How to Plan a Wedding in Five Minutes with Manali Shah and Raj Kamaria
Raj Kamaria:
I think oftentimes when you see a disruptor like an Uber for example, there's a clear loser, like, "Oh, taxi drivers, goodbye." So obviously they fight back. But in this case it was kind of just you have these two people, basically a buyer and a seller of something. And they're a 100 feet apart when they need to be 10 feet apart. So we were like, "This really, really, truly actually helps all of you."
Dusty Weis:
Greetings innovators and welcome to Back of the Napkin, where we explore big journeys in the world of small business with the personalities who make it happen.
Stephanie Davis:
This is where small business leaders can hear about unique ideas that have launched successful enterprises across America, and meet entrepreneurs who aren't afraid to think differently. And it's brought to you by SurePayroll, where small business is their business. I'm Stephanie Davis from the SurePayroll team.
Dusty Weis:
And I'm Dusty Weis, a small business owner from the Midwest. And on today's episode, we're going to be talking to Manali Shah and Raj Kamaria owners of Pyaari Weddings in Chicago, Illinois.
Stephanie Davis:
Weddings happen all the time, but I feel like this year weddings have been a super hot topic. Plus with this business, all I can think about at first is the hip Jennifer Lopez classic The Wedding Planner.
Dusty Weis:
The Wedding Planner. You're sure you were into it for Jennifer Lopez and not for young studly, Matthew McConaughey.
Stephanie Davis:
I mean dream combo, dream story, just an iconic classic early 2000s rom-com.
Dusty Weis:
If I'm being honest, I am much more into the Wedding Crashers than I was into The Wedding Planner that was a little bit more my style.
Stephanie Davis:
That's fair. I respect it. But before we dig in, we'd love it if you took a moment and subscribed to Back of the Napkin in your favorite podcast app. We'll be releasing our season one episodes over the next few weeks, and we don't want you to miss any of them. So take a moment to hit that subscribe button.
Dusty Weis:
And if you enjoyed the show, how about a five-star rating or even leave us a review to tell us what you like, and you might just be helping another entrepreneur like you find the bolt of inspiration that they needed. I know it seems like we're just fishing for compliments here, but your rating review actually helps this podcast reach more small business owners like you. So please go ahead and leave us some good stuff. And if you can't get enough of small business content, including payroll tips and tricks, be sure to check out the SurePayroll blog or get updates on SurePayroll's channels.
Stephanie Davis:
So Dusty, while I've been in a few weddings. I haven't had the experience of planning, which I'm not mad about. Were you super involved in your wedding planning?
Dusty Weis:
Steph I am fortunate enough to have met a wonderful, smart, talented woman who is patient enough to be married to a guy like me. But I'm also lucky that she is an organized planner while I am a disorganized doer. And so she handled most of the planning and I mostly got to come along for the ride. However, through that experience and having served as a best man in four weddings to date, I have had a lot of exposure to what I like to call the wedding industrial complex. And I've got to say it is incredibly frustrating to try to shop for services in this space. Sometimes it feels like this entire complex is just built up to make this process as confusing and time-consuming and expensive as humanly possible. I love weddings, I hate the process of planning them.
Stephanie Davis:
Well, it's just those sorts of headaches that this week's guests set out to solve when they launched their business. Pyaari Weddings is a brand new journey for owners Manali and Raj. The couple got engaged in February, 2020 and quickly realized how time consuming the wedding planning process can be. Inspired by their own experience, they wanted to create a tool that made wedding planning easier for couples all over the country.
Dusty Weis:
Manali and Raj first and foremost, congratulations on your engagement. That's super exciting and thank you-
Manali Shah:
Thank you.
Dusty Weis:
... for joining us today.
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah, absolutely happy to be here.
Dusty Weis:
So you were both inspired to start your business because of your own struggles through the wedding planning process, which again, my heart goes out to you. What were some of the issues that you ran into that helped you launch Pyaari?
Manali Shah:
So we had quite a few issues that helped us launch Pyaari Weddings. We were just so frustrated by our own wedding planning. So I was working a full-time job and Raj was trying to get into school. And then we had to call multiple vendors every day, have like 30 to an hour minute conversations with them so it was quite frustrating. And there was just so much information and we wanted to get all this information in a quick manner, but we found that there was no option available that had that. So that inspired us to launch Pyaari Weddings, to have all the information in one place that can not only help us, but other couples as well.
