Making it big in India

WEDDING planning is a big business to be in, and for Sunita Peters, it is not just a business. The 38-year-old has taken it up a notch further by also promoting Malaysia in her planning, especially for her huge customer-base in India. Her company, Regal Events Sdn Bhd, which had ventured into the Indian business in 2008, organises weddings for Indian clients who want weddings in Malaysia, or other countries.

Looking regal: The wedding of Vigyan and Poorvi organised by Regal Events at Putrajaya Marriott last month.

Based on what the client wants, the company carries out everything from conceptualising to completion, including hotel bookings, honeymoon planning, and leisure travel for the entourage. This is where the company gets to work with local agents to promote tourism among the foreigners. For some clients, it also provides traditional Malay settings for weddings in Malaysia. The business began when Sunita, who started off many years ago by doing wedding decorations, decided to do more. That led her to take up a four-year wedding planning course before she started her business.

“However, the toughest decision that I made for the company was when we ventured into India for business in April 2008. “The struggle was no less but knowing the language made things a little easier,” she said in an interview. Getting started in India was initially difficult but today, Regal Events has established itself well in the Indian market. Starting off in Jaipur, Rajasthan, the company now has offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ludhiana and Chandigarh in Punjab. “We are now in discussions to open more offices in other parts of India with the hope of promoting Malaysia to a greater extent.

“We are also the only certified wedding and event planner in Malaysia today and endorsed by the Tourism Ministry as an official wedding and event planner,” she added. Sunita said the company also promoted Malaysia by giving out catalogues to potential clients about interesting places in Malaysia for a wedding, honeymoon and holiday packages. “Most travel packages only provide a day city tour and a trip to Genting, which is not the whole of Malaysia, so we include a full Malaysian holiday in our wedding packages to clients who book their destination weddings with us. “For weddings that are not destination-oriented, we provide them a Malaysian theme, which would include the Malaysian food, decor and entertainment,” she said.

For this year, the company has booked 12 weddings, with the first completed at Marriott Putrajayalast month. The company was also looking at conducting tours that would ensure anyone visiting Malaysia experience the beautiful places here. It includes East Malaysia’s beautiful beaches, Penang Hill, Sibu Island and the Belum Rainforest. Sunita said in India, money spent on weddings was very big even for an upper middle class family, as the average expenditure was about RM450,000. “This does not include the honeymoon expenses. Due to this, many are opting for a destination wedding which would cost much less than what is spent in India,” said Sunita.

-thestar online.