Venue Vendor Policy · HAL Airport Road, Bangalore
Yes — subject to the hotel's vendor-approval process. Here is how approval at a five-star palace hotel actually works, what fees to expect, and why couples bring Panigrahana through that process rather than defaulting to the panel.
Yes, you can bring your own decorator to The Leela Palace Bengaluru — subject to the hotel's vendor-approval and empanelment process. The Leela is not a locked-decorator venue, but it is a carefully controlled one: external decorators must be approved by the banquet and security teams before production access is granted, a vendor coordination fee typically applies, and catering remains exclusively in-house. Panigrahana manages this approval process end-to-end for our couples, so the only decision left on your desk is the design itself.
The System Explained
Five-star hotels maintain empanelled decorator lists for two practical reasons. First, reliability: a panel vendor has already cleared security and insurance checks and knows the property's freight lifts, power points, and rigging rules — fewer surprises for the banquet team. Second, commissions: panel vendors typically share a referral percentage with the hotel, which is built into the catalogue prices they quote you. The panel exists to protect the hotel's operations and revenue. It is not a quality ranking, and it is not designed around your wedding.
Panel decorators at palace hotels quote almost exclusively from package catalogues — mandap options A through D, stage backdrops 1 through 6 — designs already executed at the same ballroom dozens of times. Couples can usually bring an outside decorator instead, subject to the approval pathway and fees below, and the hotel's banquet team will coordinate professionally with whichever decorator is approved. The Leela's banquet operation is among the most polished in India; once your decorator is cleared, execution is smooth.
The Alternative to the Catalogue
Design that answers the architecture. The Leela Palace is Mysore-palace revival architecture — domes, gold detailing, arcaded courtyards. A catalogue stage built for a generic banquet hall fights this building. Panigrahana is architect-founded; we design from the property's own lines, so the decor reads as an extension of the palace rather than a structure parked inside it. Our Leela work uses the architecture as the canvas — lighting that lifts the ceiling height, florals that follow the arcades, original mandap design rather than mandap option C.
In-house production at five-star tolerances. Our fabrication, floral, and lighting teams are our own. That matters at the Leela, where setup windows are tight and overnight: a subcontracted crew that misses a 6 a.m. ballroom handover creates real problems. We run our own crews on our own clock.
We carry the approval burden. Insurance documentation, fire-safety certification, vendor registration, freight scheduling — Panigrahana has been through five-star vendor approval repeatedly and treats it as standard operating procedure. You approve designs; we handle the hotel.
Designing for This Property
| Space | Capacity | What Decor Works Best |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Ballroom | 1,200 seated / 2,000 floating | Bangalore's most prestigious indoor stage — ceiling height allows genuinely vertical design: suspended floral chandeliers, layered lighting scenes, grand original mandaps. Fire-retardant certification mandatory for all fabric. |
| Garden Terrace | 900 seated / 1,500 floating | Outdoor ceremonies and sangeets framed by palace facades — design here should borrow the building as backdrop, with low-profile installations that keep the architecture in every photograph. |
| Poolside Lawn | 500 seated / 800 floating | Cocktail evenings, haldi, and intimate dinners — water-reflection lighting and loose, garden-style florals over rigid structures. |
With 357 rooms on-site and the full wedding usually spanning two to three functions across these spaces, the strongest Leela weddings carry one design language from ballroom to lawn — a narrative arc that a per-space catalogue quote simply cannot produce.
Common Questions
We handle the Leela's vendor-approval file, the fire-safety certification, the overnight setup windows — and design something the Grand Ballroom hasn't seen before. Share your date and we'll start with the venue's current vendor terms.