A DECADE or more ago the most talented and artistic family member would be appointed to decorate the wedding mandap (wedding dais), the bride’s room and the wedding hall.
Today, people are willing to spend from $900 to $4500 for professionals to decorate the wedding halls — including chairs, tables and their covers — mandap and the bride.
Rohini Mala is the owner of Rohini’s mandap decoration and she says people, especially for Indian weddings, now demand for the latest designs for mandap.
Ms Mala now imports decorations, ornaments, chairs and table covers and statues from India almost every year, based on the demand from her clients.
“The latest package that people now want is the decorations and a set of special sofas and chairs where the bridal couple can sit and take photographs and one set for the whole family to sit and take family portraits,” she said.
Ms Mala said upgrades in demand took place almost every year with Indian couples asking for Bollywood themed or styled wedding decorations.
Although Ms Mala does decorations for all occasions such as birthdays, engagements, and receptions, her most popular clients come for weddings.
While there are many professional photographers available around the country, there are some names that stand out and Nas Photography is one of them.
Nasir Uddin Rahan started his professional photography business back in 2013, however, he says there wasn’t much work for professional photographers at that time.
“I started at that time and the market was really low here in Suva that time. For Suva area most of the clients are local, but if you see in the Western Division they have all the resorts and hotels so they found international clients, every weekend,” he said.
Mr Rahan said it was quite hard for them, but then slowly people came to know about his work and now he had a good number of clients who loved and valued his work.
He does most of the jobs by himself, but he also has some assistants who are students and they help him out during weekends.
Having some form of professional knowledge of the work that one does is very vital and Mr Rahan has had training in filmmaking and photography.
“I had done a photographic course back in 2008 in Chennai and I had also done some volunteer work in filmmaking and drama making in India. I always wanted to take different kinds of photos, photos from my perception — something different from what other people think.
“My vision was to look for something different and unique. When you do something different then you will find people with that same taste and that’s why I think those are my clients, they love my work.”
For Mr Rahan, the first two years were not good because he said it was a time when people were not willing to pay too much money for professional photographers.
“In Fiji paying $500 for a professional photographer is just too much for people. So it was quite hard. In 2014/2015 I was working on no profit.
“Whatever I got I spent it on equipment and other expenses. But 2015 started getting better with a lot of people valuing our work,” he said.
Mr Rahan believes that although now most of the professional photographers have international clients for white weddings, they also have a certain responsibility towards their local clients.
“Now people have started recognising me as a genuine photographer, but I do some white weddings.
“My marketing system is all through facebook. If someone likes my work they call me.”
He said social media played an important part in the marketing of their work as professional photographers and he adviced young people who had an interest in the profession to learn a bit about marketing.
Beauty therapist and Salon 21 owner Neelma Singh says the demand for professional make-up artist during Indian weddings and of course white weddings had increased over the years.
“Before a family member would do the make-up and hair of the bride, but that is not the case anymore. Every girl knows what she wants and she wants a professional to do it,’ she said.
According to Ms Singh the most important thing for most of her clients is that they want their make-up to stay during the events and functions.
Ms Singh also has international clients who come to Fiji to get married and she makes frequent trips to the Western Division for white weddings.
“I have different packages for local weddings and white weddings. And I think this year I have done more white weddings than Indian weddings.
“Before it was just weddings, but now its pre-wedding, wedding and reception,” she said.
Meanwhile renowned mehendi (henna) and make-up artist Usha Chauhan believes that beauty lies in simplicity which is what most of her clients ask for.
Ms Chauhan came to Fiji from India after marriage a few decades ago and today she is a well known personality at the Jack’s outlet in the Capital City.
“Things get so busy during the wedding season which is around the festive season and people call me to make bookings months in advance,” she said.
Ms Chauhan says most of the bride-to-be who comes to her ask for simple make-up which brings out their beauty.
“They prefer to have minimal make-up with hairstyles based on their face structures. However there are girls who want to look glamorous and ask for movie-style looks,” she said.
Ms Chauhan is at the Jack’s store in Suva from Wednesday to Saturday every week where she does mehendi and facials.
