Luxury weddings may look effortless, but behind every viral celebrity celebration lies months of planning, countless last-minute decisions, and even “plans B, C, and D” that guests may never see. That’s how wedding planner Devanshi Patel, founder and creative director, Shreem Events, describes India’s leading luxury wedding industry.The brain behind entrepreneur Anshula Kapoor and screenwriter Rohan Thakkar’s recent wedding, Patel believes bigger stages or larger budgets do not define luxury. “To me, luxury lies in creating experiences that are deeply personal, culturally rooted and impossible to replicate. Every celebration should reflect the people at its heart. Today, beyond planning weddings, I’m passionate about contributing to the evolution of India’s luxury wedding industry, bringing together creativity, hospitality, culture and global experiences while ensuring that every celebration feels authentic to the couple it represents,” Patel told indianexpress.com in an exclusive interview.Over the years, Patel has planned multi-day celebrations across India as well as internationally, including the French Riviera, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Europe, and Italy, and now Japan, where they are curating celebrations that beautifully blend Indian traditions with Japanese culture. Within India, she has worked extensively across Rajasthan, Goa, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mussoorie, and several other cities.After 13 years, Patel, 33, says she still approaches every wedding with the same excitement she had when she planned her “very first one”. “I think that’s what has kept this journey so fulfilling,” she adds.Edited excerpts:Q: What made you start your own luxury wedding planning company at 19 years of age?Devanshi Patel: My journey into the world of weddings began long before I realised it would become my life’s work. While I was still in college, I interned on large-scale events and productions, which gave me a strong foundation in planning, logistics, and execution. During that time, I had the opportunity to witness an extravagant wedding in Jodhpur, and it completely changed the way I looked at celebrations. What stayed with me wasn’t the grandeur; it was the emotion. Watching generations of a family come together, celebrating traditions while creating new memories, made me realise that weddings have the power to tell stories unlike any other event.At just 19, I took a leap of faith and founded Shreem Events. What began with a dream has evolved into a luxury wedding planning company that has curated celebrations across India and internationally, working with entrepreneurs, business families, global Indians, and celebrities.Over the last 13 years, I have had the privilege of planning hundreds of celebrations in destinations ranging from Rajasthan and Goa to France, Italy, Japan, Thailand and beyond. Every destination and every family has taught me something new, but one philosophy has remained constant—no two weddings should ever feel the same.Story continues below this adQ: Take us through Anshula and Rohan’s wedding.Patel: Every wedding begins with one question for us: not what it should look like, but what it should feel like? That became the foundation of Anshula and Rohan’s celebrations. Over eight months, we worked closely with them to understand their personalities, their families, their memories, and the experiences they wanted every guest to take home.Nothing was added because it was trending. Every design decision, every entertainment element, and every food experience had a personal story behind it. Their biggest brief was to recreate the warmth of home. Guests entered through a traditional jharokha inspired by Anshula’s childhood home before arriving at a large grazing table that celebrated both Punjabi and Gujarati cultures. Family memory walls celebrated generations on both sides. During the pheras, guests participated using handcrafted ghungroo sticks, symbolising blessings, joy, and positive energy, rather than simply witnessing the ceremony.The cocktail evening reflected another side of their personalities. We recreated one of their favourite bars, introduced nostalgic snack stations, interactive audio-video booths, and incorporated subtle references to Rohan’s love for cinema throughout the space. None of these experiences existed for spectacle; they existed because they reflected who the couple truly are.That’s what made this wedding special. Luxury today isn’t about scale; it’s about authenticity. When guests leave saying, “this felt exactly like them,” that’s the biggest compliment a planner can receive.Story continues below this adTheir brief was refreshingly simple. They didn’t want something designed for social media or driven by trends. They wanted every guest to feel welcomed into their world, almost as though they were stepping into their home. What stood out most was how involved they both were throughout the planning process. They are incredibly detail-oriented, and every discussion revolved around guest experience rather than appearances. Whether it was food, music, personalised experiences or family traditions, every decision was intentional.Anshula is wonderfully organised, a planner’s dream in many ways. She always brought remarkable clarity to discussions, while Rohan balanced every conversation with thoughtful ideas and a strong creative perspective, and a lot of excitement. Together, they made every planning meeting collaborative, making it easier to transform their vision into reality.One thoughtful detail that Anshula insisted on was creating beautifully stocked powder rooms with essentials such as hairspray, perfumes, fashion tape, safety pins, band-aids, mints, and other emergency items. It may sound like a small gesture, but when guests are celebrating and dancing for five or six hours, these thoughtful conveniences make a remarkable difference. It became one of the most appreciated elements of the wedding.Q: Take us through your interactions with actor Arjun Kapoor and the Kapoor family.Patel: While this was the first time we worked together so closely on a wedding, it wasn’t our first professional interaction with the Kapoor family. