A Fabulously Planned Arranged Marriage With A Happily Ever After

Traditional match making is often met with skepticism. Not in India. Here, arranged marriages are widely prevalent and accepted as the social norm. Shruti and Srikesh met this way. That didn't stop them from having the perfect love story! Here Shruthi tells us how the entire wedding was planned. Enjoy!

I’m Shruti Jayachandran and my husband’s name is Srikesh L.Narasimhan. Although we had mutual friends who used to tell us a lot about each other, we had never met before. We met through the formal arranged marriage set up. It was arranged by my cousin. A couple of days were all it took to discover how similar we were! We decided to take the plunge and the rest as they say, is history! 

We had a good 6 months between our engagement and wedding. That’s when we got to know each other better. We used to meet every evening and 6 months just flew by with movies, coffees, long drives etc.! It was not long before he took over my family’s adoration and all my friends thought we were made for each other! 

Since I had a lot of time to prepare for the wedding, I took it easy. Before I knew it I had only 3 months to go! Our first stop was Tulsi silks, Chennai.  That was where I found most of my sarees for my brother’s wedding too. I did want to check out other places too so I went to a few other places before finding “The One” in @tulsi-silks-1#. I wanted only a red saree (Red being my all-time favorite color) for my Muhurtham but I wanted something different as well. I found exactly what I was looking for! Tulsi silks never fails to fulfil my expectations.

For my Mama Sangyam, I picked a green Saree from Lakshmi Silks, Chennai. It was a beautiful Kora saree since I had decided to wear a Kanchipuram silk saree only for my Muhurtham. So i chose a different material for each function. For his turban ceremony, I picked a Gold Kota saree from a guy in Hyderabad who sells Kota sarees in wholesale. 

For my Mehendi Ceremony, I found a yellow and pink ensemble on @issa-studio#’s online page. It was a skirt and a crop top I loved how it looked but I waited till I looked at it in person. I loved it when I tried it on too. I placed an order with them, customising according to my measurements and they delivered it within 15 days.

For my Sangyam, I picked a beautiful lime green and purple Benaras saree which was also from Lakshmi silks. Srikesh’s clothes were all from Origin’s and Kadambini in Hyderabad.

My blouses were done by my dear friend and designer, Keerthana Sriram, who owns @keya#. She did a wonderful job with my blouses and delivered it ahead of time! The fit was really good and it was comfortable too! A couple of blouses were done by Archana in Chennai who I always go to. She did a great job as always. 

Most of my Jewellery was from Kirtilals in Coimbatore. My parents have been loyal customers for a long time now and it was no different for my wedding too! 

The highlight of our wedding was the decor. We had the wedding at Srikesh’s house and my mother-in-law, Mrs.Malini L.Narasimhan, who is a renowned wedding decor designer out did herself! It was truly her masterpiece. Whether it was the lamp-and-flower chandeliers or the ‘tree of life’ backdrop, it was all well coordinated, elegant and tasteful! Everyone was excited to see what she was going to do and were amazed to see how she had transformed the outside of the house to a beautifully decorated enclosed mandap! She loves to work with fresh flowers and so there were a lot of fresh flowers incorporated in the decor. 

The theme of our wedding was ‘tree of life’. For my mama sangyam, the backdrop was such that i was sitting under a metal tree covered with flowers. It was entirely Malini Aunty’s idea and I absolutely loved how different and pretty it looked.

For my mehendi ceremony, she asked me what decor I wanted, and I gave her an idea of what i was thinking. I wanted different booths for different activities like kili joshiyam, tarot card reading, nail painting, flower wall and bangle stand. She designed each booth such that it was done up according to the respective activity. The tarot card booth was my favourite! 

For the evening Sangyam, she had round tables with flower vases for dinner and the place looked absolutely stunning. She truly gave me a fairytale wedding! It was everything I have ever wished for and more! 

Catering for my Mama Sangyam and Mehendi was done by JSK catering. My cousins Sriram and Jairam own it and they did a very good job. Everyone loved the food and it was very tasty! 

My mother in law who hails from Andhra, brought in a cook from Hyderabad for the evening dinner who did a very good job as well. The main wedding catering was done by Madhampatty Rengaraj.

Candid photography for the entire event was by @the-4toes# Photography. They did the traditional photography for my Mama Sangyam too. Dev, Siddharth, Akilan and team were absolutely amazing and we loved the photos! They made us feel comfortable and clicked some really candid photos which captured the beauty of the moment perfectly. We had also asked for a candid 10 minute video featuring our family and friends and it turned out so very well. Traditional photography and videography for all other functions was by Photo Emporium, Chennai. 

My Make up was done by Yoli, who owns Mademoiselle Parlour in Ramnagar. She was always going to be my Make up artist and she was the first call I made after my wedding date was fixed. 

My mehendi artist was Rekha and her troop from Chennai. 

My Mehendi ceremony was one of my favourite functions since my friends did a song and dance routine and a very funny program about me. It was completely organised and choreographed by my friends Kavitha and her husband Prasanna who are professional dancers and who have choreographed for a lot of weddings before. It was hilarious and a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed it and praised all my friends for the dancing. 

The kutchi sandai which is an event in our weddings was a memorable one for everyone with both the sides fighting for nearly half an hour before it ended in a draw but not without some shirts tearing and some pushing and pulling! It was a lot of fun!

My friends forced me to drink a lot of water and that was the only beauty regime I properly followed. Also, a homemade pack for my face two times a week for a couple of weeks before the wedding. 

My only advise I would like to give the brides is to enjoy the wedding and the preps leading up to it because I surely did! Srikesh and I kept talking to each other during the wedding and all of our friends and family made fun of it later! My husband was supportive of all my decisions regarding the wedding and it has remained the same after as well :)

My parents and brother let me choose whatever I wanted, be it either for decor or clothes or jeweler and made sure I got my fairytale wedding! My Sister-in-law was my thona ponnu and even though she was a new mother, she made sure she was present for all the functions and did a great job! I am thankful for all the people who made my wedding the beautiful celebration it was!

We went to Paris, London and Norway (to see the Northern Lights!) a month after our wedding and it was an awesome trip.

Last but not least, Shoptzers is a wonderful website which I keep myself updated with. You guys are doing a really good job! Keep up the good work :)