Manifest Spotlight: Wedding Social Media Planners Natasha And Anam Of ‘Wedding Social’

A few years ago, creating a hashtag for your wedding became all the rage. As is the case with innovation of any sort, it’s usually not received well in its most nascent stages. The wedding hashtags were meted with the same treatment. Some called it cringe, some called it extra. But currently, wedding social media management is one of the largest, most liked methods of wedding storytelling. This is something that Natasha Kothari and Anam Batliwala of Wedding Social understand incredibly well.

Anam and Natasha discovered the social media gap in wedding planning, how there was hardly anyone documenting weddings on Instagram (not even the guests). This propelled them to create a team that can capture the best, most candid moments during weddings and, thus, in 2022 ‘Wedding Social’ was born. We decided to take a deep dive into their journey and what exactly a wedding social media manager does, so take a look…

In Conversation With Anam & Natasha Of Wedding Social

Manifest: Tell us about Wedding Social. When did the brand come into conception and what inspired you both to start the brand?

Anam: Well, Natasha was already in the social media marketing business, she was considering wedding social media managing as a career and since I already had experience working in advertising, it seemed almost natural to launch our own company. We did so in April 2022, and since I was set to get married in the same year in July, we decided to make my wedding a pilot project for our wedding social media managing company Wedding Social, which turned out to be successful.

Natasha: Yes, so I was a social media marketing agency founder, and I recall that sometimes freelancers would be hired to cover weddings. I just noticed that this sector was quite unorganised. Anam and I started our brand because we realised there was a market gap in the way things were being done for weddings, in terms of social media.

M: What makes wedding social media management different to social media management for brands or people?

Natasha: Social media management involves a lot of pre-planning. But with weddings, there are a lot more candid and spontaneous moments to be captured or strategised around. In fact, the reason we even wanted to start a wedding social media company is because we wanted to capture those candid moments. Social media management is about finding ways to connect brands to Instagram, but with weddings, people already love weddings, and people already love love. So, our job is to curate wedding moments filled with love and endearment in a beautiful and detailed way.

M: What’s the most exciting part of your job?

Anam: It has to be when the family or the loved ones get involved in the entire process as well.

Natasha: There have been instances when we’re shooting the bride and the bride’s father has called us to suggest an interesting way to capture the moment. It’s truly heartwarming to witness that take place.

M: Why do you think couples should hire wedding social media planners?

Natasha: The thing about wedding social media management is that it can offer a sense of comfort to family and friends who for some reason are unable to make it to the wedding.

Anam: Yes, because, we’re often putting up live stories as and when the wedding is taking place, and loved ones can view them in real time!

Natasha: Other than this, as we’d mentioned above, capturing the candid moments during a wedding, truly has our hearts. We also make it a point to incorporate social media trends into our posts, which adds a humorous and charming touch to the storytelling we’re doing for the wedding. So, there’s a lot that comes with putting your wedding story up on social media.

M: Wedding social media management has really kind of snuck up on us, it wasn’t really a prominent career option a couple of years ago. What do you think has led to the Indian wedding landscape welcoming wedding social media management?

Natasha: So, a few years ago, say around 2017,  influencers’ wedding images began getting a lot of traction on Instagram, and that led to others wanting to document their wedding online as well. Simultaneously, many wedding planning companies were hiring freelancers to cover the work they were doing for their clients, so they had people recording and shooting videos and pictures at the wedding. So, at some point, these two things collided. Where there was no cohesion and proper social media planning, freelancers for wedding planning companies and the idea of capturing your wedding for the gram somehow came together.

Anam: So, as Natasha mentioned, earlier there was no concept of sending the to-be-wedded couple proposals, or pitch decks. It was simply not an organised process or even a profession. Event planners were hiring anyone who could get good content for them. We came into the business making a couple of pages a priority. And we also work with event managers, decor planners, makeup artists and wedding vendors, to put their work out there, not just with couples who are getting married. Because right now, everyone wants their work to put their best foot forward, especially on Instagram.

M: Can you recall a) a funny incident and b) a heartwarming one that took place at a recent wedding that you’d also like to share with us?

Anam: A funny moment we can recall is when a joota chhupai was taking place during a wedding in Jaipur. The groom is very tall, and the younger brother of the bride literally climbed onto him like a ladder to get a hold of the shoes! It was hilarious.

Natasha: As for the heartwarming moments, it’s always wonderful to see the bride and groom share moments of sheer love or to see the parents with their children while they are getting married.

M: Wedding social media management has seemed to become a new-age storytelling medium for weddings (as opposed to photography). What direction do you see wedding social media strategy going in?

Natasha: Right now, couples are quite enthusiastic about and invested in recreating trends. For instance, outfit transition videos etc. In fact, they ask for us to research and get to them with interesting trends to recreate. Along with that, many micro-influencers are taking their wedding content as an opportunity to launch their businesses or products, which is also a new development.

Anam: Earlier, wedding social media management mostly revolved around the couple, only. But now, more and more people want their families to also be a part of the videos and images. So we’ll probably be seeing more of that, going forward.

Manifest Cheat Sheet

M: Who do you think should come to Wedding Social to get their wedding captured?

N&A: Any couple who wants to showcase their wedding in the best possible way and doesn’t want to bother their family or loved ones to document their wedding.

M: How would you define your style of work?

N&A: Candid, Aesthetic, and Real.

M: How far in advance should clients reach out to you?

N&A: Three to four months.

M: Can you give us an insight into the pricing details of your services?

N&A: It depends on how far in advance the couples want us to start working with them. But as a starting point, it’s INR 1,00,000.

M: What is your delivery/turn-out period?

N&A: While the stories go live, we start providing the other deliverables within three days.