Every founder story starts with a problem that keeps coming back. For Sahil Kathuria, it was the same conversation he heard in his 11+ years of wedding planning: families struggling to find the right venue, compare their options and understand what they were actually paying for. After seeing this play out hundreds of times, he knew venue booking needed a better way. That realisation was the beginning of Sahil Kathuria’s journey as the founder of Vivahnam, and eventually, Vivahnam itself.
Why Was Vivahnam Started?
The problem was clear, but turning that observation into a business meant understanding what families actually needed. We asked Sahil what made him believe this was a problem worth solving:
1. What made you feel this problem was worth solving?
“I kept meeting families going through the exact same struggle,” Sahil says. “They’d call five or six hotels for the same dates, get five or six different quotes that couldn’t even be compared properly, and then wait days for a callback that usually just said ‘tentatively available’. Nobody was giving them a straight answer.”
2. Was there a specific family or moment that stayed with you?
“Plenty, honestly. But it wasn’t about one family. I kept seeing the same thing happen. They weren’t asking for anything unreasonable. They just wanted to know what was available, what it would cost and who they could trust.”
For Sahil, that was enough of a reason to start thinking about how the process could work better.
What Are the Destination Wedding Venue Booking Problems in India?
Ask families who’ve recently planned a destination wedding about booking the venue, and you’ll hear many of the same frustrations:
- No Clear Pricing: The same hotel and dates can come with completely different quotes, leaving families wondering what they should actually be paying.
- Dates on Hold: Dates placed on hold remain tentative until the hotel receives the required 25% advance. Once confirmed by the hotel, the booking is secured.
- Unexpected Costs: Taxes, service charges, meals and other add-ons can appear later, while beverage and liquor charges may not be included in the initial contract. Make sure any agreed discount on liquor consumption is also documented upfront.
- Too Many Middlemen: Working through multiple planners can sometimes signal strong buying intent to the hotel, which may affect the rates quoted to the client.
“None of this needed to be this hard,” Sahil says. That frustration eventually pushed him to build Vivahnam, and this is how Sahil’s journey with Vivahnam started to take shape.
The Sahil Kathuria Interview: On Building Something Different
By this point, Sahil knew that simply putting more venues on a website wouldn’t solve the problem. The bigger question was whether wedding venue booking could work more like other things people already book online, with clearer information and fewer unknowns. That led us to a more fundamental question:
- Why not just join an existing travel platform instead of building a new one?
Flights show you real seats and real prices in real time,” he explains. “Wedding venues, especially for destination weddings, showed families almost nothing until they’d already spent weeks chasing hotels directly. I wanted Vivahnam to work the way booking anything else already does: clear, fast and honest.”
- So what does Vivahnam actually do differently?
We keep the process simple, with clear information and expert support:
- Clear Availability: Families get a clear idea of whether their preferred dates are available before they go any further. Final availability is always confirmed directly with the hotel before booking.
- Clear Pricing: Prices are broken down upfront, without unexpected costs appearing on the final invoice.
- Expert Support: Families can speak to a wedding expert who understands the booking process, rather than dealing with a standard booking agent.
Why Wedding Venue Price Transparency Matters
For Sahil, the venue quote sets the tone for everything that follows. Once families know what the rooms, food and venue will cost, they can start making the rest of the wedding decisions without constantly second-guessing the budget:
“When couples know what they’re paying for: room categories, banquet charges, and everything else, then they can actually plan the wedding as they would have imagined”, he says. “Without that, every decision just turns into a guessing game, and I don’t think anyone should have to guess their way through their own wedding.”
As Vivahnam’s founder, Sahil says that his job isn’t really running a booking platform. “It’s making sure every family that comes to us leaves with a venue that fits their budget, their guest list and their vision, without the runaround they were dealing with before.”
That’s really what sits at the heart of it: taking away the endless follow-ups and unexpected costs, so families can spend less time worrying about the venue and more time getting on with the wedding.
What Makes Vivahnam’s Origin Story Different?
Plenty of platforms list hotels, but Vivahnam was built around what happens after the search begins: the back-and-forth calls, hotel comparisons and decisions that can make venue planning feel harder than it should. Sahil Kathuria’s journey to building Vivahnam shows why fixing those small but overwhelming parts of the process can make a real difference to families planning their weddings.
Talk to our team, share your dates, guest count and preferred destination, and we’ll help you compare pricing and make the booking process easier to navigate.
