Okay so I’m writing this on a Tuesday afternoon in April and I still have like four text threads going with wedding-related people even though my wedding was in February and I want to tell you – if you’re planning a destination wedding and you live in Gurgaon, you need to hire someone to do this because I literally almost got divorced before I even got married and that’s a fact. Seriously, finding the right best destination wedding planners in Gurgaon is not a luxury – it’s a necessity if you actually want to keep your sanity and your relationship intact. I’m completely serious when I say that the best destination wedding planners in Gurgaon saved my marriage before it even technically started. My experience with trying to plan a destination wedding on my own showed me that you absolutely need professional best destination wedding planners in Gurgaon who actually know what they’re doing.
So here’s what happened. Rajesh proposed to me on September 18th. Actually wait, I need to back up. We met in college – we were both in Delhi University, we dated for six years, lived together for two years, and then he proposed. On September 18th, 2022. We were at this restaurant in Khan Market and he got down on one knee and I cried and it was the happiest moment of my life.
And then approximately forty-eight hours later, the happiness was completely gone.
Because we decided we wanted a destination wedding. And I don’t know whose idea it was – he says it was my idea, I say it was his idea – but it doesn’t matter because it was a terrible idea that we made together. And we decided we could handle it ourselves because we’re both like, competent adults who have actual jobs and manage things. I work in operations for a consulting company. I manage timelines and budgets and vendors constantly at my job. Rajesh is in finance. He’s like, extremely organized. We thought “this will be fine.”
We were so wrong. So, so wrong.
September To October: The Delusional Phase
So we got engaged on the 18th. By like the 25th we were already looking at venues. I was looking at places on Instagram. I’d find a resort and be like “oh this looks nice” and we’d email them. I sent emails to like fifteen different places. I wasn’t even visiting them – I was just going off Instagram photos.
I found this resort in Jaipur called something like Maharaja Palace or Royal Palace or something with palace in the name. Honestly I can’t even remember what it was called now. It looked incredible in the photos. Like, there was this beautiful courtyard with fountains and arches and it was everything I’d dreamed of when I thought of a destination wedding.
So I emailed them. They responded super quickly. Like within two hours. The person emailing me was this guy named Vikram and he was so nice. He was like “yes, we do destination weddings all the time, we can absolutely help you.” So I sent them my dates – February 14th to February 16th – and he sent me information about rooms and menus and event spaces.
I was like “this is easy! This is going to work out great!” I told Rajesh and he was like “okay, cool, book it then.” So I booked it. I just booked it. I called up Vikram and I was like “I’ll take five deluxe rooms, eight standard rooms and four suite rooms.” I was just making up numbers. I had no system. I was literally guessing how many of each type of room I needed.
The deposit was like 1.5 lakhs. I paid it.
Rajesh’s mom called me that night and was like “so we’re going to Jaipur?” I was like “yeah!” She was like “okay, we’ll book our flights.” I was like “oh, yeah, let me send you information about flights and accommodations and stuff.” She was like “okay.”
I hung up and I realized – I had no information about flights. I had no information about how people were getting to Jaipur. I had no information about anything except that we had some rooms booked and some dates set.
My mom called two days later and was like “so who’s invited?” I was like “um, the family and friends?” She was like “but like, how many people?” I was like “I don’t know, maybe like one hundred and fifty?” She was like “okay, you need to figure this out.” I was like “yeah, I know.”
I didn’t figure it out.
October To November: The Chaos Begins
So in October I started reaching out to vendors. I didn’t have any recommendations – I just Googled “florist Jaipur wedding” and started emailing people.
I found this florist named Priya – which is funny because my best friend is also named Priya. So I had two Priyas in my life at that point – my best friend and this florist I’d never met. Florist Priya seemed nice when I emailed her. She was like “yes yes, I do beautiful wedding flowers, send me what you want.”
So I started sending her reference photos. I’d find arrangements on Pinterest and be like “I want something like this.” She’d be like “yes, I can do this.”
Then I’d wait like a week and she’d send me a design. And it would be absolutely nothing like what I asked for. Like, I sent her a photo of white roses with pink peonies arranged in this specific style. She sent me back a photo of orange marigolds and yellow sunflowers. Like, not even close.
I was like “this isn’t white and pink?” She was like “but orange yellow is beautiful! Is different style!” I was like “I know orange and yellow are beautiful but that’s not what I asked for.”