Raj Kamaria:
Starting off in the wedding planning process, both me and Manali we're pretty new to it. So we weren't sure what to expect, given that it's such a big industry we thought it may be somewhat organized, but we quickly found out that that's not the case at all. As you mentioned before, the final production is pretty cool. You usually get a pretty awesome wedding, but the steps up to that are infinite. There's a hundred different steps and it's not just one category of vendors. It's hotels, banquets, food, caters, DJs, lighting, decor. And then within each of those categories, you'd probably call 15 or 20 vendors for each.
Raj Kamaria:
And then you have to actually connect with them, call them, take voicemails, write everything down, get their prices. A lot of the time the prices are not apples to apples. So it'll be like a $100 an hour and you're like, "Okay, what does that mean?" And someone will just charge you per event. Honestly, it was just a giant collection of data that had no meaning to us. And we were like, "Wow, this is going to be ridiculously hard."
Dusty Weis:
Your point about the price comparison not being apples to apples, I think was one of the biggest pain points that I remember from planning a wedding four years ago because in my heart I'm a cheapskate. I don't like to spend money if I don't have to. And it seems like every single vendor we talked to, they don't put their prices on their website. They say, "Come on in, do a tasting. And then we'll slide you a little slip of paper. And that's going to tell you what the price is." And if you want to try more than two or three vendors, you don't have time to do that.
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah. For us personally, it almost felt like that was perhaps the point of the industry is just to exhaust you. So that one day you're like, "All right, forget it. I'm just going to sign up for X, Y, and Z." But no, we definitely felt the same thing. We tried just laying out very clearly like, "Hey, next Labor Day, we need 7:00 to 12:00 PM. This many people, this many chairs, what's the cost?" And almost always, it's like, "Oh, it depends. Come in and we can discuss over the next three months."
Stephanie Davis:
You guys did so much research, both for yourselves, but then to launch Pyaari so how did you pull it off? What did you even know what to look for? Raj you were just rattling off a ton of different things and I'm like, "Whoa. I had no idea you had to consider all of that."
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah, absolutely. So initially we didn't know much. So we just started Googling, "Oh, wedding planning" We found random blogs and they're like, "Oh yeah, here's these 10 different categories of vendors you have to call." So we were like, "Okay, cool, simple enough." But then once you get into that, obviously there's different tiers. There's the people who are more affordable, the middle tier, the higher tier and you have no idea who's who also. So you get all these different prices and services. And then on top of that as well, once you get the information, you also have to figure out what their calendars are because nobody puts the availability in the website and nobody communicates that clearly either. So maybe you find someone you really like and you're like, "Oh man, this is the decor company we want." And then you call them and they're like, "Oh yeah, by the way, we're not available." And it's like, "Well, why didn't you tell me that in the beginning?" Basically you just do the rounds. It was not fun to put it lightly.
Dusty Weis:
A little bit later I want to ask you about the data collection that goes into this and how do you automate that. And just how do you consolidate and analyze all of that and digest it and make it presentable. But first I have to ask the name Pyaari Weddings, where does that come from?
Manali Shah:
So we were just sitting one day. We weren't really sure what to call this, but we had a few ideas, sadly, there were all taken. And then we randomly just came up with Pyaari and we're like, "Okay, this could work." Pyaari means love in Hindi. So it's kind of like, love weddings.
Stephanie Davis:
Cute.
Dusty Weis:
Very cool. That's neat.
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah. We wanted something nice and easy and soft.
Dusty Weis:
And of course this ties to both of your cultural heritage as well. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah, absolutely. Just like many other cultures in the Indian culture, weddings are a huge part of basically your life. It's like a seminal moment, almost like a grownups sweet 16 type of thing. Like, "Oh, here's my child released into the world with their newly found spouse or significant other." So it's not really just for me in Manali, for example, or for the bride and groom more generally, it's really for the families and the family friends and your friends. And so an Indian wedding can I think on average get to about 400 people, which is absurd because how do you even find a place to keep that many people. So I would say the cultural infusion of it only made it more complex because everything's just bigger and more and more expensive. So we basically just added another layer of complexity.
Dusty Weis:
No, that's incredible.
Stephanie Davis:
So you're both working full time, juggling MBA programs, which is all awesome. And then on of it, you're now managing your new business. Did either of before doing this that you ever wanted to start a small business someday?
