Wedding season this month was awaited by many in Nepal as the last two years were spoiled by the pandemic. Though celebrations are more vibrant and joyous this year compared to the years prior, business for wedding planners still seems to be really slow.
Wedding season in Nepal usually starts around mid-November. The Nepali month of Mangsir (November-December) is considered to be a favorable time to get married. On top of that, eight different dates of the month this year is said to be extremely auspicious for marriage. Despite many opportunities for business, wedding planners are yet to see smooth flow in their business.
“Honestly, business is not going well. People are not willing to spend much money after the pandemic”, says Anurodh Rana, owner of Utsav Event Planner. “We have not been able to collect a proper budget”, he adds. The cost of planning a wedding varies from person to person. Wedding planners themselves work according to the budget their client has set for their ceremony. “We do not have a fixed price for planning a wedding. It completely depends upon the client’s budget”, he says.
Even though business is very slow this year, director of Ananda Events, Raju Humagain sees this as an improvement. “Business might need to go a long way to be back to normal, but it has picked up at least a little from the suffering that we all are going through”, he says. “People are still hesitant to gather around like before. They have become more aware and alert about Covid 19. Wedding ceremonies that would include about 800 people only have about 300 people after the pandemic”, he adds.
He further says, “Because people are opting for smaller weddings, we are not able to charge our clients with the current prices. Prices of different items like manpower cost, fuel, and other items have increased. However, we are not able to charge clients with the actual price”. Rather than attempting to collect a huge profit from one big event, Humagain looks forward to collecting smaller profits from numerous smaller events.
During the rest of the year, wedding planners involve themselves in planning other smaller events like birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Other times they are busy researching the latest decors, designs and services and developing themselves. “It is important for us to keep up with the latest trend. We want to provide our clients with the best that is available in the market”, Rana says.
Wedding planners also are very careful and alert about their own health while organizing these ceremonies. “All our staff that are involved in the wedding plans are vaccinated. We also quarantine those who feel unwell as soon as possible and check for symptoms”, says Humagain. “We also suggest our clients to exclude older people from gatherings as much as possible”, he adds.
Wedding ceremonies continue to happen during January through February. But wedding planners do not have high hopes for any major change in business. “Even though January/February is also a wedding season, clients come to us only about a week prior to the ceremony”, explains Rana. “Thus we have no idea about what business might look like for us in the months to come”, he says. Humagain shares a similar story by saying, “We have received a number of inquiries for January/February. But nothing is fixed as of now, so we cannot be sure of anything”, he says.
Utsav Event Planner
Facebook: Utsav Event Planner
Contact No.: +977-9801029923/ +977-9851129923
Ananda Events
Facebook: Ananda Events
Contact No.: 01-4485111
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