So she said she’d redo it. I waited another week. Same thing. Orange and yellow flowers. Different arrangement but still orange and yellow.
I sent her another reference photo – this time for the mehendi. I sent like five different reference photos of mehendi flower installations. All of them were variations on the same color palette – golds and deep reds and oranges but like, the specific orange/gold palette, not random orange.
She came back with a design that was lime green and bright pink. Lime green. Who looks at pictures of gold and deep red mehendi installations and thinks “yes, lime green”?
I was on WhatsApp with her at midnight trying to explain what I wanted. She was explaining that her style was different and modern. I was explaining that I didn’t ask for a different style, I asked for a specific thing. We were just talking past each other.
This went on for weeks. Like, actual weeks. Every few days she’d send me a new design and every few days I’d be like “this is still not it.” She’d keep insisting her designs were beautiful. I’d keep insisting I didn’t ask for beautiful, I asked for specific.
Meanwhile my mom called me like three times asking about the flowers. She was like “have you finalized the flower person?” I was like “no, she keeps sending me the wrong stuff.” My mom was like “then find someone else!” But I felt like I was too far in with this florist. I’d been dealing with her for like six weeks. If I switched now, I’d have to start over. So I just kept struggling with her.
October To December: Everything Falling Apart Simultaneously
Around mid-October, Rajesh’s mom called me. She was like “okay, so I need to book my flight now to get a good price. And I need to figure out which room I want.” I realized I still didn’t have a proper room assignment system. I had just booked random numbers of rooms without planning who would go where.
So I made a list. My parents – one room. Rajesh’s parents – one room. My brother and sister-in-law – one room. My cousin – one room. Rajesh’s best friend – one room. That was five rooms already. Then his sister was coming with her husband and two kids – so one suite. My uncle was bringing his family – three more people. Then my cousin’s best friend wanted to come – so that was another room.
I was at like eight rooms and I was still getting emails from people asking if they could come. And for every person who confirmed, I was like “okay I need a room, and if they’re bringing a partner I need to know, and if they have kids I need to know what kind of room.”
One cousin was like “my husband has a mobility issue, are there accessible rooms?” I was like “yes!” even though I had no idea if there were accessible rooms. I emailed Vikram and was like “do you have accessible rooms?” He was like “yes, we have two accessible rooms.” I was like “okay can I book both just to be safe?” He was like “okay.”
But then I’d already booked certain room numbers so I had to change the reservation. Vikram kept being nice but I could sense the frustration in his emails. Like, he’d respond to each email change request with “yes, we can adjust” but the tone was getting shorter.
By November my uncle – who I’m close to – called me and was like “so I want to bring my friend, he’s like an uncle to me, can he come?” I said yes because I was just saying yes to everyone at that point. Then he was like “actually he wants to bring his daughter and his son-in-law because they want to see what a wedding is like because they’re getting married next year.” I was like “okay, sure.”
So now I had three random people I’d never even met being invited to my wedding. And they needed rooms.
And then my best friend Priya – the human Priya, not the florist – called me and was like “so I’m definitely coming right? I’m your maid of honor?” I was like “yes of course!” She was like “great, and I’m bringing my boyfriend who you haven’t met yet but we just started dating.” I was like “okay sure.” She was like “oh and my mom wants to come too.” I was like “what?” She was like “yeah, she wants to see you get married.” I was like “okay, I guess.”
Suddenly I had my best friend plus her new boyfriend plus her mom. That was a family of three I wasn’t expecting.
And every new person meant I had to go back to Vikram and be like “so um, I need to adjust the rooms again.” I must have changed the room configuration like eight times. By like late November, Vikram’s emails just said “Yes, we will accommodate” with no extra words. No enthusiasm. Just confirmation that he would do what I asked.
November: The Catering Disaster
So in November I started looking at caterers. The resort gave me three recommendations. I emailed all three. They all responded.
Caterer One sent me a quote that said “2800 rupees per plate.” That was it. That’s all they said. Per plate. What does that include? Appetizers? Dessert? Drinks? Who knows.
Caterer Two sent me an email that was like a price list. It was: “Dal 150, chicken curry 200, paneer tikka 250, lamb biryani 400, tandoori roti 25, naan 30, rice 40.” Just like, individual item prices. So if I wanted to serve dal, chicken curry, biryani, roti, naan, and rice, I’d have to add up: 150 plus 200 plus 400 plus 25 plus 30 plus 40. That’s 845 rupees per person if they eat one of each thing. But what if they eat two rotis? What if they don’t eat the biryani? This was incomprehensible.