Manali Shah:
So for me, I definitely wanted to do something entrepreneurial. I just didn't know what it was. I'm always jealous by people who just come up with these one-off ideas and they're such a huge hit. So I was just waiting for that idea and I think it was just our personal experience that really helped shape Pyaari Weddings. So once this clicked I was like, "Okay, yes, I want to move forward with this."
Raj Kamaria:
And I would say for me personally, I've always been the same way. I majored in business in undergrad and I eventually got a job in consulting and whatnot, but I never really envisioned myself or wanted to be a lifer in the corporate world so to speak. I always wanted to do my own thing, I was always very creative and entrepreneurial. So in college, me and my friends started a shirt business like, "Oh, Illinois likes shirts." Or whatever, we went to University of Illinois. So stuff like that, I got into real estate investing and got into stock market investing. I was always looking for ways have side hustles and make extra money.
Raj Kamaria:
And I always remembered in the back of my mind when I took an entrepreneurship class, I think it was when I was a junior in college or something. They always said that the best ideas come from when you encounter a problem in your real life. So I always had in the back of my head and I was always like, "Wow, when is a problem going to pop up? When I can turn it into an idea." And lo and behold a pretty big one popped up with our wedding.
Dusty Weis:
It's really funny to me to hear you say that because I'm an entrepreneur myself and my approach to entrepreneurialism was the exact opposite where I never had any interest in running a business. I had a set of things that I knew how to do and I liked to do. And then one day I looked at everything on the table in front of me and said, "If I put all of this together, it would really serve a niche that's going unserved. I can't believe nobody has done this yet. I guess I better do it." But I look at the niche that you guys serve with Pyaari Weddings and I can't believe that nobody has done that yet. Why do you think that is?
Manali Shah:
I feel like it's just a marketing tactic for vendors just to entice people to come visit them. As you said earlier, we looked everywhere just to get one place where we can see prices for different vendors and it's just not out there. And it kind of makes sense, you want people to come to your restaurant, try your food and then give the price after that. So we thought it was just a good marketing tactic, but we just wanted to cut that whole middle experience out. Yes, you should go ahead and try the caterers that you want to pick, but try it after you know that they're in your budget. Don't just waste your time going to a restaurant and trying food that's too expensive for you at your wedding. So I think that differentiator was something that was missing and we helped create that in a way.
Dusty Weis:
So what's the secret sauce then? How is it that you have been able to do what nobody else has been able to do to date?
Raj Kamaria:
I would say honestly, it's just a lot of legwork to get this sort of product or service up and running. Initially, we were like, "Wow, I can't believe no one's done this." And then once we started actually getting into it, we were like, "Okay, what are the to make this happen?" And the first big step was call everyone in the entire country and get their prices. So we were like, "Holy cow, no wonder nobody has ever done this before." And so lo and behold, we... we're still doing it, but we probably spent a good six months, probably 50% of our time dedicated to this working nights and weekends. Literally, just hounding down hotels, banquets, food, people, DJs, core companies, getting all their information, their prices, their services, and then getting all these basically data points and then as you said Dusty trying to make it apples to apples.
Raj Kamaria:
So like, "Oh, okay. If a silver bar package in the Marriott in San Francisco is not the same as a silver bar package in the Orlando Marriott, they're actually completely different." So basically tearing it all down, rebuilding it, making our own pricing tiers, just making it how a normal person would actually want to read it and understand it. So the biggest piece, biggest hurdle, 90% of it by far is just the data collection. It's a big process.
Stephanie Davis:
So you guys have spent all this time researching, you have data from vendors and restaurants and everybody all over the country. What does that look like? How are you organizing it for yourselves? And then how does it get pushed out onto the website and make it accessible for users?
Manali Shah:
So it's a pretty big spreadsheet. We're talking more than 800 columns. So we've basically reached out to so many people from different states just to get all this information and each vendor category is different too. So what you might look for in a henna artist is not going to be the same as what you would look for in a caterer. So we have the basic contact information for these vendors, and then we'll list out individual price points that will apply to that specific vendor. But then after that, once we have all that data collection, our spreadsheet is basically just separated into different states, which makes it a little easier if we have more people to add. But then we just give it to our website developer and he pushes it in through the backend, and then all that information is available at Pyaari Weddings.
Dusty Weis:
That's insane. And how many vendors have you contacted and listed in this?
