As the two-day wedding expo came to an end in Karachi, Instep spoke to the brains behind the idea.
With the idea of making a bride’s wedding dream come true, The Wedding Atelier brought together some of the most renowned names from the Pakistani wedding industry under one roof.
The wedding expo, organized by Sara Chapra of Carbon Events, offered a luxury wedding guide to all brides and grooms-to-be and featured 25 categories including beauty, jewellery design, invitation cards, décor, bridal and apparel, interior designing, and photography among others.
“The whole idea behind The Wedding Atelier was to build a brand where the big names of the Pakistani wedding industry came forward to make a bride’s wedding dreams come true,” Sara Chapra told Instep on the sidelines of the event.
“We wanted to create a space where a bride and groom could find everything that a couple actually needs to pull off a dream wedding. You’d find everything here; event planners, makeup artists, jewelry designers, flower arrangements, props, bridal outfits, photographers along with interior designers for those who are planning to set up their new place,” she added.
According to the event planning maestro, this wedding expo wasn’t organised for the sake of monetary gains. In fact, the idea was to bring the entire wedding industry together to turn a couple’s special day into a fairytale wedding.
“I feel that we have achieved so much that it is our time to give back as an industry,” said Sara.
The two-day event also provided an opportunity for the brides-to-be to meet and get expert advice. “When a couple is getting married, they have so much to plan and everything is so expensive these days. So, through The Wedding Atelier, we aim to solve all their wedding woes by connecting them with some of the most popular wedding experts from Karachi and Lahore.”
Speaking about the response they received, Sara shared that it has been overwhelming and that she hopes to take this forward and eventually turn it into an annual wedding expo that brides and grooms would look forward to each year.
When asked about the target market that they are aiming at, she revealed, “Actually these days, brides-to-be know exactly what they want, especially because of exposure to social media. Hence, we asked everyone who is a part of the event to give the brides hefty discounts because they are the ones who believed in the concept and took the trouble to come so they should be able to afford everything.”
As for what she plans to do next, Sara informed that she is looking forward to My Big Fat Karachi Wedding, which is about making the impossible possible for a special couple. The winner of the digital competition, My Big Fat Karachi Wedding, was announced before the event came towards a close.
“The winner (a couple) was chosen after a number of brides and groom-to-be sent video testimonials on why they deserve to win it. We were looking for a couple that is happy, hardworking and who didn’t want to spend their parent’s money on their big day,” Sara shared.
“We are doing a complimentary wedding for this couple – where Natasha salon will be doing the makeup, while Sana Safinaz will be giving the bridal outfit and some of the best in the business will be doing the decor and photography etc.,” she said on a parting note.