Caterer Three sent me literally just a number. “80,000 rupees.” That was the entire email. 80,000 rupees for what? How many people? How many days? What food? Nothing. Just 80,000.
I was like – how do I even choose? So I sent them all follow-up emails asking them to clarify. Caterer One took three days to respond and said “the 2800 is per person per day and includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” Okay, so breakfast lunch and dinner for 150 people for like three days – I needed to multiply that out.
Caterer Two sent me a full menu that was like twenty items and said “you choose which items you want and we calculate the cost.” So like, if I wanted to offer dal, chicken, paneer, and biryani, I’d calculate: 150 plus 200 plus 250 plus 400 times 150 people times however many days. I was like “can’t you just tell me what 150 people eating two days of food costs?”
Caterer Three never explained what the 80,000 was for.
I made a spreadsheet. Like, an actual Excel spreadsheet where I was trying to figure out what the actual cost per person would be if I went with each caterer. I was calculating for like an hour. I added all the items. I multiplied by the number of people. I multiplied by the number of days. And I still had no idea which one was actually cheaper or which one was actually good.
My coworker Deepak saw me doing this at my desk and was like “why are you doing math for wedding catering?” I was like “because I need to figure out which one is cheapest!” He was like “just call them and ask them what the total cost is for 150 people for two days.” I was like “oh.” I called them. Caterer One said 84,000. Caterer Two said 91,000. Caterer Three said “the 80,000 is just an estimate, it depends on how many people actually show up.”
So I went with Caterer One because they were cheapest. I paid them a deposit.
December: The Complete Mental Breakdown
By December I was just not okay. Like, genuinely not okay. I wasn’t sleeping well. I was thinking about weddings when I woke up. I was thinking about weddings when I tried to sleep. Rajesh was getting annoyed with me because I was like, constantly stressed and constantly talking about wedding logistics.
We had this fight – like, an actual fight – where he was like “can we just have a normal evening where you don’t talk about wedding stuff?” And I was like “no, because I’m dying and wedding stuff is why I’m dying!” He was like “okay, well then we have a problem because I don’t want to hear about it.” I was like “great, so now I’m dying alone.”
My mom kept calling me asking for updates. She’d be like “did you finalize the flowers?” I’d be like “no, the florist keeps sending me the wrong stuff.” She’d be like “well did you pick the colors then?” I’d be like “no because I can’t get her to understand what I want.” She’d be frustrated. I’d be frustrated. We’d hang up and I’d cry.
My brother called me and was like “so are you coming to dinner on Sunday?” I was like “no, I can’t, I have to deal with wedding stuff.” He was like “it’s just dinner, it’ll be an hour.” I was like “I know but I can’t stop thinking about whether the florist is ever going to understand what I want and whether the caterer is going to be good and whether I’ve booked enough rooms and whether the musician I hired is actually going to show up.”
December 10th I had an absolute breakdown. I was at work. I was in a meeting – a regular work meeting, not even wedding related – and I got an email from florist Priya. She sent me new mehendi designs. I opened it during the meeting and I just felt this rage. These designs were still not what I asked for. They were pink and white but like, the wrong shade of white and the wrong shade of pink. After like eight weeks of back and forth, she still didn’t get it.
I excused myself from the meeting. I went to the bathroom and I called her. She answered and I was like “Priya, I have sent you so many reference photos. I have described what I want so many times. And you keep sending me flowers that are not what I asked for. I don’t understand why this is so hard.”
She was like “but these flowers are beautiful?” And I was like “I’M NOT ASKING FOR BEAUTIFUL I’M ASKING FOR SPECIFIC.”
I hung up and I was crying in the bathroom at my office. My coworker Anjali found me and was like “what happened?” I was like “nothing, I’m just tired.” She was like “it’s the wedding right?” I was like “yes, the wedding is killing me.”
I left work early. I went home. Rajesh was at work still. I lay down on the bed and I just lay there. Like, I didn’t do anything. I just lay there and thought about how I’d made the worst decision of my life by deciding to have a destination wedding.
When Rajesh came home he found me lying on the bed and he was like “what’s wrong?” I said “I can’t do this. I can’t do this anymore. Let’s just cancel. Let’s go to a temple somewhere with like twenty people. I don’t care anymore. I just want this to be over.”
