The bright and colourful trends meet the tradition in this extremely bewitching wedding. Featuring Swathikah, who managed to plan her wedding in the most exquisite way which has left indelible marks in the minds of people who attended it.
Like most stories, mine started with my parents and the entire family searching for the perfect groom. Our parents got us introduced. (He happened to be my distant cousin, hence made things easier from the family side)
We told our parents we needed our time to sort this out and "permission granted". Then the usual things followed...phone calls, text messages, skype. We kind of started liking each other and decided we should meet. We decided to meet at my sister's place.
So Kavitharan flew from Sydney to Virginia. From this point there has been no turning back. This is the short story of the union between a half-hearted software professional and half-hearted Chartered Accountant but full hearted rascals.
An interesting story about when we first met. Like anyone I wanted to look nice for our first meet. But what happened was the opposite. Both of us decided to fly into Virginia the same day and my sister was supposed to pick us up. Kavitharan landed as scheduled. My flight was delayed at A and I missed my connection at B and got stranded at B that night.
I tried to get on the next flight possible and I did... Virginia has 2 airports. So I flew to airport C and my bags were sent to airport D. So I landed in C and rushed to airport D to pick up my bags and there they were ...my family with Kavitharan. I was tired, had not slept properly and was looking my worst.
Wedding is every girl's dream and in my story it was mostly my mom's. She was a huge support since I was in the USA. Whenever I had time I would check some wedding blogs, websites and then contact vendors over the phone and if I was ok, asked my mom to meet them and take care of things.
My friends and cousins were a huge support. They helped me with the vendor search as well. Since I was migrating from USA to Australia, I resigned my job a couple of months before the wedding date, so that I could help my mom plan the wedding.
Since our ancestral home is in Trichy, we decided to have the wedding in Trichy. In our tradition we have 5 main functions- Mapillai nalungu, Ponnu nalungu, Thiruvadharai, Pen azhaippu, Wedding. Since I wanted to have a Sangeeth, we had one.
Decor: I always wanted a very elegant classy decor yet earthy. I conveyed my ideas to my decorator and they did a fantastic job. Even my garlands were done by them. We discussed every tiny detail. Sowmya and Ramesh anna are like a family now.
For the first day (Nalungu, Thiruvadharai, Pen azhaippu) we had a peacock theme .So all my sarees had peacocks in them and the women in my family as well.
All our sarees are from Kumaran Silks, Chennai. I got most of my jewellery from GRT and Malabar Gold. Colour bangles matching my sarees were got from Silk threads, Salem. These are glass bangles with silk thread. They are customized. These bangles look very classy.
Photography : @the-wedding-bunch# was our photographer. It is run by Regan and Prabu. They are so much fun. They were so organised with their team and delivered on time. They were prompt with their replies to texts, emails or calls. They met with my decorators a week before to discuss the lighting requirements. Both the departments worked well with each other. The pictures bring back memories. Right moments captured. They give you a good reasonable package.
Make up It is the most important thing for a bride. My makeup was done by Mr.Prasad. He is new to bridal make up but has years of experience in television and cinema.
He did a trial make up, then gave me tips on how to maintain my skin until the wedding. It did help a lot. He did a wonderful job for all the 3 functions. Also since my cousins and aunts wanted makeup, he arranged for additional assistants for my family.
Sangeeth The moment I told my family I wanted to have a Sangeeth, most said no, some didn't know what it meant, the rest thought dancing was not an appropriate thing to do though a few were supportive. It's my wedding and happens once in a life time and hence we went ahead and organised it.
We had a DJ, Photo booth, fancy decor, games, some enjoyable performances by the brother's friends, cousins, dance night and all of us had great fun, even the ones who said "NO".
I got my Sangeet dress from Kay, Chennai. My husband's was designed from HIS Studio, Chennai (inspired by Ashok Selvan :))
Wedding I got my Muhurtham saree from Kumaran silks, Chennai. It has got golden and pink with green borders and horse block prints. Since the saree was grand by itself, I wanted to wear a simple contrast blouse so that it would be highlighted. I had all my cousins wear the same coloured shirts (lavender raw silk) and my uncles wore a type of cream and golden coloured shirts.
Weddings are always beautiful, all families coming together, all of us dressed, the countless selfies and laughter. I enjoyed every moment. My husband is very competetive, so everytime we played those small games in our wedding he would get serious and of course he always won.
Blouse: All my blouses were done by Anugraha designs, Tirupur. Seshu is a sweet girl and caters to our modern ideas and there is great finesse in their work. You need to experience that.
Wedding card: We decided we wanted a personal wedding invite apart from the traditonal one. Hence we made a fun card narrating our story. It was designed by Karthik. He is a friend of my friend. The moment we asked him, he agreed to do this for me. Once the design was done, I got them printed on linen cards which gave a sweet look. I got them printed in the USA.
Honeymoon: We had planned a trip to Europe but my visa was denied. Lesson learnt-Europe trips are always better when you book it through an agent and there are some countries in that union which are liberal and some are very strict. So we did a short trip to Sri Lanka. 3 weeks - 1 week at my in-laws and 2 weeks on the road It has some of the best resorts and food. We did a road trip - colombo-nuwaraeliya-sigiriya-habarana-galle-colombo.
Advice to brides -Take care of your skin before the wedding. Eat healthy. It's ok to look a little chubby on your wedding day. It gives you that glow. Don't be stressed. Always have one of your friends or family talking to all your vendors and coordinating with them. Always wear a smile on your face. It makes you look so much more beautiful.
