Ever heard one of those ‘Him? No Ways’ expression from a girl, who later had a dream wedding with the same ‘him’ except this time it was a ‘Yes Ways!’? We have one of Shopzters precious readers, the lovely Saranya share her fun story with us. The best part of the story? Being in the USA till about 3 weeks before her wedding, did not stop her from having every detail of the wedding the way they both wanted it to be. Read more to know ‘how’!
I am Saranya and my husband's name is Hari. I am a software engineer and he is doing his Ph.D in spatial sciences. We both live in the USA.
Our story is a perfect fit for the preamble "Long long ago, so long ago...". But I can say how long ago. It all started 10 years back in 2005. We both went to the same prestigious CEG, Anna University. Please don't think it was love at first sight. To be honest, it was hatred at first sight. You know how girls are totally influenced by their friends - and I was no exception. First time when I saw him, my friends whispered in my ears that he is a rogue, a big time smoker along with drinking habits. That's it. No further explanations needed. I decided that I should stay away from him to be safe. Yes - "to be safe" ;) I avoided encountering him in class, on campus to an extent that I wouldn't mind walking around the building to enter the classroom if I find him standing in the main entrance of our building. In his eyes, I was this short, not-so-stunning, nerdy girl.
The maximum thought he had given for me when I walked past him in canteen was 'Oh she is my classmate'. And that's it, nothing much. Nothing like, "Dude, check out this girl. I can get her number if you want." Not even turning around to look at me. This situation lasted until we finished our first year of college. As the time passed, our class bonded as a bunch of friends getting to know each other better. And the friends who loathed him started whispering good things about his considerate nature and it happened that we had a lot of mutual friends. Usual things happened - exchanging numbers - helping out with lecture notes blah blah blah..
So as you can predict, he is the only close friend I had and we both hung out a lot. At this point, I admit that I was the one who had a crush on him initially. Clock ticked one more year! I don’t know what I did, but eventually, he felt that "something (aka everything)" for me. It was during the summer of 2007 we realized that it is love. He just held my hand tightly when we were about to leave to our hometowns for summer break. And that was it - He proposed just by holding my hands. He meant that he loved me and wanted to live with me - and I got the message just with the grip of his hands. Trust me, words aren't the only ones with vocabulary!
A not-so-routine drama happened when we told our parents about us. With their love and blessings, we got married last year in Hosur and had a reception in Coimbatore.
My Hosur reception Lehenga was designed and made by Sandeep of Parineeta collections. She was extremely helpful. She even dyed the Lehenga from scratch and did a lot of sketches before making the dress. Thanks to Shopzters for recommending her.
My wedding saree, (in fact all my wedding sarees) were from PSR Silks in Coimbatore. Their collections are amazing and as a person who love pastel shades I really had limited choices in other stores. But PSR is one place where I found the collection that is themed based on colors and motifs.
My Coimbatore reception gown is from an online store called JJS House. When I bought it, the gown was basically a plain catholic style dress.A designer called Jeeva from Chennai customized it with stones in the yolk. I really appreciate her work, as she understood that less is more and she replicated what I wanted.
All my wedding blouses were designed and made by @mantra-the-design-studioclothing# - again recommended by Shopzters. The designers over there were extremely helpful in understanding my taste and the looks I wanted.
On the whole wedding was like a 2 year project for both of us. Yes, we had lots of time to plan the wedding. We spent a lot of time surfing the web for what we wanted and created sample images before contacting the vendors. We were really clear and determined to get what we wanted and of course we wanted to stay within our planned budget. It was so much fun when trying to put everything in the budget and still going for what we wanted. And we are more than happy we achieved both.
Photography for all the three events was done by @focuz-studios#, candid photography and Sri Hari Photography, traditional photo & video coverage.
Makeup was done by @make-up-ibrahim# and hair was done by Vijaya raghavan. They both were extremely professional and their love for their job reflected in their work.
They knew how the ceremony will be because of their experience and hence created a hassle free environment. There was even a situation when I was really tensed and they helped me to ease the situation knowing that being tensed means it is going to be reflected in the face. The bottom line is they know what a bride will be going through before the ceremonies and reacted accordingly.
Decorator in hosur - Vasavi Decorators
Decorator for Coimbatore event - Baby Decorators
For the reception in Coimbatore, we had Christabel from IWIS events to Emcee. She was amazing with her skills and made the event lively.
The biggest challenge I had while shopping was the distance. I was in USA and came to India 3 weeks before the wedding. So I made sure that I took care of most stuff that could be done using skype or phone calls. I made appointments with the designers beforehand, so that there wasn't a hassle in terms getting my blouses stitched on time or the gown being ready for the reception. I met with them in Skype and sent the pictures back and forth before finalizing colors and designs for the lehenga and gown.
I came to India from USA after 5 straight years. So it is obvious that I did a lot of traveling to visit friends and get-togethers. And I paid a huge cost for that. I looked stressed and tanned. I went for Kaya skin clinic for facial.
I highly recommend them for bridal skin care, especially since I didn’t have a lot of days to accommodate multiple sittings. Had a couple of opulent facial and de-stressing massage sessions with them and voila - I was ready to face the day.
Another tip, stay hydrated and eat a lot of fruits. It kind of helps you to maintain your weight and help you stay fit for the dresses you shopped a month before.
One funny thing that happened at the wedding was, the iyer was really friendly with us since the beginning of the event. During the muhurtham, when they brought the thaali, my husband rushed in and got it in his hands even before the priest offered to him. Suddenly, the priest stopped saying mantras and started telling how he is going to live the rest of my life with me.
Despite his advice, he started tying it - may be he was in so much love that he couldn't wait no more. Anyways, that was really hilarious and brought in such a happy smiles on all our faces.
We are planning for a long honeymoon but since we have limited number of vacation days now, we are postponing it to next year.
