Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali Talwar & Poonam Benakatti.
Hi Ali & Poonam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Poonam and I served together in the Peace Corps in Thailand and have been best friends since! We both independently found our way to event planning after helping our friends plan their weddings and eventually planning our own weddings. We are both type-A, love making spreadsheets, and are out-going individuals; so it is a field that we naturally thrive in.
Myself (Ali), before fully pivoting into event planning, I had a career in International Development where I worked in the Project Management Office at a non-profit. Thankfully, I have found many of those skills apply in this new space and now consider myself a “project manager” of events! I have been lucky to gain experience in the industry by assisting seasoned event planners in the DC area and continue to learn with every event experience. I have found such a passion in this career and find complete joy in working with all kinds of people to create their unique events and weddings!
Poonam also works for Green River on their Open Path Team as a technical project manager integrating data for clients who use Open Path’s Homeless Management Information System software. Weddings are actually the collection, transfer, and implementation of data in many ways and every software tool for weddings that’s out there is a data pipeline with a wedding flavor. Poonam realized her career was similar in multiple facets. Her favorite aspects of both careers are working with clients, and meeting people.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Customer acquisition and learning the complexities of running a business while… running a business – did you know how many types of insurance there are? Naturally being a new vendor in the space, we have to work extra hard to earn peoples’ trust and win the work. It’s all worth it in the end because it’s truly the best job!
Beyond that, it also is a constant battle with imposter syndrome and wondering if I made the right choice in starting my own company. I am sooo grateful to everyone who has given me the opportunity to work for them so far and all of their feedback has been overly positive, so I remind myself of that when the imposter syndrome kicks in.
We’ve been impressed with Talwar Weddings & Events AND Belaku Events , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are both event planners who primarily work on weddings. Talwar Weddings & Events is based out of Washington DC, but I am always happy to partner with Belaku Events in Dallas or even plan destination weddings. The best part about working with me (Ali) is the dedication to ensuring my clients have the wedding of their dreams and do not have to worry about anything. I truly go above and beyond for my clients, whether it’s hopping on a ladder to hang decorations, distracting your mother so she stops asking you 1000 questions, or just simply protecting a couple’s space to make sure they get to eat their dinner. I am always happy to edit my service packages for clients as each wedding and event is unique and this is the first-step to ensuring your ideal day. Everyone deserves to have the happiest wedding day and I will do everything in my power to ensure that for my clients, even if they never know the crises I mitigate for them.
Belaku events specializes in making sure the clients (and their immediate families) can check out from the logistics and check in to the experience they have worked so hard to curate. We have emergency kits including items like cake cutting tools, “reserved” table and seat signs, safety pins, laundry pens, make up brushes, and much more. I won’t consider it a successful event if the client has had to do any aspect of the event management. Belaku means light in the language I grew up speaking. The brand figuratively embodies that – light being a positive archetype in stories, depicting beauty, and the airy feeling of being worry free.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Events go through trends all the time: whether its decor trends, desert alternatives, dress code ideas, and adding in personalized elements. A wedding in America will be less standardized in terms of timeline, location, and personal touches. The event planning industry itself is rather stable as the goal is to always provide clients with their vision! But we do believe wedding planners and coordinators will be even more essential in a non-standardized world to execute the event the client has envisioned. We predict more spiritual traditions in additions to religious ones, and events and less traditional venue spaces – think back yards, parks, or symphony halls.
Pricing:
- Coordination: $1,000+
- Partial planning: $2,000+
- Full planning: $3,000 – 5,000+
Contact Info:
- Website: https://talwarweddings.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talwarweddings
- Other: https://www.belakuevents.com
