Mar 23, 2016

A Quintessential Wedding From The Garden City, Bangalore!

A meticulously planned wedding highlighted by the fresh and creative decor and complemented by scintillating frames, gorgeous outfits and make-up. To top it all, a free-flowing narrative interfaced with streaks of humour from the bride herself! Well this wedding story could not but make an interesting read, isn't it?

About

Anirudh - born and raised in Bangalore, working in Bermuda (which the girl didn't know existed!). Multi-faceted, basically gets along with anyone and everyone.

Tripti - raised in Dubai and difficult to describe :)

Planning stage to meet?

Two souls who had to meet through 'arranged marriage system'

Boys Mom - My son is very good looking. He has Masters degree in Finance

Girls Aunt - My friends daughter is very pretty. She is engineer

Boys Mom - My son is also engineer, distinction Electronics & Communication. We need a good girl for him, that's all!

Girls Aunt - My friends daughter also distinction. We need a good boy for her, that's all!

Don't you think these two smart people should meet?

Convincing Stage

Boy's mom to Boy - Aniiiiii, this girl is soooooo pretty, please talk to her

Boy - No mom, I am career oriented, too many things to do. I basically want to look at my career and then want to travel the world and when I have nothing left to do, I want to get married.

Mom sends the picture of the girl to the boy and now the boy is ready to talk to her!!

Girl's friend to girl - Triptiiiiii, look at his picture on linkedin he is soooooo good looking!

Girl - Sees the picture and decides he is the man!!

First Stage of talking

Phone call for 10 minutes - Hi, hello what you do etc etc. Same old arranged marriage stuff.

Second Stage of talking

Next day, Second phone call - lasts 8 hours - Phone, then face time (boy uses face time for first time in his life!!) and then skype.

Third Stage of talking

Regular arranged marriage stuff for the next 20 days over phone, getting to know each other. Boy and Girl decide over phone; they are happy with each other without even meeting (yes it still happens in 21st century)

Boy and Girl meet for the first time in Dubai airport.

Boy surely does NOT look like the linkedin picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, but boy gets along with anyone and anything, and the girl falls for him!!

They go home and inform their parents they are ready to get married.

Engagement

Boy and girl get engaged within two months of the first chat

Wedding in 9 months

3 day wedding in Taj, Bangalore. Killer dances, amazing decorations and of course 1000 people, 950 of them whom we both did not know!!!

So, basically I am a person who cannot keep anything for the last minute. I am very particular about that. So, I quit my job about 4 and half months before my wedding because I wanted get done with my shopping and just wanted to relax at home and spend some quality time with family and friends before I moved to Bermuda.

Like a typical girl I always had a picture of what I wanted to wear and how my wedding would be. Now, all I had to do is find the right shop, vendors who would help execute everything the way I wanted.

We got married in Bangalore because my husband is from there and it is a city I always loved. Our venue was Vivanta by Taj, Yeshwantpur, Bangalore.

We had three days of 5 events and since we had a big guest list (around 1000) Taj, Yeshwantpur catered to all our needs. Taj is known for their hospitality and excellent quality and food. I had no doubts about this and went ahead with this venue because they had an absolutely beautiful ballroom and beautiful courtyard with a huge banyan tree in the centre. They gave us a great deal. We had guests flying in from all over the world and India. Considering the traffic in Bangalore we wanted our guests to stay at the venue which would make everyone's life easy. Taj gave us an excellent deal for the rooms as well. They were extremely helpful and friendly. I enjoyed every bit of my experience with them. My highlight experience with them was when they actually offered to provide sit down dinner on banana leaf for our wedding ceremony for 1000 guests as this was a tradition we usually follow. We really didn’t expect a 5 star hotel to go out of their way to make this happen. They even made their staff who were serving to dress up traditionally to fit the theme! These were small surprises that really made my day!

We had three days of 5 events for which we had to get 5 outfits and my husband had to get 4 out of the 5.

