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Meet Nikki and Madiha Khan of Exquisite Events

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki and Madiha Khan.

Nikki and Madiha, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It all started in my teen years when I attended a prestigious Swiss Finishing School where I resided with my family. Seed was planted at the ripe age of thirteen to entertain with a flair and this passion has remained at the very core of our business. My father who was a linguist and spoke seven languages fluently with three PhDs to his credit had a profound influence on my child hood and I inherited my love for books, architecture, travels and fine cuisine from him. I got married in 1972 and moved to LA and have lived here ever since. This beautiful city that I call home has blessed me with four children and my only daughter Madiha is also my business partner. I worked as a clinical dietitian for a few years and was not feeling completely fulfilled with my job. As luck would have it, my boss left the hospital to start her event planning company where I was fortunate enough to intern and learn all the nuances and nuts and bolts of the business. Since my heart was always set in creating unparalleled experience for the client and their guests and my passion to create memorable details in social events, I left after one year and started Exquisite Events in 2000. Our forte and focus has been planning and designing weddings. To this day, we have produced some spectacular over the top weddings over the years and I can honestly say that I am as passionate about this business as I was when I started. My style is classic and some of my favorite design houses are Chanel, Bottega Venetta, YSL and Sonia Rykiel. I derive inspiration from nature, fashion, window displays, movies and books and love to watch old classics on TV. I am a doting grandmother to five beautiful grand children ranging in ages from 14 years to 6 weeks and love to spend time and babysit whenever I can.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Like with any small business, we have encountered growing pains with number of challenges. Our number one challenge has been hiring the right people who are passionate, eager to work and have the willingness to work long hours. We have been very proud of some of our interns who have now gone on with their own event planning businesses and are doing well. It is our level of personal engagement with the client and attention to detail that has made our business successful and the challenge is to keep the brand we have built viable and alive. In this business, you have to always keep reminding yourself that ” you are as good as your last event ” and be consistent which is sometimes hard to achieve with hired help and due to this we have over the years also had to face the challenge of ” business owner fatigue ” for keeping very long hours. I have now learned to have a little time off without feeling guilty. One major obstacle we have faced over the years is the fact we are perceived only as ” Indian Wedding Planners “. As much as we love to design and plan Indian Weddings and are very well versed in the cultural nuances and traditions we would also like to be known as ” best wedding planners “. This will hopefully happen soon.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Exquisite Events – what should we know?
Nikki got in to event planning business by default. A friend of hers who always admired her design aesthetics whenever she entertained at home approached her to do her daughter’s sweet sixteen. She was thrilled to be asked and put her heart and soul in to the event. Since the response was over whelming, she thought that was the best time to open the business and Exquisite Events was born in 2000. Shortly after opening the company, we landed our first job with a client who has hired us to do all three children’s weddings and all major milestones in their lives. It has been an amazing journey which has lead us to do weddings and speaking engagements on luxury weddings worldwide. Our forte is still South Asian Weddings and we have had the good fortune of planning and designing some pretty amazing and over the top weddings. Our motto has always been ” You are as good as your last event ” and this is what our staff is taught right from the get go to never take any event for granted. Since we don’t advertise and our business is purely based on word of mouth, we have had repeat clients with whom we have developed close bond and history. This is a fascinating industry and if you work hard and nurture and develop good relationships whether with clients or vendors, the rewards are great.

We primarily do upscale Indian Weddings with multiple back to back events and my daughter and I personally give our attention and focus to each client. We are also very particular about not ” overbooking ” so each event and client gets 100% of our attention from the time they book our services leading to the conclusion and follow up of events.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
We have our clients to thank and all our friends and family who have supported us throughout the years. Without them, we truly would not be able to do what we do. It is a lot of hard work and weekends away and we have been truly lucky with such tremendous support.

Success to us is to continue to do the best you are capable of doing and reaping great rewards. We have been blessed with creating an amazing brand which is recognized all over the globe. And this in turn has lead us to land some amazing weddings all over. To us the quote from Maya Angelou is very befitting ” Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it “. It is the relentless pursuit to perfection and working on any project with utmost passion. Our success is also attributed to the fact that we are fully immersed in our work and also feel that the more actively engaged we are, the more we feel successful. In the end, going back to the fact you can never sit on your laurels and take things for granted so be on top of the trends, styles and continue to seek knowledge and get inspired.

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Image Credit:
John Solano Photography
Mike Colon Phoography
Mike Colon Photography
Duke Photography
Ana and Jerome Photography
Megan Stark Photography
Callaway Gable Photography
John Solano Photography

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