He was like “okay, wait. I’m calling someone.”
He called his sister. He was like “my wife is having a complete mental breakdown about the wedding. You said you hired someone for your wedding. Can you give me their number?” His sister was like “yes, oh my god, yes, hire someone. You guys are making this way too hard.”
So Rajesh called this woman named Nisha. She was a wedding planner in Gurgaon who specialized in destination weddings. She was like “okay, tell me what’s happening.” Rajesh told her about the florist situation, about the catering, about the room booking chaos, about how I was literally lying on the bed not moving.
She was like “okay, I can help with this. But I need to meet with you guys and understand what’s actually going on. Can you come to my office tomorrow?”
The Meeting That Changed Everything
So we went to Nisha’s office. She had this small space in Sector 44 – like, it wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t intimidating, it was just like, a normal office. She was sitting at her desk and she stood up when we came in and she was just like “okay, so you’re planning a wedding and you’re having a complete mental breakdown. Tell me everything.”
So we sat down and we told her everything. I told her about the Jaipur resort that I’d booked without really being excited about it. I told her about the florist who wouldn’t understand what I wanted. I told her about the catering confusion. I told her about the room situation. Rajesh told her that I was lying on the bed not moving and that he was worried I was having a breakdown.
She listened to all of it. She took notes. And then she said “okay, I have some thoughts. First – are you actually happy with the Jaipur resort?”
I was like “no. I mean, it looks nice, but like, I’m not excited about it. I’m locked into it because I’ve paid money.”
She was like “we can deal with the money situation. But if you’re not excited about the venue, we’re not doing it. Let me show you some other options.”
She had this whole folder. Like, she’d worked on weddings in Udaipur, Jodhpur, Pushkar, different places. She had photos of actual venues. She had information about the staff at each place. She was like “I know the people who run these places. I know whether they can handle destination weddings. Let me walk you through them.”
We looked at the options and there was this resort in Udaipur – right on the lake – that just felt different. It looked like the place I’d actually been dreaming about. But it wasn’t the fancy palace kind of place. It was more like, a beautiful modern resort on the water. And she was like “this place is run by people who actually know how to handle destination weddings. They have a system. They won’t frustrate you.”
I was like “but what about the money I paid to the Jaipur place?” She was like “I’ll negotiate with them. I’ve done this before. Let me call them tomorrow and see what we can work out.”
I literally felt my shoulders relax for the first time in like three months.
What Nisha Actually Did
So Nisha called Vikram at the Jaipur resort. I don’t know what she said to him – she didn’t play the call for me or anything – but apparently she was professional and straightforward and she explained that we wanted to change venues. Somehow she negotiated a refund of like 60% of what I’d paid. I didn’t even know that was possible. I thought the money was just gone.
Then she called the Udaipur resort and booked it. But before she booked it, she actually visited. She went there. She looked at the rooms, she looked at the event spaces, she met the manager, she understood how they operated. She came back and was like “okay, this is the right place. I’m booking it.”
Then she dealt with the florist situation. She was like “the florist in Jaipur is not working out. I know a florist in Udaipur who I’ve worked with before. She gets it. Let me hire her.” She just took over. She sent the florist a bunch of reference photos – the same ones I’d been sending – and the florist came back with designs that actually matched the reference photos.
I was like “how is that possible?” Nisha was like “because she’s worked with me before and she knows I have standards. So she delivers on what we ask for.”
For the catering, Nisha had relationships with caterers in Udaipur. She was like “okay, here’s what I think would be good for you.” She got them to explain their pricing in a way that made sense. She basically said “I recommend this person because they’re reliable and they’re good and they’re in your budget.” So instead of me spending hours trying to figure out catering, I just said okay.
For the rooms, Nisha created a spreadsheet. Like, a real spreadsheet with tabs. One tab had a list of all the guests. One tab had room assignments. One tab had dietary restrictions. One tab had mobility needs. She was like “we’re going to have people fill this out online and it’s going to auto-populate. So you’re not chasing people down individually.”
She made a wedding website. It had information about Udaipur, about the resort, about how to get there, what to pack, what to do if you needed help. It had the RSVP information. It had links to affordable flights and hotels nearby for people who wanted options.
Suddenly instead of me managing a thousand details, I had systems. Real systems. I had a spreadsheet that automatically told me how many people were coming and what they needed. I had a website that gave people information without me having to email them individually.
