Hate each other, become friends, fall in love! We've all heard this whole usual routine. But no two stories are the same! VJ Priyanka the young and energetic Vijay Tv anchor fell in love with Producer Praveen Kumar and here we are with the story.
How it all started: I joined Vijay TV for anchoring the program Olli Belly. Looks like, Praveen knew about me but I did not know anything about him. Soon I joined the Super Singer team and was introduced to Praveen (one of the Producers of Super Singer) by our Director Rafa. The few episodes of our meeting were one that was filled with anger and remorse. Tempers flew; arguments existed for every time I felt I was rudely treated by Praveen. I guess he must have felt that I was the "Un-Bridled Brat"! I felt his rudeness so much that I became repulsive.
It so happened that Praveen's cousin was one of my close friends and my junior. I knew nothing about this until very late. I could relate well with her and we used to talk a lot. I later heard that he used to chide her for speaking with me. She in turn told him that I was a very good senior whom she liked. In the meantime, I was also participating in Kitchen Superstars and hence would visit my friend's home to collect some tips from her mom who cooks extremely well. In a few days, I could gel with the family very well. It was during this time; Praveen used to visit my friend's home very often and was surprised or rather angry seeing me there. I guess he was also jealous that his family pampered me more than him.
The proposal: One fine day, there was a discussion where everyone sat and talked and it was at this time, we enquired about one another. He was more of a friend to me who could discuss anything and everything with me. Over a point of time, we thought it was more than friendship because both of us had our pic we took as our wallpaper. My mom was inquisitive and questioned me about the wallpaper because she knew how I treat all my friends. I guess she smelled the rat! When this was getting too far I reflected upon the state and decided that I should stop, pause and distance myself. So, I did not talk to him for three, four days because I wanted to check where it will lead. You see I can't handle rejection and that fear prompted me to act in this way and vice versa for him as well I suppose. In such a confused state of mind we met again at a KFC restaurant to decide our future. This was the moment perhaps that changed our lives. I had to face a trouble maker and Praveen instantaneously came to my rescue addressing me as his wife and I reciprocated the same. And you know what, this song of Barathiraja came into my mind and I was filled with happiness. But the funniest part is both of us never uttered a word after that and went back to our homes. Next day, he called and asked if I was okay. After a couple of days, he called up and said, "Let's leave all this and talk about our future!" He added that his parents would listen to whatever he said and if I was fine we could get married! I would have never imagined a proposal as short as this! Subsequently on my birthday he presented to me a saree at midnight and my mom was suspicious kept asking me whose gift it was. I had to tell her that it was from my team. I had a feeling that she somehow knew about it and wanted me to break the ice. Finally, I confessed that I liked him. Praveen called my mom and impressed her. Finally, things got sorted out; we were able to convince our parents and had a very intimate engagement with only the close circle of family and friends.
Wedding Shopping: I had no idea about shopping and dresses and I don't know much about presenting myself well when I'm wearing a saree or anything else for that matter. My comfort clothes would be a jean and a loose kurthi. If I'm doing it well like how I'm now, all of the credits go to my Super Singer Director Ravoofa mam. She is the one who taught me how to carry myself. Being so dear to the both of us we wanted her to do our outfits, she has her own Boutique named Styl. She usually does all the costumes for us. We just had to tell her the date and she asked me if the colour gold was ok because she already had everything in mind for my dress. His dress was a mix between of both sherwani and a suit. He had little gold incorporated within his whole attire. Muhurtham sarees were from N G Santhanam and Babu Shah, Kancheepuram.
Wedding photography: Photographer Vimal Bharath(Cam crow), Armstrong anna, Suresh who are all freelancers at Vijay TV, share a really close bond with us. We just had told them that this was budget and they did it really well. These guys came, gave us the estimate and told they will do it and that was it. I never had to follow up on any of this. Praveen took care of it.
Wedding Jewellery: All of my gold jewellery was bought from GRT jewellers and artificial ones were from Sri Swarna Prabhu Jewellers where I customized a few things.
Makeup & Hair-do: Makeup was done by - Artistry By Olivia and she was too good!! She made me look all the more beautiful. She is such a sweet lady and made sure that I look my best! I wanted Gopinath anna, the hairstylist to style my hair for the wedding. He does for a lot of our shows and he referred me to Manohar anna, who did my hairstyle since Gopinath anna wasn't available that day.
Catering: Catering for the wedding was done by one of the famous caterers for tam-bram weddings Chellapas. My favourites are pineapple kesari, puli saatham, paal payasam and for the reception it was by the Accord hotel, Mr. Venkatesh Bhatt and team. Since we knew him already, it was easy to approach him and the food was simply out of the world. Chef Dhamu and him, helped me select the menu. We had Mango Rasamalai and Malpuva for dessert. Everybody loved the biriyani, corn and spinach as well.
The Decor: The decorations were by Renaissance Wedding planners. Ragini akka is the sweetest event manager one could ever meet. You give her so much pressure, still she'll hold it together and made it the best experience and whenever I had all those small alterations she'll be real sweet and help out. Moreover, we knew her very well from Super Singer show. DJ Ashwin, a dear friend of mine who is a pupil of DJ Zen. He is so cool and does a lot of shows. Inspite of being busy, he came and did a fabulous job! We planned a little something/a song during the thali moment and it was epic! Made me feel all lovey-dovey! My friends were a huge support for me as always! They took care of everything and made it even more perfect for me. One fun and proud moment was when I drove to the mandap myself for my Sangeet and everyone appreciated saying that I was the first bride who did that.
