Six years ago, during one of the most uncertain periods in modern business, two young Sri Lankan entrepreneurs made an unusually ambitious decision: instead of following the traditional event industry, they would create something that did not yet exist.
Founded during the COVID-19 period with a team of 8 and virtually no initial capital investment, DEVENT began with a simple but ambitious vision to bring something genuinely new to Sri Lanka’s event industry
Today, the company has grown into a specialist luxury destination proposal planner, creating romantic experiences for couples travelling to Sri Lanka and other destinations around the world. With more than 700 destination proposals delivered, DEVENT has helped establish a new category within Sri Lanka’s event industry: professionally planned, highly personalized romantic experiences designed specifically for couples.
Seeing an Opportunity Where Others Saw a Gap
When DEVENT was founded, the traditional event and wedding industry in Sri Lanka was already well established. But the founders, Maleesh and Supun, believed there was an opportunity to approach the industry differently.
Rather than simply creating another conventional event planning company, they explored what successful event and experience businesses were doing across Europe and other international markets, looking for a concept that could be introduced and developed in Sri Lanka.
The question was simple:
What could Sri Lanka offer that couples could travel for specifically to celebrate their love
Sri Lanka already had many of the ingredients. Luxury resorts, tropical beaches, private villas, boutique hotels, scenic mountains, islands, incredible hospitality and a destination naturally suited to romantic travel.
What was missing was a specialized company bringing all of those elements together around one particular purpose: creating unforgettable romantic experiences for couples.
That led Maleesh and Supun to make a bold decision to build a company specializing in destination proposals and romantic events in Sri Lanka.
DEVENT was born from that idea.
From Event Planner to Luxury Proposal Specialist
Instead of competing solely in the conventional wedding and event planning market, DEVENT developed a specialized position around luxury proposals, surprise proposals, romantic events and destination celebrations. Its work ranges from intimate candlelight proposals and private romantic dinners to elaborate destination proposal experiences involving luxury hotels, yachts, scenic locations and other highly personalized concepts
But the company’s philosophy goes beyond decoration.
A backdrop can be created by almost any company. DEVENT’s approach is to create an experience around the couple’s story.
Every element can become part of that experience from the location and lighting to flowers, table arrangements, music, scents, personalized details and the overall sequence of the moment.
Even seemingly small elements are carefully considered. The team can incorporate fragrances, floral combinations, customized styling and carefully coordinated details to create an atmosphere that feels personal rather than simply decorated.
This attention to detail has helped position DEVENT as a luxury romantic destination surprise proposal planner, rather than simply another decoration or event planning company.
Building Sri Lanka’s Romantic Tourism Industry
The company’s growth has also contributed to a wider concept: romance tourism.
Couples are increasingly travelling internationally not only for holidays, but to experience significant life moments proposals, anniversaries, elopements, engagements and other once-in-a-lifetime celebrations.
Sri Lanka is naturally positioned for this market.
From beachfront proposals and private villa experiences to luxury resort celebrations and intimate candlelight dinners, the country offers a diverse setting for luxury romantic experiences.
DEVENT has worked with luxury hotels and hospitality partners while creating new experiences specifically designed around couples travelling to Sri Lanka.
Approximately 70% of DEVENT’s clients are international, with couples and customers coming from markets including Dubai, Australia, the United Kingdom, India and Europe.
For these couples, Sri Lanka is more than simply a holiday destination. It can become the place where they create one of the most important memories of their lives.
That is the idea behind DEVENT’s approach to destination proposal planning.
More Than 700 Proposals and Counting
Over the years, DEVENT has planned more than 700 destination proposals, each designed around a different couple, personality and story.
Some experiences are intentionally intimate and understated. Others are highly elaborate, incorporating luxury settings and extraordinary experiences. The company has created candlelight proposals, luxury romantic dinners, yacht experiences, scenic destination proposals and other personalized celebrations. There is no single formula. For DEVENT, luxury is not simply about spending more money. It is about personalization, attention to detail and creating something that feels impossible to replicate.
That philosophy has helped the company build a reputation around personalized luxury proposal planning in Sri Lanka.
Creating an Industry, Not Just a Business
DEVENT’s development has gone beyond its own growth.
The company has built partnerships with luxury hotels and other hospitality businesses, created employment opportunities and introduced new concepts to Sri Lanka’s event and tourism ecosystem.
What began as a small team attempting to build a new kind of event company has evolved into a specialized business operating at the intersection of luxury events, tourism, hospitality and romantic experiences.
In many ways, DEVENT’s story reflects the opportunity that exists when an established industry is approached from a completely different perspective.
Rather than asking how to become another event planning company, the founders asked how they could create a category of their own.
Taking Sri Lankan Expertise to the World
The next chapter of DEVENT is increasingly international.
After building its foundation in Sri Lanka and developing an international client base, the company has begun expanding its operations into Europe, with Italy already launched and further development underway in Germany and France.
The long term model is designed to take DEVENT’s specialized approach to luxury proposal planning into multiple international destinations, with additional Asian markets also being explored.
The company is also developing a franchise model, with the ambition of creating a broader international network of luxury proposal planners operating under the DEVENT brand.
The goal is not simply to take a Sri Lankan event company overseas.
It is to build an internationally recognized luxury destination proposal and romantic events brand originating from Sri Lanka.
Putting Sri Lanka on the Map for Love
At the heart of DEVENT’s story is a bigger ambition.
The founders want Sri Lanka to be recognized not only as a destination for beaches, wildlife, adventure and luxury holidays, but also as a romantic destination – a place where couples come specifically to celebrate love. A proposal can last only a few minutes. But the memory created around it can last a lifetime.
That is the space DEVENT has chosen to build its business around.
From a small team operating during the uncertainty of COVID-19 to a specialist company responsible for hundreds of destination proposals, DEVENT has developed a distinctive position within Sri Lanka’s luxury event and tourism landscape.
And as the company expands into Europe and other international markets, its ambition remains connected to where it all began:
to build a globally recognized proposal planning brand while helping put Sri Lanka on the map as one of the world’s destinations for love.
For DEVENT, the future of event planning is not simply about creating beautiful events.
It is about creating experiences people remember for the rest of their lives.
