‘Couples turn socially conscious with weddings’

CHENNAI: Wedding planners, Weddings and Marigolds Studio and Potok’s World Photography are ready to launch their joint venture on January 28 in the city.

The venture aims to make the experience unique and hassle-free. Chennai-based Mathangi Srinivasamurti’s Weddings and Marigolds was established in 2010. Being in the home décor and retail industry for a long time, she had developed a natural interest for decorations.

Identifying her skills, a longtime customer approached her and said he liked her design skills and wanted her to design the decorations for his daughter’s wedding. She took the challenge, fell in love with the excitement of planning weddings celebrations and hasn’t looked back since.

On the other hand, Anji Martin founded Potok’s World Photography in 2014, while her husband Pete Martin was still a diplomat in the US Foreign Service.

She started by taking pictures of pets, but eventually photographed a couple of weddings with some colleagues in Washington. She loved the challenge of documenting couples’ most treasured wedding-day memories and soon after began focusing almost exclusively on wedding photography.

Pete quit his job in 2015 and started helping Anji by carrying equipment, clicking pictures occasionally and eventually ended up joining Potok’s World Photography full-time.

Speaking to DT Next about how the collaboration happened, Mathangi says, “In 2022, Anji and Pete renewed their wedding vows in Chennai, the city in which they first met. In their search for a planner to help them put this event together, they got in touch with me.”

Anji continues, “Her impeccable sense of style was exactly what we were looking for. As we went through the process of planning the vow renewal, we also came to appreciate Mathangi’s efficiency, ultra-supportiveness and commitment to ensuring that the event was perfect. When we decided we wanted to start offering wedding photography services to couples in Chennai, Weddings and Marigolds was an obvious choice as a partner.”

Talking about how the wedding industry has changed over the years, Mathangi says, “One of the biggest changes that we’ve seen is the increased involvement of the bride and groom in the planning process. In the past, the parents did pretty much everything and took all the decisions. Nowadays, couples have insight in planning and designing their wedding.

“For example, the sangeet, which was previously not so popular in Tamil Nadu weddings, has become a big part of the event, because brides and grooms like the opportunity to celebrate and party with their friends.”

Potok’s world photography

She also says Pinterest has given brides and grooms the ability to do more research than in the past and so instead of approaching planners and asking them to plan everything from scratch, they already have a vision and ideas that they want them to bring to life.

Anji adds, “We’ve also seen more interest in eco-friendly or more socially conscious weddings. Some couples prefer, for example, that their wedding have no plastic bottles or that everything should be biodegradable. Others request that the decorations be sourced locally or that the gifts support charitable causes.”

Divulging on what people can expect from the joint venture, Anji says the collaboration will offer a comprehensive, one-stop-shopping solution for couples who are planning their wedding in South India. Between Weddings and Marigolds and Potok’s World Photography, they can get planning, decor, music, photography and videography all in one place. By getting everything they need for their marriage celebrations under one roof, they can cut their planning time way down and minimize their stress level.

Talking about what they are looking forward to from the launch, Pete says, “We’re excited to introduce this new collaboration to the South Indian wedding market and hopefully, leave couples who are planning their weddings with a better understanding of what sets us apart from the rest.”