How did Weddingsutra.com happen? Tell us your origin story.

As an army kid I lived all over the country. I am originally from Tamil Nadu and the only entrepreneur in my family with everyone else opting for conventional careers. The year 2000 was a banner year for dotcom startups and I was excited about starting something that didn’t need a significant capital investment. Working in media, as I did back then, I could see that there was a lot of advertising interest in weddings but it was Madhulika who actually pushed me to quit my job. At her own wedding, she found that there was no one-stop resource for couples and their families to get all the information and inspiration they need to pull off a wedding. She was looking for a business partner from a similar background and felt that we could make a complementary team. The idea was to launch a website that would make this kind of content interesting, convenient and fun. And Weddingsutra.com was born!

Why did you decide on the digital medium at a time when it wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is today?

When we started, a lot of well-meaning friends, relatives and associates suggested that we consider wedding exhibitions, a matrimonial website or a print magazine but we felt that the future is really digital and being a part of the boom at its early stages could give us the first-mover advantage. It was great, of course, to realize that we were right and receive encouragement from brands that were excited about digital. Obviously, there were challenges at the time with things like Internet penetration, bandwidth and analytics. But we survived and I think the reason we’re still doing so well today is that we understand the medium a lot better than the many print companies that have gone digital now. I remember a time we were really popular in the US when most store owners, sari shops, jewelers and hotels didn’t have a significant presence online and the only place you could read about them would be on Weddingsutra.com.

Being in the business, you must attend many weddings. Could you recount some memorable ones?

My earliest memory of weddings would have to be the elai sapadu, which is Tamil for the feast served on a plantain leaf at weddings. I remember that it was all very interesting because the food was served in a particular order and it was fun to guess what would arrive next. As a child, I used to also enjoy weddings that happened at the army clubs. I remember one such wedding of the aide-de-camp (ADC) to the then President of India in Bareilly where the army band was playing and everyone followed strict protocol. Everything was impeccably organised and managed. More recently, I remember enjoying Esha Deol’s wedding, planned and executed by her superstar mum Hema Malini. It was a private celebration but one at which Bollywood superstars, politicians and other influential people were present.

What do you love most about your work?

The wedding industry is a people-driven industry and I am a people’s person so it’s a perfect match. I meet the most interesting, talented and hardworking people every day—photographers, designers, wedding planners, hoteliers… I love to see how each one contributes to turning someone’s dream into reality. Weddingsutra.com thrives on reader-generated content. What excites couples to share details and photos of their most special moments?

Almost 70 percent of our content is user-generated and it has always been that way. And in my experience over the last 18 years, very few couples have come back asking ‘What’s in it for us?’ For everybody, it’s the joy and thrill of being featured on their favourite website— something that has served as a bible for the last few months or close to a year of wedding planning.
What’s the one piece of advice you would give brides and grooms-to-be?

When it comes to weddings, couples tend to focus a lot on themselves and rightly so, but it’s always a good idea to respect the wishes of your parents, your in-laws to-be as well as your guests. The Indian wedding is a coming together of families and loved ones and it’s very easy to forget how many people are involved to make your big day special. With good wishes from all your loved ones and a ton of positive energy, your new life is bound to start on a high note! All images courtesy Parthip Thyagarajan and Facebook.com/Weddingsutra.com
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