My husband Musa proposed to me in 2021 when I was halfway through completing my graduate degree. We had been planning on getting married for a while, so the proposal was no surprise, but what I didn't expect was how much work was about to be added to my already full plate. As is tradition with South Asian weddings, we wouldn't be having just one wedding ceremony. With events like a mayoun and nikkah added to the festivities, our wedding ended up spanning the length of two weeks, with me taking the lead on planning four of the events.

Like any millennial would, I took to Instagram to find vendors like makeup and henna artists. But this search turned out to be EXHAUSTING. Different artists used different hashtags, I couldn't find vendors based on their location, and I felt like my search was never over. With no central resource to learn about Desi vendors and no reviews to read on Instagram, I had no idea how to finalize who I wanted to work with. Decision fatigue coupled with the anxiety that I would select the wrong vendors started making my wedding planning process unbearable.

So, the idea for Laali began to form. Wouldn't it be amazing if I could find vendors who were experienced with South Asian weddings on one platform? And what if I could even read reviews from other brides who had worked with them? I needed to build this, #fortheculture. My own wedding planning experience may be over, but I created Laali for the millions of other South Asian women in the US who have yet to plan their dream weddings. Because after carrying the weight of complicated identities, big families, and external pressures our whole lives, we deserve a beautiful, easy, stress-free wedding planning experience.