Day 1: Haldi

My first event was my haldi for which my aunt gave me an idea of dressing me like Shakuntala. I definitely couldn’t spend too much on my outfit because it was going to be thrown away because of haldi and water. So, I went to Prathiksha from Bangalore who is a very well known fashion designer and has her own fashion house. I told her what I wanted and she helped me with the designs color and material. She definitely did a fabulous job and she was very well within my budget. She does some excellent embroidery work and outfits.

For my haldi outfit I got some real flower jewelry done from Anita Khubchandani from Mumbai. They did an excellent job and it actually stayed fresh for three days.

Since this was an outdoor event at the courtyard, for decor we decided yellow and white flower decorated swing which looked like it was hanging from the big banyan tree at the courtyard. This turned out to be my favourite. It exceeded my expectation. We decorated the surrounding small trees as well and had diwan style seating for the guests.

Day 1: Muhurtha

Soon after my haldi was my Muhurtha function where, as per tradition, my aunt puts the toe ring for me and close family and friends shower their blessings.

I went for a very beautiful banaras saree in bright pink color with silver and gold thread work on it. I came across this beauty at Tulsi silks in Chennai when I went for saree and jewellery shopping. We bought a lot of beautiful sarees from there. They have an excellent collection of sarees and huge variety too.

My jewelery was from Gehna Mumbai. I wanted something very elegant and not anything over the top. This set fit perfectly within my budget and was super elegant and beautiful and went very well with my saree.

This event was in the ballroom so we had a simple flower back drop with purple and yellow combination. It went very well with my outfit and I stood out.

Day 1 : Sangeet /Mehendi.

Since my mehendi and sangeet function was a combined event myself and my husband just had to get one outfit. I always wanted a bright color combination and I found this beautiful lehenga at Aza fashion, Worli branch, Mumbai. It was designed by one of my favorite designers Anamika Khanna. Again, I didn’t want anything super heavy or anything that I wouldn’t wear again. If I was spending a lot for one outfit I definitely wanted to get something that I could wear again for another event. This was just perfect for me.

My husband got his outfit designed by a famous designer Varoin Marwah. His outfits are usually available at Aza fashions however he customizes as per your requirement; he is extremely professional and talented designer for menswear. He gave Ani a beautiful and unique combination that complimented my outfit.

My jewelry for my outfit was a pearl and uncut diamond set. However, my necklace was bought separately and my earrings were bought separately. I bought my necklace from a good jeweler friend of mine from Jaipur called PC TOTUKA & Sons. I fell in love with this chain and bought it about two years before I got married thinking that I would wear it someday for my wedding. (Lol!) That is how crazy prepared I was. The earrings I bought it from a Sabyasachi store at Mumbai when I went to buy my reception outfit. The jewellery there is designed and made by Kishandas & co for sabyasachi. They have an excellent & out of the world jewellery collection.

DAY 2: Wedding Day

Since I am a South Indian from Mangalore we wear Kanchipuram saree for the ceremony. So, I was looking for the perfect color that would suit me. I always was a fan of the famous actor Kiran Kher’s sarees. She always wore Gaurang Shah’s creation.

Before I went to India to start shopping I got to know that Gaurang Shah was exhibiting in Dubai. So, me and mom went to check out his bridal collection just to have an idea of the price and colors. As soon as I got there I saw this beautiful bright red saree with peacock print. I wasn’t sure of how a red would look on me but he draped the saree on me and I absolutely loved it. That was the first saree I ever tried for my wedding. But I didn’t want to decide on it so soon. I wanted to go to India and look for more sarees and see what everyone has to offer. He himself suggested I go around in India and look and then decide to buy my saree because it was my wedding saree. Though I had my heart on that particular saree I did go around in Bangalore and Chennai but didn’t find a saree that was better than what I saw. So I went to Gaurang’s store in Bangalore and asked them to get me the same saree and luckily they had that one ready for me.

