Knowledge of white dresses and waltzes may be enough in some places. In the Southern California wedding business, it will get you only so far.
For my latest City Beat, I attended "Indian Weddings 101," a seminar to help planners expand their business into new communities.
It was hosted by Wedding Store 24, a bridal clearinghouse in Artesia's Little India, and held in the old L.A. grandeur of the Ebell of Los Angeles, a women's club.
Musicians played tabla and Indian slide guitar. Bollywood dancers swirled and twirled. And a series of speakers gave the lowdown on the basics of Hindu and Muslim wedding ceremonies, Indian wedding etiquette, henna art and Bollywood.
Photo:Omni Patel models a traditional Indian zardosi sari during a fashion show at an Indian Weddings 101 exhibition at the Ebell of Los Angeles club. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times