Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Uzair Iqbal. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Uzair, appreciate you joining us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?

Going back in time, I wish my family would have started the wedding and events services company sooner. Using my wedding in 2023 as an inspiration, my family decided to use the wedding sofa we bought to rent it out for weddings afterwards. That kickstarted an inspiration for us where we decided to go all in on starting a wedding decorations. Having attended many desi (S. Asian) weddings in San Antonio, we knew we were fulfilling a need for decorators who understand the ceremonies and customs. Thus Indus Occasions was born. Indus refers to the Indus Valley in Pakistan, where my family came from. We wanted to bring cultural authenticity to our work in San Antonio and throughout Texas. Starting years earlier would have put us on track for financial independence that we had been hoping for. Just before the 2020 pandemic, my dad had to close down our family’s gas station due to years of construction putting strain on our sales. It was a tough time for our family since we poured our soul into that location. However, since starting Indus Occasions, the support we have received for our work throughout Texas has been overwhelming. Clients across Texas have reached out about our work and we are hoping to expand outside of Texas as well.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Indus Occasions is a wedding decorations and events services company based in San Antonio, TX working throughout Texas. The name Indus comes from the Indus Valley in Pakistan where our family is from. Having lived in San Antonio since 2005, my family understood the need for a desi (S. Asian) decorator and planner that could cater to the S. Asian diaspora here. So, in September 2023, we started renting out a gold and white wedding sofa that we bought for my wedding earlier that year in May 2023. At our first furniture rental, we saw the potential of being wedding decorators and took the leap to come up with the name and register our company. Our biggest inspiration came from my cousin Noreen Iqbal who co-owns Occasions by Bali – a wedding decorations company based in Florida working throughout Southeast USA. She saw the potential for this work in San Antonio and had been pushing us for year s to do it. Since then, we have relied heavily on her years of experience to adjust for San Antonio’s clientele.

Since 2023, we have partnered with many businesses and vendors to provide halal catering, wedding make-up, henna artists, wedding photography and videography along with helping clients find a suitable venue. Our ability to be a one-stop for all weddings and events services differentiates us from other companies. Our caterer can make delicious halal food – food that adheres to Islamic dietary guidelines – for up to 2000 people.

Growing this family company along with working our day jobs has been extremely challenging for my younger brother – Umair – and I, but we divide up the work fairly well in our family. My dad – Munawar Iqbal (co-owner) and I tend to work on the front end with clients, whereas Umair works behind the scenes to turn that vision into a reality. My mom (co-owner) and my wife also work behind the scenes to bring our client’s vision to life before every event. The hardest part has been doing consistent social media marketing for our company. Making relevant social media posts on all platforms – we are on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp- is time consuming. However, with my past social media and branding experience I have been able to create a well understood brand and identity for Indus Occasions that gets recognized within our connections.

When potential clients come to Indus Occasions, I would like for them to know that we go above and beyond for them in ensuring a smooth events day. Our attention to detail and knowledge of variety of events services ensures they have everything covered. Our most proud work has been when potential clients come to us without a template for their upcoming event and within few weeks we turn the concept into a reality!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing for us is seeing our clients and their guests reactions to the decorations on the wedding day. The OOOOHHHHHSS and AAAHHHHHS are wonderful. It also brings a personal satisfaction seeing your work be complete within a day.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Our whole work is based on creativity and visuals. It’s a struggle sometimes to get potential clients to understand how the different decoration elements will come together on the wedding day. Currently, we don’t have a software that can do that for us. This is where we have to build trust with them and ensure them that their vision is understood by us, even though we cannot show it beforehand visually.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indusoccasions
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551334474172
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uzairiqbal2/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@indusoccasions