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work on some of India’s largest live events.Story continues below this adDuring my early years with Wizcraft, I worked on projects such as the IIFA Awards. Later, through various large-scale celebrations, including entertainment management at the Ambani wedding, I had the opportunity to interact with several members of the film fraternity in a professional capacity. Those experiences taught me the importance of discretion, precision, and delivering under pressure—qualities that continue to define how we approach every wedding today.What made Anshula and Rohan’s wedding different was that I got to witness the Kapoor family beyond their public personas. Throughout the planning process and the celebrations, they were completely invested in ensuring the wedding reflected Anshula’s vision and that every guest felt welcomed and cared for.One of the most memorable moments for me was watching the entire Kapoor family welcome the Thakkar family during the baraat. There was no sense of celebrity or protocol—it was simply a bride’s family warmly receiving the groom’s family with immense love, warmth, and emotion. Every member of the family came together to make the welcome feel heartfelt, creating an atmosphere that was deeply personal and beautiful to witness.Despite the challenging weather conditions during the wedding, Boney Kapoor ji and Arjun Kapoor personally walked through the venue with us, discussing guest movement, production adjustments and ways to ensure the experience remained seamless despite the heavy rains. Their priority was never just the event; it was the comfort of every guest attending the celebration.Story continues below this adIt was equally special to witness the family in their personal roles. Arjun Kapoor walking Anshula down the aisle and delivering an emotional speech, Janhvi and Khushi celebrating every moment with their sister and hosting the mehendi event, and the entire family coming together with such genuine affection reflected what weddings are truly about: family, love, and togetherness. Glimpses from Anshula Kapoor’s wedding (Photo: Epic Stories)As planners, those are the moments that stay with us. Behind every celebrity wedding is a family celebrating one of the most important days of their lives. Being trusted to bring that vision to life is a responsibility we value deeply, and it’s experiences like these that continue to inspire us.Q: What was the biggest learning from this wedding?Patel: One of the biggest lessons in luxury weddings is that no matter how detailed your planning is, live events will always surprise you. Anshula Kapoor and Rohan Thakkar’s wedding coincided with one of Mumbai’s heaviest rainfall periods. Despite months of planning and multiple contingency plans, the city was placed under a red alert. Roads were flooded, logistics slowed down, and even parts of the venue infrastructure were affected.At that moment, planning was about quick decision-making. Our team, along with every production partner, hotel team and vendor, worked almost seamlessly as one unit. We continuously adapted layouts, adjusted guest movement, protected experiences from the weather, and ensured that the celebrations continued without guests ever feeling the pressure behind the scenes.Story continues below this adThat’s why I always say that the true test of a wedding planner isn’t how beautifully they execute Plan A, but how confidently they navigate Plans B, C, and sometimes even D. Guests should never see the chaos behind the scenes.This wedding also reaffirmed something we’ve always believed: guest experience should always take precedence over everything else. Beautiful décor and entertainment certainly create excitement, but what guests remember years later is how comfortable, welcomed, and cared for they felt.Similarly, another memorable experience was at a large celebrity wedding where the guest count eventually grew far beyond the original estimates. Along with the increase came additional security protocols, VIP movements, and government-level arrangements that had to be accommodated in real time. Situations like these can’t always be predicted—they have to be managed with experience, calmness, and teamwork.Q: How was it planning actor Allu Sirish and Nayanika Reddy’s wedding?Patel: It was a wonderful experience because from the very beginning, the vision was incredibly clear. They wanted a celebration that felt intimate, elegant, and deeply rooted in Telugu traditions rather than something created purely for spectacle. The association came together through conversations with the family, and from our very first interaction, there was a strong alignment in values. They wanted a wedding that reflected who they were as people, while honouring their culture and bringing both families together in a meaningful way. That’s exactly the kind of brief we enjoy the most.Story continues below this adThroughout the planning process, both families played an important role in shaping the celebrations. Our responsibility was to translate their vision into experiences that felt seamless, personal, and authentic.Q: How do celebrities balance privacy with creating Instagram-worthy wedding moments?Patel: Privacy has become one of the greatest luxuries for celebrity couples. People often assume celebrity weddings are created for social media, but in reality, they’re first and foremost intimate family celebrations. Couples want the freedom to laugh, cry, and celebrate naturally without constantly feeling like they’re performing for the camera. Inside Anshula Kapoor’s wedding (Photo: Epic Stories)Ironically, that’s exactly what creates the most memorable content. The moments that audiences connect with most are rarely staged; they are genuine emotions, heartfelt speeches, spontaneous laughter, and real family interactions. As planners, our responsibility is to create an environment where couples feel protected enough to be themselves. When that happens, beautiful photographs and viral moments happen organically. The best Instagram moment is never planned—it’s genuinely lived.Q: What’s next for you?Patel: In the future, our focus is on creating fewer but far more meaningful celebrations. Rather than measuring success by the number of weddings we undertake, we’re intentionally becoming more selective, choosing projects where we can truly invest our creativity, time, and strategic planning to deliver something exceptional.Story continues below this adFrom understanding a couple’s journey to weaving their personalities into every touchpoint, I believe the best ideas come when there’s time to think, create, and collaborate. That’s the kind of work we want to do.We’re also continuing to expand our presence in the international wedding space, bringing Indian celebrations to unique destinations while thoughtfully integrating local culture, hospitality, and experiences. Every destination has its own story, and our role is to ensure the wedding feels deeply connected to both the place and the people.Ultimately, our vision is simple: to create signature celebrations that could belong to no one else. What’s personal to one couple can never be replicated for another, and that’s why personalisation will always remain the highest form of luxury for us.We’re not trying to create more weddings; we’re trying to create more unforgettable ones.