Raj Kamaria:
So, so far it's about a thousand vendors and we're planning another 600. We've done all the you can call it the eight major metro areas in the US so Dallas, Houston, LA, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, DC, and San Francisco. But now our next step is let's go after the Minneapolis', the Milwaukee's, the Indianapolis' and all that. So that's basically another five to 600 we have to add. But as Manali is mentioning each vendor category has its own. We didn't even know really what data to collect initially. We were like, "Okay, maybe there's just one price. We can just write it down." And then we get into the hotel category and they send us a 20 page PDF and we're like, "Holy cow, we need to find a way to standardize this."
Raj Kamaria:
So eventually after looking at so many different information requests, we figured out what the categories were. Like for a DJ, here's the six things that we need to get the price on. And then for a hotel it's like, "Oh, don't forget about the 34% service charge that nobody talks about because that's a huge amount." Basically, just finding all the different categories, getting the information, throwing it in a spreadsheet. And then eventually we had to conceptualize it without seeing it. So we're like, "Okay, if I wanted to see this information, how would it probably look?" And so going through a hundred iterations of if I theoretically had a website I'd first want to look at it by city, maybe guest count, and then I can look at venues and then within venues. I'd probably have like 10 different options, which I need to select reception, alcohol, hours, et cetera. And then based on all these inputs, some price or information gets spit out that you can add to your cart, so to speak. And then eventually after adding each category, you basically get your wedding budget, your wedding plan.
Dusty Weis:
Incredible. It's cool to me because what you're doing is disrupting an industry that has gone undisrupted for a very long time. I use the term wedding industrial complex, and I don't use that lightly. So the hotels and caterers and decorators whom you include in your database, how do they feel about the way that you're redefining their business model?
Raj Kamaria:
Initially, when we first launched, we sent basically like a welcome email, like, "Hey, remember we got your data this is what it is now. Here's a website. And this will help you for X, Y, and Z reasons." But I think because this sort of thing has never been done before. They're all just like, "What? What do you mean someone can easily get all the prices and information and reviews and blah, blah, blah." And we're like, "Yeah. We just collected all the data and you can basically shop like you're going on Amazon, and select based on reviews and prices and add to your cart." And instead of wasting two to three months, if you're a vendor talking to someone when they're probably not going to hire you, we have information to basically make a yes or no right away. So if you're a couple and you're like, "Okay, this super expensive restaurant is not in my budget, off the list. Don't waste time." So honestly, in the end, it's ideally better for everyone it's more efficient. And that's basically the biggest problem is the wedding planning process here is extremely inefficient.
Dusty Weis:
But disruptors are not always popular with the industries that they're disrupting. Ultimately, it was the way that it was because it benefited the industry, has there been any pushback?
Raj Kamaria:
I think oftentimes when you see a disruptor, like an Uber, for example, there's a clear loser, like, "Oh, taxi drivers, goodbye." So obviously they fight back. But in this case it was just, you have these two people, basically a buyer and a seller of something. And they're a 100 feet apart, when they need to be like 10 feet apart. So we were like, "This really, really, truly actually helps all of you. And then we just make some ad money off it and as it says on our website then we all drink.
Dusty Weis:
Well, we are going to continue our conversation with Manali and Raj in just a moment. But first the latest mission and critical tips and calendar dates in the SurePayroll bulletin, where we cover the news events and other important information that small business owners ought to know about.
Stephanie Davis:
This is SurePayroll's Back of the Napkin podcast, where entrepreneurs share stories of their big journeys in small business. I'm Stephanie Davis.
Dusty Weis:
And I'm Dusty Weis. And we're talking to Manali and Raj from Pyaari Weddings and guys it's time for a fast five, five quick questions to get to know you a little bit better.
Stephanie Davis:
What is your favorite pizza spot in Chicago?
Manali Shah:
Lou Malnati's hands down.
Dusty Weis:
Yes.
Raj Kamaria:
I'll go with Pequods.
Stephanie Davis:
Yes. Thank you Raj.
Dusty Weis:
Oh, wow a house divided.
Raj Kamaria:
House divided. Yep.
Dusty Weis:
What about television? We're all quarantining right now, what's your current TV show binge?
Raj Kamaria:
I would say for me. So I just finished catching up on four seasons of Money Heist. I heard a lot about it but never got time. And then watched it and I was like, "Holy crap. I need the next season now."
Dusty Weis:
And that's one of those that's in Spanish, my wife and I actually watched a few seasons of that. Incredible stuff.
Raj Kamaria:
Very good.
