Prerna Asrani came to Chennai after getting married, from Bangalore, her home of 20 years. With a Diploma in Interior Design, this BCom graduate soon settled into her role of homemaker and didn’t think much about a career, much less a business. Until her daughter’s birthday party came around, and she wanted to do something really special. New to Chennai, she wasn’t sure where she could source the balloons or flowers to decorate her house. “My friends gave me a couple of contacts, but back then, birthday parties were more about food than the décor. I actually began my entrepreneurial journey on my daughter’s second birthday,” laughs Prerna. It turned out so well, and soon, one friend after another began to contact her for planning birthday parties. “Initially I did them because it was so much fun, but as the events grew bigger and more varied, I decided to get serious about it,” she reminisces.
Prerna started as a one-woman show and grew her team as the client base grew. A lot of learning was from experience and from working with other event companies. She learned team and time management, how to identify vendors who would be as reliable as they would be affordable, and most of all, never to compromise on quality. Birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, engagement parties, and then weddings, Prerna and her team would take on all kinds of life events. “I have a friend turned client whose daughter’s birthday party was done by me. Thereafter I’ve done every event in their house to this day—and that’s more than 12 years now!” she laughs. “Sometimes we do the whole event, sometimes we work with/ for an event management company to do just the décor. I have some great vendors, and I trust them to back me up any day. I source my vendors and materials from all over India,” she says enthusiastically. Wishing Well has done events pan India: Bangalore, Pune, Goa…the list goes on. Prerna hasn’t had to spend too much on marketing, because the business she gets through word of mouth keeps her team busy round the clock. “We haven’t had a day’s break all through February. I’m happy. I know I could get more customers if I marketed my company more, but this is good. I always feel I am ‘God’s favourite child’ and I’m so thankful for what we have achieved so far,” she says.
The field of event management is not easy to break into, but Prerna has been in business for about two decades now. Her one-woman show is now a team of four women and two men. Her sister is part of her team, handling the backend and administrative part of the business, leaving Prerna to focus on the creative. “Initially folks wouldn’t take me seriously, I guess mostly because of my height,” she muses. But now this five-foot phataka runs a tight ship. She is firm yet respectful towards her associates and has earned her place in the big bad world of event management. “Sometimes I also get my way because I am petite and look too young maybe,” she grins mischievously. Either way, design and deadlines keep Prerna on her toes and still in love with her work.
Today, Wishing Well has three warehouses in Chennai, each housing different inventory that includes furnishings, fabrics, chandeliers, and crystals. The team is based in Chennai and works with local decorators and vendors; however, for events outside the city, Prerna gives her designs to the event managers who use their preferred vendors. The events are varied, and the team is always prepared with a Plan B, C, and D too. While Wishing Well specialises in wedding décor, they also provide services for all aspects of the event, including mehendi, sangeet, roka right up to hiring and managing the DJ too. “We do a fair number of mixed weddings, be it interreligious, inter-caste, or intercultural. It’s a lot of fun learning and amalgamating two cultures in one mandap. We also do corporate events. One that we’re very proud of is the Madras Art Week where we did the stage, backdrop, the works. Got us a lot of attention. We did another event at the British Council where we curated the décor based on their theme, and it was very well appreciated.”
Never the one to sit back and relax on her accomplishments, Prerna is constantly reengineering herself. She travels to wedding seminars, flower conferences, attends event management workshops, making sure she’s abreast of the latest and coolest in the industry. Her family support, especially her mother-in-law, she says, has been her biggest strength. Prerna is constantly looking to up her game, while on her journey to make weddings and life events more memorable and ever more beautiful.
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