Wanderlust-ing with Desi Lantern’s Bloggers’ Meet
As a bespoke wedding décor and event design brand, Desi Lantern has designed, created and customized events, distinctive beyond expectation, for over 7 years. In Kolkata, we have never come across any décor designer hosting and organizing a bloggers meet.
So, when this idea was suggested to us by our team, we were apprehensive initially-how would the Kolkata bloggersreact to the brand, since they usually feature fashion and lifestyle brands only on their blog. The reach and benefit of digital media is growing by the hour, so we decided to give it a shot. It was a first that an event décor brand organized a bloggers meet in the City of Joy.
After endless brainstorming, research and analysis, we approached Nikita Agarwal Manchanda, Blogger-In-Chief: Pentwister, to co-host the bloggers meet with us. Our rationale behind organizing this bloggers’ meet was to create an unforgettable experience for each blogger as well as to showcase our work through their eyes, providing perfectly curated and unique décor at the event. Most importantly, we wanted to make them feel special and at home, personalized to the T.
With Nikita on board, we started to devise on a theme. We needed to plan the entire event around it, especially the décor. We didn’t really want to do the usual, run-of-the-mill kind of a décor; we wanted to break the monotony and bring out a theme that would resonate with everyone. And voila! Consensus was, that in today’s time of hectic work and stress, ‘Travel’ is a solace to everyone. Hence, we zeroed in on the Theme – ‘Wanderlust’. We began conceptualizing the event to craft an evening for the bloggers, making beautiful memories that will stay with them.
Once the theme was in place, we started thinking about how we would design and customize the invite. Since we are travel aficionados ourselves, we procured different items from around the world to put together the invitation. A Beautiful wooden tray from our trip to Bali, a Piggy Bank from Europe, and custom-made ‘Wanderlust’ travel tags personalized for each blogger, a leather journal etched with our brand logo, personalized greeting card and the brand brochure made up each invitation. The entire hamper that we put together beautifully for the bloggers, keeping akin to the theme.
The venue & date for the meet got checked- Ganges Art Gallery on the 17th June, Saturday. The art gallery transformed into a space for travel enthusiasts, ready for wonderful journey with us around the world. We wanted the bloggers to interact, unwind and be comfortable like we do during vacations. A few simple games kept the tempo. On arrival, the bloggers were given a ‘Welcome shot’- a question attached to it that determined their seat for the event. A handmade denim neck piece for the girls, and a leather wrist band for the boys were handed over too; why denim you ask?It is most widelyworn fabric on leisure travel, as it’s fuss free and comfortable- Every little detail was considered and allied to the theme for the day.
We wanted the bloggers to experience what Desi Lantern is all about- thus we gave them an experience of a 5 course sit down dinner. An 18 seater table was laid out with flowers and centrepieces such as miniature monuments from different parts of the world. Items such as airplanes, cars, globes, small briefcases, pebbles, flags with the world map, cameras, mason jars, candles etc adorned the table. The flowers used were not the usual too- purple lavender, hydrangea, tulips and white peonies added that touch of elegance.
The activities for the evening included a ‘Trivia Quiz’ on greetings in various languages around the world. What followed suit was indeed a treat for our bloggers– a professional choreographer jiving to Latin American, Hip Hop, Salsa, Bachata and hit Bollywood numbers. Not only the bloggers but we as hosts thoroughly enjoyed all the dancing and couldn’t help breaking into a move.
The dancing brought everyone’s hunger pangs alive. The nibblers included a scrumptious Lebanese platter and some Proseco & White Wine to set the mood. The Lavish 5 course sit down meal included a signature dish from 5 different cuisines- to give a spot-on travel experience. It included Crispy Bowl from Mexico, Turkish Pizza from Turkey, Conchigli Pasta from Italy, Thai Flavoured Bundles in Peanut Sauce from Thailand and Choux buns filled with crème from France. Our guests for the evening were swooned by the arrangement.
A ‘Bloggers’ Meet’ is incomplete without truckloads of pictures, and the hot space is always the photo booth. Ours was a frame of a hot air balloon and few suitcases, inducing ‘Wanderlust’ in our fellow travellers. The bloggers went berserk clicking pretty selfies and creating eventful memories on social media. Brownie points for us!
The bloggers experienced a curated meet true ‘Desi Lantern’ style. Today, we can proudly say that we changed the maxim of the usual ‘bloggers meets’ in the city. Wanderlust by Desi Lantern gave its guests a complete fun experience, replete with quirky activities, amazing themed décor, scrumptious food and plenty of memories; It came together to have made Wanderlust the best bloggers meet till date, as per the bloggers’ unanimous consent. We, Priti Agarwalla & Sunaina Agarwal, founders of Desi Lantern, are grateful for the love and appreciation that each one of the bloggers have flooded us with – it just drives us to ideate, execute and deliver work par excellence and there’s nothing better than being valued for our effort.