Dusty Weis:
Manali, how about you?
Manali Shah:
So I'm a little late to this TV show, but I just started Narcos. So I've been binge-watching that.
Stephanie Davis:
We do a lot of online ordering these days. So would you rather give up product delivery like Amazon or food delivery like DoorDash?
Manali Shah:
I would probably give up DoorDash. I don't use it as much.
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah. I would probably say DoorDash too.
Dusty Weis:
You guys are Chicago landers at this moment. We're heading into the long dark windy winter. What book are you going to curl up with this winter?
Manali Shah:
So I think I am going to reread The Last Lecture.
Dusty Weis:
I'm familiar with it, what's it about?
Manali Shah:
Okay. So there's this professor, Randy... I'm mispronouncing his last name it's Randy Pausch, but basically he had cancer and he wrote this book about what he wants to share with his children. So it's all his life lessons and it's not just for his kids too, it's for everybody to chase their dreams and go after what they want. So it's a very inspiring book, so I think I might reread that.
Dusty Weis:
Raj, how about you?
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah, I've had this book on the shelf for a long time, but this book called If God Was A Banker, it's supposed to be an interesting take on economics, markets, et cetera, and be somewhat satirical. So we'll see.
Stephanie Davis:
What is the one song you can't stop playing right now?
Manali Shah:
Ooh, Dance Monkey it's by Tones And I.
Stephanie Davis:
Yes, a great song.
Raj Kamaria:
Mine is very, very mainstream. It is Watermelon Sugar high. It's always in my head because it's always on the radio.
Stephanie Davis:
Yes, constantly.
Dusty Weis:
Oh yeah. That one's getting some spins.
Raj Kamaria:
Yep.
Dusty Weis:
Well, it's been a helpful session. Certainly, I feel like we've gotten to know a little bit more about you, but now let's get to know a little bit more about Pyaari Weddings as well. This is the first business venture for either of you, so how has the process of entrepreneurialism been?
Manali Shah:
I would say every day is a new learning experience. It's different for me just because this is my first time running a business. So I feel like we have challenges every day, but it's just we work hard to get through them. But I don't know for me at least there's just new things I'm learning social media wise. Like, "Okay, do this. That's the right strategy or do something else like that." So it's constantly evolving as you learn all these new tips and tricks. Just in that sense I think it's been a great experience for me so far.
Raj Kamaria:
I would say for me, it just feels different. It was kind of an interesting way to put it. So when you're working for somebody, it feels like a job. But when you're working for yourself even if we're not super profitable or what have you right now, it almost just feels like a hobby. So when we do all these new things and learn all these new things like, "Oh, how do we do SEO marketing? Or what does it mean to develop a website in PHP?" It feels pretty exciting actually. So it's nice, it's like a different perspective on taking on new challenges, more of a positive spin on it.
Stephanie Davis:
So you're both juggling MBAs right now and class can teach you so much about running a small business. Is there anything that you haven't learned in those classes that have surprised you about being a business owner?
Raj Kamaria:
I would say for me personally, it's that in all these classes in MBA, and then even back in undergrad, you learn like very specific parts of a business. Like if you had a business, this is how you would record your money via accounting. Or if you had a business, this is how you'd market it. But I feel like the core thing of actually having a business is never really addressed because that's the hardest to replicate. There's no way for them to be like, "Here's the business. Do it." So putting all the different pieces together and being in the middle of it is probably the hardest part. So like the synthesis of all of it, in my opinion.
Stephanie Davis:
That makes sense.
Dusty Weis:
What about you Manali?
Manali Shah:
I definitely echo that with my MBA program I think it was exciting to learn a lot about the different aspects of owning a business. But as Raj said, just when you're in it, it's a totally unique different area and you just got to do it day by day.
Stephanie Davis:
I first heard about Pyaari Weddings mentioned on The Everygirl, which is a media group located in Chicago that has all kinds of content and articles really directed at female millennials. So it covers everything from running a business, to lifestyle, to Trader Joe's shopping tips, which everybody always needs those. It just covers all of the things. The article that Pyaari was mentioned in is that you guys won a small business grant. So first of all, congratulations on that, that's super exciting. I know they had a lot of people to choose from people got to vote, so the fact that you won is awesome, has that helped business at all? And what, if any plans do you have to do with the funding?
