Nothing at your wedding gets figured out for the first time.

By The Big Day by Chai · Last updated 24 October 2026

This page is everything that happens from the day you book to the day the album arrives: who does what, when, what you'll see in your app, and what we owe you if we miss a date.

Your journey, dated

Eleven stages. Every one has an owner, a date, and a line about what you need to do, which is usually nothing.

Before you book: The Storyboard

A forty-minute sitting (in person or on video) where we design your coverage event by event: which crew each ritual needs, how many sessions, albums kept as a provision. You watch the price come from your wedding, not from a shelf.

• Owner: your BD
• With Shiva's planning team
• You: bring both families' event list

Day 0: You book. The dates go into writing.

Every delivery date (Few Snaps, originals, edited photos, films, albums) is in your contract before you pay. So is the line that pays you ₹5,000 for every week we're late.

• Owner: Happiness Manager assigned this week
• You: read the dates. That's it.

Day 1: Your Happiness Manager calls.

One person, one number, from now until the album. The app invite lands the same day. You can add your fiancé, parents and siblings at three levels of access.

• Owner: Happiness Manager
• You: install the app, invite your people

Weeks out: Pre-wedding shoot, if it's in your build

Two date options from the app, a song reference from you, a planning call with your shoot lead about locations and outfits, then two days of shooting. Everything from the call sits in your Journey so nothing is remembered wrong.

• Owner: your shoot lead
• Dates: Ram's team
• You: pick dates, paste a song

30 days out: The Creative Crunch Call

Your shoot lead and Shiva's plan for your wedding: the story we're telling, the songs, the family list, who the purohit is and when the muhurtham falls. This is the call that means nobody figures anything out on the day.

• Owner: shoot lead
• Signed off by Shiva
• You: the family list, three contacts

The week of: Crew locked, names in your app

Ram's team confirms the crew for every event, the gear, the travel. You see who's coming, and your shoot lead is at every single event.

• Owner: Ram, Operations
• You: nothing

Each event: It starts with your OTP.

The app gives you a code for every event. You hand it to your shoot lead; the shoot begins; you watch the crew check in. No event starts without you knowing.

• Owner: shoot lead
• You: share the code

24 hours after: Few Snaps

A glimpse of every event in your app before the relatives have left the city, with a link your family can open and that keeps updating.

• Owner: post-production
• You: share the link, sleep

10–15 days: All your originals

An SSD with everything we shot. Nothing is held back for later.

• Owner: post-production manager
• You: collect, or we send it

On the calendar: The edit, on its dates

Photos first, then films, each on the date in your contract. If a date has to move, your Happiness Manager tells you before it does, with the new date and the reason. Miss a week, and ₹5,000 is yours.

• Owner: post-production manager
• Reviewed by Shiva, Swaroop and Chai
• You: feedback within a week of each delivery

The last sitting: Your album, chosen live

You pick your favourites with us (the Magnum for the two of you, Press Books for the parents) in one sitting, not over a hundred messages. Then it's printed, boxed and delivered.

• Owner: Happiness Manager
• You: choose, sign, done

Who runs the show

Chai, Founder. Builds the team and the culture, and wrote the systems on this page. Sits in the weekly work review; doesn't run your wedding. Makes sure the people who do are the best in the state.

Swaroop, CEO. Runs the company day to day: allocation, deadlines, deliveries reviewed on time. If a date is at risk anywhere in the building, Swaroop knows before you do.

Shiva, Creative Head. Owns the plan for every shoot: the Creative Crunch Call, the story, the sign-off before your wedding, the first look at every edit.

Ram, Operations. Crew, gear, travel, the calendar. Who goes where, with what, and how they get there, for every wedding on the board that week.

Post-production manager, The edit floor. Owns the edit calendar. Cards in on day one, Few Snaps out in 24 hours, every edit on its date. Runs two shifts, 6 am to 10 pm.

Your shoot lead, Assigned 30 days out · at every event. A visual storyteller who runs your crunch call, leads every event of your wedding and briefs the editor after. The same face at the Pellikuthuru and the reception.

90 people work at The Big Day by Chai today.

