The layout, elements, lighting, architecture and décor play a very important role to make a memorable impact and transform a dream into reality. Different spaces create a different experience for your guests and the event design and layout play a crucial role in making your wedding celebrations worth remembering. In a panel discussion at the ICWF 2016, Mr. Samit Garg, Founder, E-Factor and Co-founder, 5 Guys Project interacts with Geeta Samuel, Sumant Jayakrishnan and Sanjeev Shankar on their expertise on the topic, “Designing the Social Space”. Being the place where our wedding designers and executors create that magic by playing with creativity and décor to make a memorable impact, let’s hear what the expert have to say:

Geeta Samuel, Founder, Q.Events by Geeta Samuel says, “Every event has a different requirement in terms of the physical space, decorating space and the overall architectural point of view. I would place space photography on the top while determining the social space as it strikes the balance between being campy or spread out and also determines the flow of the event. Decoration is another factor that would be on the top of my chain”. She further adds, “Scale is a beauty which has the subjectivity to engage in thoughts and it always has an impact. Personally, small is extremely beautiful, but there are a large percentage of people who want larger than life. I believe that scale defines the lifetime of the hosting cell. Your vision should match the vision of the client. Yes, size does impress me as a wedding done in a 75,000 sq. ft. space with around 50,000 attendees is always high on motion and high on love.” One should be learning the tricks of this trade as the best is yet to come. My giveaway for everyone will be, be kind, do what you love to do, the promised land is on the other side of hard work. Be Brave and be your best version.

Sharing more about how he looks at a space, Sumant Jayakrishnan, Wedding Designer and Scenographer, “There are different kinds of geometry in every space. There is an invisible geometry, obvious geometry, open space geometry, etc. You need to plan the different aspects of every space so that you now where is that you have to pull people and where do you have to push people”. He further adds that. “When I am to visualize any event, the first thing I do is working with the client. It’s about the family and what they are trying to do. For me the new comes from the people I work with. The 3 major points one should be focusing on are: the flow of the event; the concept so that the elements mix with the vocabulary of the client and the lighting such that it is woven in different parts of the event”. Concluding with the thought that there are different vocabularies that can be used in an event and one needs to find that exciting link. Detailing, sustainability, use of elements differently, working with the local vendors to make the event look very natural are some ways in which I remain in the space of art. Some very important factors for me are, my team and its management to understand the rules; sustainability to make things more relevant and also re-use thing in this space and collaboration by understanding the strengths of other people and industries.

Discussing about the collaboration of people from different industries, Sanjeev Shankar, Founder, Studio Sanjeev Shankar shares, “We all can learn so many things from different sectors to create robust systems. Sustainability, recycling and reuse of the products are three very important aspects and make a lot of sense to the wedding industry. When we say that something different has to be created, let’s all start with recycling of the products used in weddings and create something new and creative from the same”. He adds, “We need to create a human experience and move it between the space, time and senses. Learn to innovate practices from other fields and bring them to the wedding industry. We can learn a lot from the traditional knowledge as well. Why don’t we think and implement ideas like the creation of a R&D platform for weddings so that we can think ahead, bring in new threshold for events, give an architectural angle to the weddings, etc.” Make use of the old and the new tools and use the potential of collaboration to create new elements. There is always a value of innovation and invention. At the end of the day, it’s the intent, sensitivity and the impact that matters.