December 15th To February 14th: Actually Being Okay
So from that point on, like, things were still complicated, but I wasn’t having a mental breakdown. Because Nisha was managing the complicated parts.
She created a timeline. Like, a detailed timeline. Day by day, hour by hour. Mehendi at 5 pm on February 14th. Dinner after mehendi at 8 pm. Sangeet at 7 pm on February 15th. Reception at 8 pm. Morning events on February 16th. Everything had a time and a plan.
She coordinated with the resort. The resort became responsive because Nisha had a relationship with them. Like, when I needed to change something, it happened. When there was a question, they answered quickly.
She coordinated with vendors. The florist knew when she needed flowers delivered based on when hair and makeup would be done so flowers wouldn’t get messed up. The photographer knew the timeline of events so he could be in the right place at the right time. The DJ knew when he needed to start and end.
She coordinated with my family. My mom called me asking about final details and instead of me not having answers, Nisha had already sent out a communication to the family with all the information they needed.
By like January I was actually excited about the wedding instead of anxious about it. Like, I’d wake up and think “oh, the wedding’s coming up” and feel happy instead of feel panic.
By mid-January Nisha sent me a message that was like “your wedding is going to be amazing. I can see how much you and Rajesh love each other and how much your families love you. This is going to be beautiful.” And I believed her.
February 14th: Everything Actually Worked
So February 14th came. I woke up and I was excited. Like, genuinely excited. I wasn’t anxious. I wasn’t worried about logistics. I was just like “oh my god, I’m getting married today.”
Nisha had people at the resort at like 6 am setting up. She had a photographer there. She had the florist there finalizing arrangements. She had people managing the timeline. She had everything coordinated.
I got my hair and makeup done without stress. The flowers were delivered at exactly the right time so they didn’t get messed up. The mehendi event ran perfectly – like, people showed up, the food was great, the flowers were beautiful, everything was decorated, everything looked like what I’d imagined.
At the sangeet the next day, there were like fifty people dancing and singing and celebrating and nobody was stressed about logistics. Everyone was just enjoying themselves.
The reception was beautiful. The food was good. The flowers that florist Priya – the wrong florist Priya – had been unable to create for eight weeks, Nisha’s florist created perfectly. The DJ played at the right times. The photographer captured everything.
And I actually got to enjoy it instead of being in my head thinking about whether everything was going to work out.
Why I’m Writing This And Why You Should Actually Listen
Okay so like, the reason I’m writing this is because I know so many couples who are like “oh, destination wedding, we can totally handle it ourselves.” I hear them and I want to grab them and be like “no, you can’t. You think you can. You’re competent people. But you will have a breakdown.”
The thing about planning a destination wedding yourself is – you’re not just planning one event. You’re coordinating accommodations for a hundred people. You’re managing travel. You’re coordinating vendors you’ve never met in places you don’t know. You’re dealing with your family having opinions. You’re managing your partner’s family having opinions. You’re making decisions from a place of stress instead of from a place of clarity.
And the worst part is – you don’t know what you don’t know. Like, I didn’t know that I needed to coordinate florist delivery times with makeup artist schedules. I didn’t know that a photographer needs to know the timing of events. I didn’t know that I should visit a venue before booking it.
A professional wedding planner – a real one, not just some person on the internet with a fancy Instagram – they know all of that. They have systems. They have vendor relationships. They have experience. And most importantly, they’re not emotionally involved so they can make decisions based on logic instead of panic.
When you’re looking for the best destination wedding planners in Gurgaon, you should look for someone like Nisha. Someone who has actually planned destination weddings. Someone who has vendor relationships. Someone who listens to what you want and creates a system to make it happen.
You can look at https://annhadevents.com/ to find planners who specialize in destination weddings. Look at their work. See if they’ve done weddings you like. Call them and talk to them. Ask them about their process. Ask them how they handle problems. See if you feel comfortable with them.
But whatever you do, don’t try to do a destination wedding yourself. Seriously. I’m begging you. Don’t be like me. Don’t spend three months stressed out of your mind. Don’t have fights with your partner about wedding stuff. Don’t lie on your bed not moving because you can’t handle the logistics.
Just hire someone from the beginning. And then actually enjoy your own wedding instead of spending it worried about whether everything worked out.
The best destination wedding planners in Gurgaon are worth every single rupee because they give you back the one thing that matters – being able to actually enjoy the most important day of your life with the people you love.
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