How editing happens

1. The ideation call. Swaroop, Shiva and your editor sit together with your footage and decide what your film is. Not one editor's taste on a Tuesday. The three people who own the standard, every time.
2. The idea, explained to you. The head of video editing walks you through it: the story, the music, the moments we're building around. You don't send us songs and we don't send you songs and start cutting. Idea first. Then your yes.
3. Your yes puts it in the edit panel. From here every moment posts to your app: cut started, music laid, colour done. You watch it move without asking anyone.
4. QC, against the standard. The finished edit is checked against our standard before you ever see it: story, sound, colour, every frame. Anything off is fixed then and there.
5. Uploaded to your app. It lands in Memories with a notification, on the date in your contract.
6. Changes, only if you want any. Tap the timestamp, write the note. We change exactly that, and share the final version.
7. Then you just watch. Nothing to select, nothing to plan. Sit, watch your film, and drop us a heart: “We loved it.”

How we train

• Every week: Training session. Shooters, editors and planners. One hour on one thing: light, rituals, sound, a new lens, a wedding that taught us something.
• Every 10 days: Jamming session. The core team sits with footage from the last ten days and takes it apart. What worked, what we'd never do again, what goes into the playbook.
• Every week: The work review. Chai and Swaroop review delivered work against the promises on this page (dates, coverage, story). Misses become training before they become habits.

Our promises, in writing

• Delivery dates in your contract. Few Snaps, originals, edited photos, films and albums, each with a date, before you pay. (In writing since Sept 2026)
• ₹5,000 per delayed week, paid to you. Counted in your app. Meant to stay at zero. (In writing since Sept 2026)
• Few Snaps within 24 hours. A glimpse of every event in your app the day after. (Since Sept 2026)
• The Big Day app for every couple. Journey, gallery, payments and bills, one channel for everything. (Launched 14 Sept 2026)
• Every event starts with your OTP. No event begins without you knowing who's there. (Since Aug 2026)
• A named shoot lead at every event. Assigned 30 days out, runs your crunch call, present at every event. (From day one)
• A Happiness Manager from booking to album. One person, one number. Tells you before you ask. (From day one)

What it costs, honestly

Families who choose us invest ₹3–6 lakh. Here's why that band exists, and how it fits inside a wedding budget.

Under ₹3L: Good people. No system.

You can hire talented shooters here, and many of them are. What you can't buy at this price is the studio around them: a crew sized per ritual, an edit floor on shifts, dates anyone will sign, someone to call.

₹3–6L: The studio band. This is where we are.

Enough to put the right crew at every ritual, plan it properly, edit it on a calendar, and write the dates down. Your price inside the band comes from your events and crowd. Build it yourself on Build Your Quote.

Above ₹6L: A name, with a premium on it.

Beyond the band you're mostly paying for a brand. The work can be beautiful; the system underneath is rarely different from ours. If that's what you want, we'll say so and point you to someone good.

Where a wedding budget goes

• Food: 28%
• Venue: 22%
• Decor: 20%
• Outfits & makeup: 12%
• Photography & film: 10%
• Music, invites, rest: 8%

Things couples ask after reading this

What if our shoot lead falls sick?

A lead from the same pool steps in: someone who has run the same checklists and read your crunch-call brief. You're told before, not after, and the substitute has your family list and story notes in the app.

Can our parents get the app too?

Yes. You invite them at one of three levels: moments only, planning only, or everything. Most parents take moments only and open Few Snaps a hundred times.

Our muhurtham is at 4 am. Who covers that?

An early-morning session goes into your build: a traditional photo and video pair for Edurukolu, Kashi Yatra and the rest, before the main crew's session starts. It's asked at the Storyboard, priced there, and never a surprise on the day.

Do you shoot outside Hyderabad?

Yes, across Telangana and Andhra and beyond. Inside Hyderabad's ORR travel and stay are on us; outside, travel is billed at cost with every bill in your app, and the family arranges stay.

What actually happens at the Storyboard?

You bring both families' event list. We design the coverage event by event (crew, sessions, albums as a provision) and you see the price come from your wedding. Forty minutes, no pressure, and you leave with a written build you can sleep on.

Contact The Big Day by Chai

• WhatsApp or call: +91 89777 54586
• Email: info@thebigdaybychai.com
• Studio: 2nd Floor, Vamsiram Jyothi Granules, Kondapur, Hyderabad, Telangana 500084, India
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebigdaybychai