Indian Weddings(NZ)Ltd

ELEGANCE AND FINE FOOD SURROUND INDIAN WEDDING

Soni Mudaliar offers a one-stop service for planning weddings and special occasions with an Indian flavour. Meet the woman who describes herself as New Zealand's first Indian Wedding Planner.

From the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in south Auckland to the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir and Culture Complex in Avondale, Soni Mudaliar has organised Indian-themed events at them all.

Soni's company, Indian Weddings, started nearly four years ago after she saw the growing demand for the services of an Indian wedding planner.

She offers advice on all aspects of the wedding, including beauty and make-up, clothing, cakes, cars, caterers, decorations & ballo, entertainment, flowers, setting up a gift registry, hair stylists, invitations, jewellers, legal and financial services, party and equipment hire, photography, priests and JPs, and, of course, venues. Her directory will soon include astrologers to predict what lies ahead for the bride and groom.

She says there is no shortage of companies providing services for the Indian community, so she acts as a facilitator bringing couples together with the best in the business.

Likewise, venues are plentiful and Soni regularly uses the Swaminarayan Mandir and Culture Complex in Avondale, the Auckland Indian Association's Mahatma Gandhi Centre, the ASB Stadium in Auckland's Kohimaramara, The Trusts Stadium in Waitakere City and TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre.

She has also worked at the Samoan Methodist Parish and Christ the King Congressional Church in south Auckland.

Soni's highly informative website, www.indianweddings.co.nz, features a guide on what to look for in a venue but Soni says, for most Indian weddings, halls need to be spacious and lend themselves to decoration.

"You can get up to 1100 people at a wedding so there needs to be room to move."

The venue also needs to be appropriately decorated, often in the traditional Indian wedding