Manali Shah:
Yeah. Thank you so much. I too love The Everygirl blog it's really helpful with these unique tips. But the funding definitely helped us a lot with some of our expenses such as the marketing and SEO expenses, so it helped us there. And it also helped us bring a lot of traction too. So we had some followers from The Everygirl also follow us on our channel, which really helped us to expand ourselves and get the word out so that was great. In terms of our future plans, so we also would like to use the funding for some of these new ideas that we have in the future, such as expanding to have a marketplace on our site. So that's still in the works right now, but I think we would use some of the funding for that and then whatever other expense comes down the line.
Raj Kamaria:
Winning The Everygirl competition just added legitimacy to us. We had started literally just a month before. And so we were kind of like, whatever, throw our hat in the ring, see what happens. And then somehow it made the top 10 list and somehow won it. And we we're like, "Wow, maybe we do have a good idea."
Dusty Weis:
That's awesome. Getting that kind of kudos, that confirmation that you're onto something. It makes a big difference, particularly when you're just starting out as a business owner. I know that there were days early on in my entrepreneurial journey where I'm sitting in my office by myself and thinking, "What the heck am I doing?" There's no reaction. I'm just yelling into a vacuum. And then to start to get that feedback to be recognized like that, it had to feel really good.
Manali Shah:
No, I agree. It felt great. I was telling Raj that before we applied, I didn't even think that we would win this. I didn't think we were there yet. But then after we got selected as a finalist, I was like... I called him at 9:00 AM. And I'm like, "Oh my God, we actually made it in the top 10. We actually are legitimate. We can do this." And then luckily everything else was good and we became a winner.
Stephanie Davis:
You guys mentioned that right now, most of your profits are driven by ads, but you also have plans to expand the business. Can you explain a little bit more about what those expansion plans look like and what you're hoping to achieve?
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah, absolutely. So the first leg of our business is that we basically are an intermediary between these vendors and then people who are planning to get married or planning their wedding. The second piece of it, as we thought about it was well after you plan a wedding, you also have to buy a bunch of stuff. You have to buy tuxedos, dresses, there's religious items, gifts, favors, et cetera. And so we thought about that too and we're like, "Well, I wonder if there's like a centralized marketplace to buy all that stuff too." Like an eBay or a micro eBay or micro Amazon where you can just buy wedding stuff. And there's Etsy and there's a bunch of random different places you can go. But once again, nothing really employee organized where it's like, "If you have a wedding, here you go. This is where you look." So then we thought about it and we're like, "Well, there's probably four or five different categories of things you have to buy for your wedding."
Raj Kamaria:
And there's all these little small businesses that we found all over the place that make gifts or give you lighting or what have you. So we were like, "Well, since we already have the basic infrastructure, why don't we just basically take the same business model and instead of being an intermediary between a service provider, we can be an intermediary between someone who makes or sells an actual thing to a couple or to someone who's getting married."
Dusty Weis:
It's a solid idea. There's a lot of room for expansion there. That much said looking back at almost your first year in business, you guys launched this in February of 2020, 2020 of course got weird after February and the pandemic set in and a lot of people's wedding plans got disrupted by that. Has the pandemic affected your business model and your approach to this venture at all?
Manali Shah:
I don't think it has for us just because we have a unique feature on our site as well, that tracks your guest count. So if you are having a micro wedding 50% or less, you can actually go on our site, put in your actual guest count of 40 people or whatever it is. And then you'll still get that detailed estimate of what your wedding would cost so I think that piece is still there. So so far that's been working for us.
Dusty Weis:
And that's a relief at least.
Stephanie Davis:
Yeah. And I would think too that if people... If they're not necessarily canceling, but just postponing until next year. People like you guys have still gotten engaged this year, so I think that it definitely has the potential to keep going, which is great.
Dusty Weis:
Speaking of which, how have your own wedding plans been impacted and is there a date we didn't ask? When's the big day?
Manali Shah:
So our wedding planning is still going on. We are moving forward. We're looking at September 5th, 2021 of next year.
Raj Kamaria:
Do you feel like you've spent more time planning other people's weddings than your own at this point?
Manali Shah:
Oh yeah. Yeah.
Raj Kamaria:
Our wedding feels like a piece of cake. It's like, "Oh, just take this thing out of the spreadsheet. This is what we're going to do. All right."
Stephanie Davis:
And following in suit of just all of the pandemic things. So here, you guys are engaged, living together, running the business together, working together, doing all of the things. How have you enjoyed working with each other?
