Marry, marry, quite contrary!

The wedding season is upon us and with the demonitisation in place, you can now forget spending exuberant amount of money on flower arrangements. Ever heard of a wedding without flowers? Bengaluru girl Nilma Dileepan executes them perfectly with just plants! “I must say that people are getting a little more environmentally-conscious and with that comes the trend of green weddings,” she tells us. Nilma’s style is a heady mix of succulents, creepers and cacti (who would have thought!) along with a mix of furniture and fabric like jute, something she uses to spin a refreshing tale. “It’s minimal and not over the top. It’s not loud and gaudy and everyone from the young to the old have told me that everything looks like it belongs there and is not out of place,” she says about the décor that starts from as less as Rs 30,000. According to her, these very relatives can also be an interference sometimes.

“The most challenging part is to deal with the people at weddings. You need to convince an aunty here and an uncle there about why something needs to stay the way it is,” she quips. Just like giving away saplings at weddings or seeds with invites, this trend too, is getting the nod because you don’t have to throw away the plants. In fact, you can replant them! “Usually, the bride and groom take them, but if there is an excess, it adds to our foliage collection at office,” she adds.

Organising and coordinating, it seems comes naturally to Nilma. “It all starts at home, you know? I’d love moving things around at home, much to my mom’s chagrin. Or I’d be backstage helping the dramatics team with the props and in putting up the set,” she says. After working in advertising production for over four years, she quit to focus on her creative energies and it paid off. “I was jobless and I took up my friend’s wedding and then it was another friend’s baby shower. Soon, I started getting orders,” says Nilma, an alumnus of Mount Carmel College, who now heads her own little team of people at With Love, Nilma that create magic.

The year 2017, she says, is looking brighter than ever. It’s only December, but the enterpriser has plans until August if you’ll believe it. Needless to say, she has no time to unwind. “We all have those times when we don’t want to talk to anyone and when that happens, I like to chill with a movie,” she smiles.