“A leap of faith” – he said and I was all in from that moment. Siddarth and I first met through family friends and I was super nervous about the whole arranged marriage concept. When he said those words to me, I was sold and from then onwards our love story began. Though it was an arranged marriage, moments with him never felt arranged. We were two similar people with the same conviction in life. We had our fair share of love story before the wedding.
Inspired from all the lovely brides from all around, wedding planning became a sweet obsession. Being a control freak, I wanted every tiny detail – from décor to menu to garlands to venue – to be chosen by me and to perfection. Wedding shopping was a sweet indulgence and I couldn’t be more grateful to my parents for being supportive and not freak out. Here’s a list of what I wore and about all my wedding ceremonies
The first event was the engagement and it was in Hotel Daspalla, Hyderabad. For the Pooja, I chose to wear an outfit designed myself and tailored at Kriaa Boutique, Hyderabad – a red banarasi lehenga which I bought in Mysore Saree Udyog Bangalore with a purple embroided voni. My engagement saree was from @varamahalakshmi-silks#, Hyderabad and my blouse was designed by @golden-threadsfashion-designer-bridal-shop#, Hyderabad. Suman Agarwal did my makeup for the engagement. My engagement jewelry was from Sri Ratnaraj Jewelers, Hyderabad and Shree Jewellers, Hyderabad. Siddarth’s kurta pajama was designed by Raamz, Hyderabad and his suit was from Zara.
I wanted a filmy ‘Save The Date’ video and @venkys-photography#, Hyderabad who covered my entire wedding gave me a video I’d never forget. We chose Golkonda Fort as our location as both of us are fond of heritage places. For the Pre-Wedding Photoshoot, my blue lehenga were from Vaishali Couture, Hyderabad and the pink gown was from Elahe, Hyderabad.
The next event in the wedding series was the Sangeet which was held at N Diamond, Hyderabad. The outfit I was most confused about was the Sangeet Outfit. I trusted Vaishali Couture, Hyderabad and I couldn’t have been happier about the end result - a beautiful turquoise-green lehenga. @soh-touch-makeup-artistry-sohini# – Sohini did my makeup and it was every bit glamorous. My jewelry was again from Sri Ratnaraj Jewelers, Hyderabad. Siddarth’s outfit was also designed by Vaishali Couture. We wanted colourful décor and a quirky photobooth and Sparkle Events, Hyderabad gave us our dream Sangeet.
For my Mehendi function, I wanted to do something casual and playful. I chose a maroon sharara, again designed by Vaishali Couture, Hyderabad. I wanted to be a minimalist bride and chose to do my own makeup and my hair was done by Mirrors Studio. My jewelry was from Manepalli Jewellers, Secunderabad.
For the bridal shower event, I wanted to be a traditional bride so I chose antique gold jewelry. I wore a pink saree from @a-s-babu-sah#, Kanchipuram and a green blouse. I got lovely flower jewelry from Pelli Poola Jada, Hyderabad for the haldi ceremony.
We chose JRC Convention Centre as the venue for our wedding to accommodate the huge number of guests. Mr. Balakrishna did our wedding décor. On the D-Day – for the pradhanam ceremony, I wore an Orange Kachi pattu lehenga from N C Santhanam Saree, Kanchipuram with a parrot green banaras bandini voni. For the final event – the WEDDING, I didn’t want to go for the typical reds and yellows. I wanted a unique colour and I got a light blue saree from @prakashsilksandsarees#, Kanchipuram which is my absolute favourite. For the traditional white saree – I chose to wear a Paithani Benaras Saree – from Roop Sangam, Bombay. Both my wedding blouses were designed by Vaishali Couture, Hyderabad. I picked up my wedding jewelry from Raj Diamonds, Bombay, Shree Jewelers, Hyderabad and Sri Ratnaraj Jewelers, Hyderabad. Zing from @siro-make-up-studio#, Hyderabad did my wedding makeup and she did an amazing job. The makeup was every bit perfect and stayed the same for 12 hours. Siddarth’s green outfit was designed by Vaishali Couture, Hyderabad and the white outfit by Raamz, Hyderabad.
Planning my wedding was a sweet memory and I enjoyed every moment of it. The key is to be planned and not panic. Would I want to do it all over again – Hell Yeah!
