Nuptial Crafter

It happened purely by chance. After her first job at an export house, Anika Dhawan realised that she wanted to work in the creative field, but had no clue about what she really wanted. “When I joined the Wedding Design Company it gave me the thrill I was looking for,” says the 26-year-old who subsequently started Rani Pink, a wedding company that organises everything from tents to customised props, packaging and invites.

When Anika quit her second job, she was “just planning to work on design props and the smaller details of wedding design but in two months, the Nehras called and gave me my first break. That’s how Rani Pink was born. It’s a colour used at every Indian wedding. The name was distinctive and suited our style and aesthetics.”

Anika gets instant gratification when she sees her designs that are conceptualised over months, executed in a day or two. She has recently designed the weddings of Delhi A-listers, Sidharth Suri and Satvika Saboo, Neha and Saurabh Rateria, Adnan Kidwai and Anchal Chopra, Bikram Singh and Misha Nestor, Smita Khanna and Nikhil Mathew. The job isn’t so easy. “The number of people you have to constantly keep satisfied – from the smallest vendor in Chandni Chowk to every member in the family – can be taxing.”

Anika agrees that people have now become more experimental. “Themes are big. One can bring in a lot of wow factors to make a statement at weddings.” So how does this eccentric planner envision her own wedding? “It’s going to be very small with lots of colour and detailing!”