Raj Kamaria:
It's definitely been different. And I actually feel like planning our own wedding is where this started. So I thought, and I think Manali also thought I would be super hands-off and I was like, "Oh, whatever wedding she'll take care of it." But then I somehow morphed into a groomzilla and I was like, "I want these three things, no matter what." And she was like, "Who the hell are you?" So I think starting then we realized, or I maybe self realized that I like to be involved in some of the aspects of planning this. And so that kind of carried over into our business as well, where it's like, "Okay, we both have our strong points." Manali in particular is really good at content creation and marketing. I'm more from a financy background somewhere in the back end doing numbers and stuff. And we kind of just have to find that balance, but there's definitely areas where it's not like, "Oh, we're all lovey-dovey." It's like, "Oh, we're business partners."
Dusty Weis:
Being business partners does that strengthen the love and bonds of romantic partnership would you say?
Manali Shah:
No, not at all. I feel like at this point-
Raj Kamaria:
Wish we could say yes.
Manali Shah:
So Pyaari it's like our baby, we're just so heavily involved in this that sometimes we forget to take time off for ourselves. So like occasionally I'll just talk to Raj and be like, "Okay, no, work stuff, no Pyaari Wedding stuff let's just have me and you watch a movie or something like that." But even then something Pyaari Weddings related will come up in our conversation. So at this point we've just learned to accept it, but no, we really try to value any time that we have together before we actually do get married so we're trying.
Raj Kamaria:
I think because both of us are working as well. So we have finite time. So when we see each other we're going out for like, quote unquote, like a date night on a Saturday or something, it's like, "Okay, oh, by the way, we only have six hours let's do both." And so inevitably both come in the way and therefore it's not, "Oh, this is just us hanging out." It's like, "Oh, this is also work time." Which isn't the best feeling. But I guess it's something you have to manage as an entrepreneur, especially when the partner is also your partner in your business.
Dusty Weis:
I've said before, you really have to like a person to live with them; you really have to like a person to marry them; and you really, really have to like a person to go in together on a business venture. So you guys clearly are cut from special cloth and it's just really exciting to see you guys succeed the way that you have. I know, I sure wish that Pyaari Weddings was around when my wife and I were wedding planning. You could have saved me so many venting sessions. This is just one disgruntled groom's opinion but I think that you've tapped into a real need in the marketplace and I think that you're going to be very successful.
Stephanie Davis:
Manali and Raj, it has been so great getting to know you and learn about your business. Thank you so much for joining us on Back of the Napkin.
Raj Kamaria:
Yeah. Thank you so much Stephanie and Dusty. It's been a great time.
Manali Shah:
Yeah. Thanks for having us.
Dusty Weis:
Can't wait to see what's next for you guys. It's going to be great.
Stephanie Davis:
I really think they're onto something with their business. Here I think that a lot goes into just being a bridesmaid. I can't even imagine how my friends juggle all of the planning. I need to share Pyaari Weddings with them ASAP. And maybe I'll watch a little Say Yes to the Dress on the side, just for fun.
Dusty Weis:
You're going to put your feet up and enjoy a little Fleur de Champagne maybe to enhance the experience.
Stephanie Davis:
I think I will maybe see if I have some cake floating around or try to enact my best Bake Off skills and make my own.
Dusty Weis:
That sounds like a pretty good little reality TV binge right there. But that is all that we have for this episode of Back of the Napkin, where we explore big journeys in the world of small business with the personalities who make it happen.
Stephanie Davis:
Please make sure you subscribe in your favorite podcast app. And if you enjoyed the show give us a five-star rating or even a review. We'd love to hear from you about any ideas you have for small business owners who we should be featuring on our show.
Dusty Weis:
Back of the Napkin is brought to you by SurePayroll from easy online payroll to 401(k) support and award-winning customer service. SurePayroll has been serving the payroll and business needs of small businesses for more than 20 years. Learn more at surepayroll.com and get one month free as a new customer.
Stephanie Davis:
Here on Back of the Napkin our executive producer is my boss SurePayroll's Carey Straetz, co-producers are Kevin Aubrey, Ashley Peterson and Dave Papa and our production partners are Podcamp Media.
Dusty Weis:
Where we provide brand podcast production solutions for businesses. Our editor and producer is Larry Kilgore III. So thanks for tuning into Back of the Napkin, I'm Dusty Weis.
Stephanie Davis:
And I'm Stephanie Davis.
