With over two and a half decades in the events industry, Arpita Gandhi has played a key role in shaping design-led and process-driven celebrations in India. After building her foundation in large-scale corporate events, she co-founded Weddingline and brought structured planning and refined aesthetics into the luxury wedding space.
Celebrated for her attention to detail and distinctive floral storytelling, Gandhi treats every event as an immersive visual narrative. Today, she is also championing environmentally conscious practices and promoting local arts and crafts through destination weddings. In this interview, she shares her insights on industry evolution, experience design, sustainability, and the future of modern weddings.
As Co-Founder and Director of Weddingline, how have you seen the Indian wedding and event landscape evolve over the last two decades?
I come from a corporate events background and started in 1999, when the events industry was barely recognised. People didn’t really understand what events or experiential marketing meant. Advertising was dominant, but below-the-line and experiential formats were still emerging.
Over the years, I’ve seen the space evolve from being unheard of to becoming a fully recognised industry. Today, especially in weddings, we intersect with multiple sectors of the economy — design, hospitality, travel, fashion, technology and more. Wedding planning is now seen as a serious profession and even a sought-after career choice. That formal recognition and structural maturity have been beautiful to witness.
You began with large-scale corporate events before moving into weddings. What key operational or creative principles carried over into luxury wedding planning?
Corporate events taught us systems, processes, and structural discipline. We learned cue sheets, safety protocols, space planning, guest movement, crisis management, and contingency planning. From stage construction to emergency preparedness — everything had to be thought through.
When we moved into weddings, those learnings helped formalise planning. Earlier, weddings were largely handled by decorators and tent providers without structured planning. We brought in process, layouts, guest flow design, Plan B scenarios, and risk preparedness. Today, clients can relax because everything — from medical emergencies to weather disruptions , is pre-planned. That operational backbone came directly from corporate events.
Your work is known for strong aesthetic detailing and floral storytelling. How do you translate a client’s vision into a cohesive spatial and visual narrative?
For me, design is successful when it creates an emotional connection. A space should make guests feel something , nostalgia, joy, warmth, excitement. Beauty and aesthetics are a given, but emotional engagement is the true marker of experiential design.
For example, for a young couple who loved traveling with friends, we created a personalised postcard wall using their real memories. Each guest picked a postcard with a personal note from the couple and replaced it with a new memory created at the event. It became interactive, nostalgic, and deeply personal and guests still talk about it months later. That emotional loop is what we aim for.
Weddings today are becoming more experience-driven rather than format-driven. What does “experience design” mean to you in modern wedding planning?
Experience design is about connection and participation. If guests can touch, feel, interact, and emotionally connect with what they see, the design has worked. It’s not just visual , it’s sensory and emotional.
Personalisation plays a huge role. The more tailored the experience is to the couple’s story and personality, the deeper the engagement from guests.
Sustainability is becoming a central conversation in events. What practical steps can wedding planners realistically take to make celebrations more environmentally responsible?
Sustainability is not only about carbon footprint , it’s also about cultural sustainability. Of course, we should reduce plastic, manage waste better, and recycle flowers and materials. But beyond that, supporting local artisans and craftspeople is also sustainability.
For instance, if I work with Banarasi weavers to create fabric elements for décor, I’m sustaining livelihoods and culture. When we integrate craft meaningfully into design and share its story with guests, we create both environmental and cultural value. Small steps , consistently taken, create larger movements.
How can planners integrate local art, craft, and regional culture into wedding design without making it feel tokenestic ?
It requires research and active collaboration. During our R&D time, we study local crafts and communities. When working at certain destinations, we engage nearby artisans , block printers, potters, jutti makers, fabric craftsmen and co-create elements with them.
Sometimes we guide them with new material or formats while respecting their skill. Integration should be thoughtful and functional, not decorative tokenism. When design and skill are truly married, it becomes authentic and trend-setting.
What are the biggest logistical or creative challenges planners face today compared to a decade ago — and how should new planners prepare?
The biggest challenge today is overexposure to social media and AI-generated visuals. Many AI concepts are not practically executable, yet clients expect real spaces to look exactly like generated images. Technology is useful, but it can cloud judgment.
There is also a risk of young planners relying too heavily on tools rather than experience and mentorship. Weddings are emotional and people-driven , they cannot be fully engineered like machines. New planners should balance tech use with on-ground learning and industry experience.
With rising client awareness and social media inspiration boards, how do you balance originality with client expectations and trends?
In our office, we follow a strict practice , no phones or laptops during initial concept development. Designers first sketch and ideate on paper based on the brief. Only after that do we look at references.
Social media is great for inspiration, but blind copy-paste is not design. Every client, budget, and venue is different. Even if two people like the same element , say candles , how they are used can be entirely different. Originality comes from interpretation and context. Listening deeply to the client is also essential because every couple has a vision, even if they can’t fully articulate it at first.
Looking ahead, what shifts do you foresee in destination weddings and culturally immersive celebrations in India and globally?
Weddings are becoming more intimate and segmented. Earlier, guest counts were driven by parental social circles and large numbers. Now couples are taking more decisions themselves and prioritising closeness and quality.
We’re seeing celebrations split into multiple smaller events , a destination pre-wedding with friends, a formal ceremony, and separate celebrations for extended family. Weddings are becoming more personalised, more experiential, and spread out over time instead of one large continuous gathering.
