Dildiya Concierge: A Wedding Service For Brides Ballin’ On A Budget

Tell me a bit about Dildiya and the people behind-the-scenes. How did you decide to start it?

Dildiya is a South Asian wedding planning resource for clients, vendors, and planners alike. Dildiya’s Vendor Collection brings couples access to 1000+ wedding vendors and Dildiya Concierge provides a platform for couples to connect with experienced planners in the wedding industry.

The planners on our platform are carefully vetted in order to ensure the best planning experience for our couples. Dildiya was created by a team of three. Kishan and Ishwarya have been through their own wedding planning process, and Nirali is a full-time wedding planner who has been in the South Asian wedding industry for over 10 years. We all saw the opportunity to help clients, planners, and vendors in the South Asian wedding industry given the lack of usable resources.

I’ve come across a lot of inventive and unique services for South Asian brides and couples, but there is nothing out there like your concierge service. What was the motivation behind creating that?

After going through DIY wedding planning ourselves, we realized there were a number of nuanced details we wished we knew during the planning process. Full-service wedding planners are an incredible resource for those who have the need/budget.

Dildiya Concierge was meant to be a resource that can help individuals who are more budget-constrained, DIYers, or those that only plan to have a day-of coordinator (generally doesn’t get involved until 6-8 weeks from the wedding date).

Can you walk me through some scenarios of how someone can use your concierge service?

Absolutely! Dildiya Concierge is a platform to connect couples to wedding planners for affordable, hourly wedding planning services on their schedule. How the time is spent with the planner is completely up to the client!

Here are a few examples:

A client is overwhelmed with contract language and isn’t sure if they have considered all the relevant details. A Dildiya Concierge planner can help get expert eyes on the client’s contract and talk them through some negotiating tactics.

A client wants to be super involved in the planning process but isn’t quite sure where to start! This happens to everyone and a Dildiya Concierge planner can help give the client an overview of things to expect and provide tips on how best to tackle the planning process as efficiently as possible, and help walk them through Dildiya’s free wedding planning checklist and creation of a wedding timeline. 

A client has a day-of coordinator who won’t be involved through the entire duration of planning, but they need help with narrowing down their list of vendors and finding the most cost-effective ways to stay within their budget.

A Dildiya Concierge planner can provide them with helpful tips and tricks to make sure they’ve accurately allocated their budget to support their dream wedding.

What types of brides and couples can benefit the most from a service like this?

Our target audience is really the DIY wedding planning couple and what we like to call “ballers on a budget”!

Also, we like to say that Dildiya Concierge allows couples to “date” their planner before “marrying” them. We know wedding costs can be extremely overwhelming and not everyone can prioritize hiring a full-service wedding planner. We hope that our hourly planning service can be a middle ground for these couples that may still benefit from getting first-hand advice from a seasoned planner.

Our couples also have the option to hire their Dildiya Concierge planner for extended services (e.g. day-of coordination, full-service planning, etc.) if they so wish.

A lot of brides, couples, and their families may not want to invest the money in a wedding planner, especially when there are so many other expenses that come along with weddings that are perceived to be more important to them than coordination, like decor or the venue or catering. How can those people find value in your services, particularly if they won’t have anyone there the weekend-of?

This is a major use case for Dildiya Concierge. We know wedding costs can be extremely overwhelming and not every can prioritize hiring a wedding planner. We hope that our hourly planning service can be a middle ground for these couples.

In the specific scenario of not having a weekend-of coordinator, our Dildiya Concierge planner would be able to provide helpful tips and tricks to the client to assign point people for the weekend (family, bridal party, etc.) to make sure things run smoothly by creating detailed timelines for all events and vendors. They can also help the couple get organized with all the wedding details using the free wedding planning template provided to all Dildiya Concierge couples.

Clearly we are in uncharted territory with the coronavirus outbreak, shelter-in-place orders in effect, travel restrictions in place, etc. How do you see your concierge service playing a positive role for couples whose wedding events are upended by this?

Glad you asked! We are offering FREE Concierge service sessions to clients to coach them on how to navigate their specific situation with regards to COVID-19.

We have a hotline number 409-234-5512 (M-F, 10am – 5pm CST) or they can email us at [email protected] for more info.

And there you have it! So if your disorganized Masi has named herself de facto planner in the name of saving some money, do yourself a favor by kicking her to the curb and calling the folks at Dildiya instead.

Also, be sure to check out the Dildiya Vendor Collection (1000+ South Asian wedding vendors) and stay tuned for new features that Dildiya will be releasing in the upcoming months at www.dildiya.com.