The Art of
South Asian Weddings
Training Conducted by
Milan Thakrar (Work With Milan) & LaToya Patel (SW Events)
The Dorchester Hotel, Mayfair
Tuesday, 23rd January 2024
9:15am - 5pm
Having independently and jointly carried out South Asian Wedding training for venues, Milan and LaToya have formalised their training into a more solid collaboration. And so “The Art of South Asian Weddings” was born; a training course for venues and suppliers to learn more about working within the South Asian wedding market.
They’re back for 2024 with some new and exciting content and a selection of guest speakers.
Meet The Speakers
Milan Thakrar
Work With Milan
Milan has worked within the events industry for over 15 years, specialising in luxury events and heritage venues. Milan’s consultancy services primarily focus on business development and strategy across all sectors, in particular luxury weddings.
Work With Milan is a specialist events consultancy that works with businesses within the events industry to create and deliver their strategic business objectives. Having built a strong network of clients and industry relationships across the globe, Milan has influenced some of the industry’s most creative business development initiatives.
Milan always strives to drive positive change and growth when working with his clients. Never afraid to push the boundaries and rip off the red tape. Milan’s work has resulted in several commercial opportunities to be unleashed in some of the most sensitive venues, making them accessible for clients to host groundbreaking events, whilst increasing revenue and sales.
Coming from a South Asian background, Milan is well versed in the various South Asian traditions and culture, having attended and planned his fair share of Indian weddings!
LaToya Patel
SW Events & The Asian Wedding Club
LaToya is the co-founder of event & wedding planning company SW Events and The Asian Wedding Club. She began in the event services industry in 2012, with a specialism in South Asian Weddings that currently look something like:
- An average of 200 guests
- Budgets typically between £100K to £250K+
- Multi-day weddings
- In all types of venues from unique/historic spaces to hotel ballrooms to barns
- Covering a variety of ceremonies and events and a wide mix of backgrounds
- Hosted both home and abroad
Over the years she’s learned that the secret to optimising wedding experiences for everyone involved is finding the right balance between the “in-room experience” and the lasting memories captured on film.
But more than an event and wedding planner, LaToya is an entrepreneur and a wedding industry advocate. Her credentials include speaking on podcasts and at events (such as RSVP Club, wedding showcases & conferences), being the Chairperson for the Council of Representatives in the UK Weddings Taskforce and she is also a judge for The Wedding Industry Awards.
When she’s not planning weddings or moonlighting to support her industry colleagues, you'll catch her sipping cocktails, doing the Mum thing, walking her pup and secretly on the hunt for a new Netflix or Disney+ series to binge watch!
SW Events:
The AWC:
Course Content
South Asian weddings are the most vibrant, engaging, multi day celebrations that bring together two families and their guests for a truly joyous wedding. It is evident that South Asian weddings or cross cultural weddings, operate in a slightly different manner to a traditional civil wedding. It is therefore important to understand the various nuances of working with South Asian couples.
The Art of South Asian Weddings is a training programme that takes you through the various traditions, culture, sales and marketing techniques to help you sell, plan and host South Asian weddings.
We’ll share candid and honest accounts of planning South Asian weddings from a planners perspective and the experience of both speakers. The day will be a mix of presentations and interactive sessions.
Learn how you can be part of this multi billion pound industry and confidently attract more South Asian couples and weddings to your business.
Module 1
The Current Market Position of Asian Weddings
The South Asian wedding market is estimated to be worth over £3 billion a year and rising. We explore how this sector is evolving and where your business can actively attract more South Asian Weddings. An open forum for delegates to share current experiences, knowledge and aspirations of planning more South Asian weddings.
Module 2
Cultural Traditions & Ceremonial Rituals
South Asian weddings are full of traditions and rich with cultural ceremonies that hold huge significance for a couple and their families. When working with South Asian couples or cross cultural weddings it’s important to be aware of the various traditions and ceremonies that take place in the lead up to and on the wedding day. Delegates will learn about the various rituals and celebrations of the following faiths:
- Hindu weddings
- South Indian & Sri Lankan weddings
- Sikh weddings
- Islamic weddings
Module 3
Exploring South Asian Cuisine...