My saree looked absolutely stunning with my jewellery and it was just like how I pictured it to be.

My wedding jewellery was from Chennai and Bangalore. I always love the antique finish temple jewellery. So I went for that look. It took a while to look for my jewellery but at the end I bought want I wanted. Prince and Abharan are known for beautiful temple and heritage jewelry and they gave us a great price as well.

My husband’s sherwani was again designed by Varoin Marwah and he did an excellent job. It was simple and elegant and perfectly complimented me.

For the decor, we went with red and gold combination. Vima and her excellent team made my dream come true! They were the most amazing team to work with. They made my life so easy planning this wedding. I could totally trust them from day one and they did such an amazing work with the decor. All their set up was spot on! Everyone was so impressed and the best part was they worked very well around my budget. They really helped me throughout my planning and took away 90% of my tension. On the event days, I just had to concentrate on myself and their team took care of the rest. They handled my décor, event planning, logistics and event coordination. They are extremely professional and extremely friendly to work with. They definitely become a part of your family. Vima used fresh flowers to decorate each of my events. We sat and discussed every look of each event. It turned out to be more beautiful than I expected. She actually noted down the colors of our outfits and made sure the decor complimented our outfits. Every event had something that would stand out. They had used fresh flowers to decorate my entire event. It was an outdoor event and I wanted to set the mandap below the banyan tree. The flower mandap looked absolutely stunning below the tree. She also made a beautiful peacock palki with flower decoration for my entry which was definitely my highlight.

Day 3: Reception

As a kid I always loved white weddings. But, being a Hindu I was definitely not having a white wedding. So I wanted my reception to have the elements of a white wedding, which is why I wanted to wear shades of white or cream. I found this beautiful ivory cape saree at Sabyasachi, Mumbai store as you know Sabyasachi makes the most beautiful bridal outfit and I knew I would definitely find something there. I actually went looking for a lehenga for my sangeet but ended up liking this saree for my reception. The cape was like a long train which gave me the feel of wearing a gown with a train (lol!) Unlike a gown, saree is something I could wear again and won’t get wasted. I definitely made the right choice.

Since, my blouse was very heavy and with a closed neck I opted to wear a simple diamond necklace with a big maang teeka and earring from Notundas, Bandra, Mumbai. They have some absolutely stunning diamond jewelry you will fall in love with./

My husband wore a white and black tux with a bowtie designed by his cousin Shyma Shetty for Huemn. She and her partner are another extremely talented designer. They again did a fantastic job.

Since I wanted a white wedding theme we used a lot of white and pastel colored flowers for the decor. I wanted a big LOVE that was illuminated by bulbs in the courtyard area and Vima made it happen. The decor looked absolutely stunning.

I got my three tier cake from the Leela Palace, Bangalore. I just had to show them a picture of what exactly I was looking for and they did an excellent job at it. Not only was the design perfect the taste was out of the world!

I also hired a small fusion band from Mumbai called as “the common sense”. They basically mixed beautiful English songs with Bollywood songs. They were so amazing and kept my guests entertained.

My footwear had to be comfortable. So, I went around Bandra looking for some comfortable platforms and I would definitely recommend a small heel or a platform because you have to stand with heavy clothes and jewelry for a long time. So shoes are definitely one of the most important buy. I bought one pair of small heels from Steve Madden, Dubai which were beautiful to look at and also very comfortable and another pair of platform from Bandra linking road.

My incredible vendors who made my big day very special for me!

Haldi outfit: @prathikshaclothing#, Bangalore

Haldi Jewellery: Anita Khubchandani

Muhurtha Outfit: Tulsi Silks, Chennai

Muhurtha Jewellery: Gehna jewellers, Mumbai

Mehendi/Sageet Outfit: Aza Fashions, Mumbai

Mehendi/Sageet Jewellery: PC Totuka Jewellers

Wedding saree: Gaurang shah, Bangalore

Wedding jewellery: