… Well, that seemed to be the easiest part! What was difficult was, planning their wedding celebrations. Here’s how Saranya planned her entire wedding from Singapore.
“We grew up few streets apart in Chennai! Yet, we met only in the far away land of Singapore!!
He said ‘I wish we had met each other earlier’
I said ‘Let’s compensate the delay with being together the rest of our lives!’
And here we are getting marriieeeeddd… “ reads our wedding invitation and that, in fact, sums up our wedding story.
From the minute we started going out, all our discussions were always about approaching our parents. With not much of delay, we solicited their consent. Though we belong to different sects, with only a little persuasion, our parents accepted the proposition and wedding preparations started full fledge.
Staying away from India was the biggest challenge while preparing for the wedding. Online wedding websites, especially Shopzters, were my greatest friends aiding me to discover the latest wedding trends from Makeup to DJ.
Makeup – After my extensive research on many makeup artist’s facebook profiles, I zeroed down on @make-up-ibrahim# and our wedding photos stand testimony to his excellent work. I still wonder how he transformed my face, which was pimple stricken and with heavy dark circles, into an even toned face with the bride’s own glow. There was not a single guest who didn’t appreciate my makeup.
Mandap –We chose Ananda Thirumana Maligai, Chromepet, mainly for its close proximity to both the bride and groom’s house and its large capacity, given our never-ending guest list. The in-house stage decorator co-operated and coordinated very well with us to comprehend what we had in our minds and replicated the same.
Catering – I left the choice of caterer to my grandparents and they suggested one of the top caterers, VedaPriya’s Guru Rayar Catering service. He transformed the ambience of an ordinary wedding hall to that of a 5 star hotel . Moreover, he astonished us with his extravagant menu of 108 items for the reception and 50 items for the wedding, including the dishes that we asked for. People were talking about the food, even for months after the wedding.
Attire–Though the current trend is in favour of sarees with heavy stone work, I picked a simple yet elegant Vivaha Swarovski silk saree from Chennai Silks for Muhurtham. In contrast to the saree was the grand blouse, which was a beautiful web of gold and white crystals embellished in an intricate cutwork pattern, designed by Mana Designer studio.
My search for a fusion of net and lace work ended up in a turquoise and ink blue anarkali suit from Kay – The fashion bay, Cathedral road, Chennai. The ornate golden design on the ink blue border and turquoise neck augmented the grandeur of the suit.
Grey being my husband’s favorite color, we chose a sophisticated grey tuxedo with attractive motif studded lapels from Lagan, T.Nagar.
Photography–The search for the photographers was the most tedious one due to the numerous teams out there doing a wonderful job. However, my husband and I unanimously decided on Madras photog after seeing some of their wedding montage videos. Besides, the candid shots speak for themselves.
Being a big photo-freak myself, we also did two pre-wedding photo shoots in Singapore.
Mehendi – Manisha Modi did my mehendi for engagement and it only made things simpler. I saved a lot of time and effort here and right away blocked her dates for my wedding as well.
DJ- Despite the fact that I spoke to many DJs, the minute I spoke to Deejay Zen, I decided to book him. The videos on his website were far ahead of the rest in the field. Zen's crew amazingly handled the crowd and matched the songs according to their mood.
Tips for brides-to-be
- Delegate: I did the biggest mistake of trying to run the whole show all by myself and that only gave me stress, stress and more stress.
- Skincare: Do not waste money on bridal facials. Book a good makeup artist and however bad your skin is, you will glow. Tip from Ibrahim: Drink a lot of carrot juice!
- Stress: How much ever you try not to, you will be stressed. That’s okay, it might help you to shed some kilos :P
