As personal as it can get

Amidst the bouquet of innovative start-ups that are mushrooming by the hour in the City is ‘Kisses By Candlelight’, nestled in Kalyan Nagar, which believes in spreading smiles on faces each day. Their forte lies in making customised gifts and planning destination weddings and theme parties.

Founded by Ayushi Garg and Nadheem Ahmed in their early 20s, its USP is personalised gifts and solutions like couple crosswords, midnight singing telegrams, grow-it-yourself plant kits, inverse ‘tamboolams’ and fully edible love notes. Once, they had created ‘message in a bottle’ invitations for a brand launch which were hand-delivered. Their newest product line, the satin boxer shorts that they have launched as a separate brand itself, is doing its rounds in the City.

They are well-versed in setting up creative parties and destination weddings, with innovative themes like Moroccan and kitsch, so that marriages actually look like they are made in heaven.

Receiving boring gifts at their workplaces and seeing friends who were always on the lookout for that special something led the duo to come up with their start-up in February 2010.

‘Kisses By Candlelight’ is as personal as it can get; they involve the customer in different aspects of the planning to render their special days as close to as what they have imagined.

They brainstorm with the client often on various ideas. The designs are suited to the requirements of an individual customer — be it in terms of budget, ideation or timelines.

They offer personalised services like back-end RSVP logistics and have an in-house decor and design team which assists them in their events. Apart from regular services like venue planning, food and beverages, entertainment and décor, they also provide on-site support, arrival/departure arrangement, RSVP calls, styling and pre-wedding parties.

The two were really young when they started their company so they had to steer through a number of challenges that came their way. Ayushi adds, “We looked young and dressed young too. Some clients were sceptical about whether we would be able to deliver what we were offering and convincing them was the tough part. Another challenge is the constant struggle we go through to show our clients what our USP is and why they would be happy availing services from us.” However, she wishes that her start-up would have a pan-Indian presence soon. 

Ayushi’s background in media and psychology helps her add her marketing skills to the company while Nadeem has a background in computers and helps with operations. They greatly rely on word of mouth and repeat clients and are currently working on building a strong online base. Ayushi says, “One of the biggest differences between working for someone else and for yourself is the freedom it offers you – be it the creative freedom to pitch in ideas or the freedom of allotting enough time per client. It’s also a sense of ownership that can make you feel exhilarated and nervous at the same time. However, there is also the fact that at a job, you can just close the door at the end of the day and not think about it till morning. That doesn’t happen for us anymore.”