With Mario Perera, the Executive Chef at The Dorchester.
Sri Lankan born Mario Perera was part of the culinary team at the Taj Samudra in Colombo before he moved to London in 1995 to take up the role of commis chef at The Dorchester. Later Returning to The Dorchester in 2017 before being promoted to Executive Chef. Mario has overseen the catering for many high-profile events and is no stranger to presenting his culinary creations to heads of state, diplomats and dignitaries including HM The Queen.
This module will explore the variation in cuisines across the different regions and the importance of authentic food at South Asian weddings.
Module 4
Meet the Couples
A truly unique experience to speak candidly with couples planning their South Asian weddings.
Module 5
Marketing Your Business to Attract South Asian Clients
Is your business attractive to South Asian weddings? Let us share with you tips and techniques to position your business to attract this demographic.
Using case studies from industry professionals, we’ll explore proven sales and marketing channels and how these have helped businesses to generate commercial growth within the sector.
Schedule For The Day
9:15
Registration & Refreshments
10:00
Welcome & The Current Market Position of South Asian Weddings
10:25
Cultural Traditions & Ceremonial Rituals | Part 1
11:10
Break
11:25
Cultural Traditions & Ceremonial Rituals | Part 2
12:00
Exploring South Asian Cuisine
12:45
Lunch
13:45
Meet the Couples
14:45
Break
15:00
Marketing Your Business to Attract South Asian Weddings
16:30
Q&A
Delegate Fee
£375 + VAT Per Person
Including full day of training, course materials, lunch and refreshments
FAQs
We would recommend coming via public transport. The nearest tube station is Hyde Park Corner. If you're planning on travelling by car, the easiest parking is Q Park Marble Arch.
We are more than happy for more than one person per company to attend, in fact we would encourage teams to attend so you're all on the same page.
Yes, when you book, there will be a form to complete which includes a question about any dietary requirements you (and you're team if attending) have.
If you need to contact the team at any point feel free to reach us on hello@southasianweddings.co.uk.
Once you've signed up, you'll instantly be provided with an invoice. You can pay the invoice online using a credit or debit card, or you can use the bank details on the invoice to make a BACS payment.
There will be a professional photographer and videographer around on the day, if you don't want to be in any photos or video, please speak to one of the hosts on the day. The footage will be for promotional use and won't be capturing the content to re-watch.
If you've purchased a spot on the course, the tickets are non-refundable. However, we are happy for you to transfer them to a colleague from your venue / business or another business.
The training provided to Historic Royal Palaces by Milan and LaToya has proved to be invaluable for our Event Teams.
"The sessions were engaging and informative, and reflected their incredible knowledge and depth of experience in this field. The training has helped our team understand all elements that make up Asian Wedding Celebrations and enabled us to truly support our Asian clients to deliver the celebration event of their dreams.”
- Liz Young
Head of Events, Historic Royal Palaces
It's taken me until this course to understand that hosting South Asian weddings is an art, not a science.
There isn't a strict formula to follow, instead it is a matter of understanding the culture and wedding traditions that underpin different communities and creating events to reflect them.
- Alison Hargreaves
Founder, Guides for Brides
The day was informative and engaging, and there was a nice opportunity to network with others in the industry.
- Hannah James
Event Sales Manager, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
I was truly inspired and found the course absolutely invaluable.
LaToya and Milan were both so knowledgeable and shared such great insight. I really found that I opened my mind to new ideas and left feeling thoroughly inspired.
It exceeded my expectations.I really feel like the day not only taught me lots of valuable information, it also really inspired me to think differently, and this was so interesting.
- Lucie Butler
Wedding Manager, Swinfell Hall Hotel
