential to keep all the traditions of a wedding as these are the highlights in enhancing the guest experience and are integral parts of the day. However, this doesn't mean that you can't do them in a different order or another way to make it more exciting and fun for yourselves and your guests.
Our readers are all eagerly planning their big days at the moment! What key advice can you offer to help them out along the way? Get a good wedding planner! It's the secret of a successful wedding day. Some of the most important aspects of organising a wedding though are keeping it simple. For example, please look at the logistics of travel for the family and guests, is there parking available? What is the distance from the family home to the venue? The whole travel time from start to finish needs to be super-seamless. Next, and this is an absolute must, have a contingency for rain. You can't deal with this on the day. Yes, you can plan outdoor events and weddings, but contingency must be put in place as the weather can destroy your wedding day if it hasn't. Finally, try not to experience too much as this can cause an immense amount of stress on the day.
When judging on The Ultimate Wedding Planner, what are you looking for in the competitors? What makes a great wedding planner? Dealing with situations under pressure is a telling sign of a great wedding planner, as is having a logistical brain and being able to flow chart the day including supplier schedules, and the de-rig. And then, overall personality; being able to smile and look confident when it all hits the fan.
What's next for you and Silverfox Events? We aim to become much more of a global events company, executing amazing weddings worldwide and all celebrations and cooperates. We recently changed our website to reflect this and are very excited about the launch this year of our Dubai office, which should catapult us into Asia and Middle Eastern countries (we still have America as our next challenge).
Find out more at www.silverfoxevents.com. You can follow Raj on Instagram at @rajsomaiyaofficial
