The Ultimate Wedding Planner’s Raj Somaiya shares his wealth of wisdom on planning a dream wedding Raj Somaiya is an esteemed events architect and CEO of Silverfox Events, a business that’s dominated the global events industry and led him to manage events in Dubai, Bali and Paris. Raj specialises in highprofile weddings for people of all faiths and is famous for his groundbreaking design ideas and bespoke creations as well as for his role as a judge on BBC2’s The Ultimate Wedding Planner. Having crafted himself as a spokesperson for the industry, he’s also featured on The Apprentice: You’re Fired, hosted by Tim Allen, showing off not only his expertise, but also his brilliant sense of humour and immaculate dress sense! Raj also owns a restaurant called GupShup in Hale, which translated from Hindi, means chit-cat or gossip. It’s one of the best known and most popular Indian resturants in the North West, being one of Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury’s favourites. Raj runs both businesses with Sheetal, his wife of 30 years, and they live happily with Raj’s father and their three children in Hale, Cheshire. County Wedding Magazines’ Kelly Andrews caught up with Raj recently to find out more about his life and career so far, as well as seeking some top tips just for you. What inspired you to become a wedding planner? I fell into this job from the beautiful card shops we had, before venturing into helium balloons, which we were the first company to do in the North West in 1987. We then opened a wedding flower business to complement the balloons. Soon, I realised my love for weddings and events and decided to move into full event management. Once armed with a budget and brief, where do you start bringing an event to life? The most important link in the chain is the venue, so this is what we’d concentrate on first. Architecturally, once the venue has been chosen, everything else can be built around it. Start with a blank sheet and everything is possible. Tell us about the most lavish wedding you’ve ever planned. This would have to be the Dubai event, which was executed at the Pavilion in front of the Burj Khalifa for 300 guests outdoors, including 40 artists from Italy, florist designers from France, and Craig David who played at the secret nightclub in the Armani. It was a wicked event. What’s your proudest achievement so far? I have two! Organising an insane event at the Opera Garnier in Paris, and being given a role as a judge on The Ultimate Wedding Planner. Why is enlisting the help of a wedding planner so important? There are so many reasons! The main ones though are a stress-free wedding day from having an expert on your side to choose the right suppliers at the right budget; and overall advice from someone when you have questions or concerns about your wedding day and even your family. PLANNING All in the Kateryna Hliznitsova on Unsplash 80
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