A family recipe on the wedding menu might be the detail guests talk about for years. A car waiting at the airport or an easy route to the ceremony for an elderly relative may barely come up in conversation. For Anjali Tolani, both deserve the same attention. She looks at a destination wedding from the moment guests leave home to the moment they return.
That approach grew out of Tamarind Global’s four decades in hospitality, travel, transport and events. It also shapes how the team sizes up a destination. A heritage property in Rajasthan might set the tone for an entire wedding, while a celebration in Marrakech can hinge on finding the right caterer for an Indian menu. The decisions that follow, from how guests move between venues to what they eat when they arrive, do as much to shape the experience as the setting itself.
For Manifest Approved, Tolani talks about planning a wedding around the people attending it, giving each function a personality of its own and working with local specialists in unfamiliar destinations.
Manifest (M): How did Tamarind Global Weddings begin, and how did your hospitality background shape its approach?
Anjali Tolani (AT): Tamarind Global Weddings grew naturally from the company’s four decades in hospitality, travel, transport and events. As destination weddings became more complex, we saw an opportunity to bring the discipline of hospitality to wedding planning. We wanted to think through the whole guest journey, from choosing the destination and hotel to planning the food, décor, transfers and celebrations.
A destination wedding begins when a guest leaves home and ends when they return. Our experience helps us assess how a property actually functions. We look at the rooms available, how transfers will work and how guests will move between events. That thinking applies to an intimate wedding just as much as it does to a large celebration.
M: How have couples’ expectations of a luxury wedding changed?
AT: Couples travel extensively and are exposed to hospitality, design, food and entertainment from around the world. They come in with a clearer sense of what they want. They’re looking for a strong point of view, exceptional food, thoughtful entertainment and hospitality that runs smoothly.
There’s still plenty of room for grandeur. Couples increasingly want the celebration to say something about them, whether that’s a family tradition woven into the ceremony, a menu built around their favourite foods or a local experience their guests can discover together. Alongside “How will this look?” they’re asking, “How will our guests feel?”
M: Which destinations are drawing interest, and what do couples want from the setting?
AT: Rajasthan continues to be a strong choice for its heritage properties, architecture and sense of place. Goa appeals to couples who want a more relaxed, contemporary celebration. Internationally, Europe continues to draw interest, while Southeast Asia is gaining momentum for its combination of luxury hospitality, accessibility and distinctive cultural experiences.
We’re also seeing curiosity about places such as Kyoto, Montenegro, Marrakech and Sharm el Sheikh. Couples are increasingly asking what the destination itself can bring to the wedding, through its food, culture, landscape and the experiences guests can have there.
M: What did planning an Indian wedding in Marrakech demand from your team?
AT: Marrakech has been one of our more challenging destinations from an operational and cost perspective. Finding the right partners for Indian food took time, and costs could be higher than clients anticipated. Some services were concentrated among a small group of suppliers, so there was limited flexibility if a particular arrangement fell through.
For one wedding there, we had to find the right food partners, manage costs and coordinate with local suppliers who were unfamiliar with the scale and expectations of an Indian destination wedding. It reinforced how important it is to build those relationships early, agree on what each partner can deliver and have a backup plan.
M: Where do you begin when a couple wants a wedding that feels personal?
AT: We start by getting to know the couple and their families. If the couple are serious food lovers, we might build a series of food experiences across the wedding. If music is a big part of family life, it can shape the entertainment over several days. For guests visiting a destination for the first time, a local experience can become part of the celebration.
Some of the most meaningful touches are quite small. It could be serving a family recipe or bringing back a tradition from the couple’s childhood. Trends can be useful references. What matters is how you interpret them for that particular family.
M: How do you make a three- or four-day wedding feel cohesive while giving each function its own character?
AT: We think of each function as a chapter in the same celebration. The welcome evening might take its cues from the destination and feel informal and social. The mehendi could be more colourful and relaxed, with the wedding and reception becoming progressively more formal.
A material, motif, musical thread or even a particular way of welcoming guests can connect the functions. Over three or four days, guests should feel there’s something new to discover at each event.
M: What’s one detail guests rarely notice that can make or break a destination wedding?
AT: Guest movement. How quickly someone gets from the airport to the hotel. Whether they can find their room easily. Whether transfers leave on time. Whether an elderly guest can comfortably reach an event. These details rarely appear in photographs, but they shape how guests remember the wedding.
M: After years of planning weddings, what can still surprise you?
AT: Families. You can plan a familiar format in a familiar destination for a familiar number of guests, and every family will still have its own dynamics, traditions and expectations. Experience helps you anticipate a lot. The real skill is making sure the unexpected never becomes the guest’s problem.
M: What do you see shaping the next phase of luxury destination weddings?
AT: As couples choose less familiar destinations, we’re increasingly working in places where a wedding of that scale or format may be new. Local planners and specialists know the suppliers, regulations, culture and ways of working on the ground. We bring our experience of managing the couple’s brief, the overall wedding and the guest experience. As celebrations become more ambitious, I think more of them will be planned this way, with teams bringing different expertise to the same wedding.