A Royal Muslim Wedding At ITC Grand Chola, Chennai

We found a couple who seems to have stepped straight out of a Karan Johar film. We couldn’t help but cover their wedding. We got close and personal with Yusra, the bride as she spoke about her love story, the wedding and more.  My name is Yusra, I'm a graphic designer born and raised in Chennai but got my family roots from Delhi. My husband’s name is Shuja, he's an engineer, he’s born and raised in USA. We've been family friends for years but never really spoke to each other or even crossed paths because even though Shuja did have an extended family in India, he had never been to India apart from when he was 10 which he barely remembers it.
We're both workaholics and neither of us were looking into getting married seriously until we were introduced through a common link in both families. We started chatting and instantly became really good friends.

This went on for about 6 months and then Shuja decided to come to India and meet me. Unfortunately I had met with an accident a week before he arrived, so I was unable to walk for 2 months. He landed in India and we met every day for a week at home with family because I couldn't go out. He was very patient and very helpful despite my condition. He proposed a week after he left. We were very cool and calm, we had a spark and we thought alike and honestly, it sounds cheesy but we felt like this was RIGHT. We got engaged 6 months later and 3 months after the engagement we had our wedding.I did most of my wedding shopping from Delhi. My cousin Haania Manzar happens to be a designer and she is awesome, I trust her completely and she worked on 90% of my outfits including trousseau. Few other places I went to shop were Ogaan in Hauz Khas, Delhi and Tiffara & Evoluzione, Chennai). My jewellery was majorly a good blend of VBJ and Amrapalli from Amethyst. I got a great pair of wedges from Evoluzione and heels from Steve Madden. They helped me so much with my wedding outfits which were not less than 10 - 15 kgs, no exaggeration.

Shoes play a major role, you can't have a sloppy walk or blistered feet on your wedding day. I chose the best brands and the best designer outfits for my wedding because face it, you get married only once and so I was spoiling myself to bits. My main designer was Haania Manzar, I also had outfits by Saroj Jalan and Anita Dongre in trousseau. My mehendi artist was a really nice lady named Praveena and our decor was done by Prabha Talwar, she's so creative and lit up the area.

The wedding was held at ITC so the catering was done by them, which was hands down the best service I've seen in my life. Our gorgeous wedding cake was by Adonia, Maaria. And my make-up by Ambika & Sevika but the Nikah make-up was done by Samantha Jagan, all my makeup artists did an excellent job and I loved each day’s look.  The photography was done by @rohan-mishra-photography#, I absolutely love these guys and would highly recommend them.  y dad did most of the planning so there weren’t any difficulties I faced, plus I made a checklist way ahead of time so it was all pretty sorted. As far as my pre-wedding regime is concerned, honestly, I did nothing. I ate a lot, slept a lot and I spent most of my last 3 months in India with family, friends and my soulmate, my cat.

I always thought about good things, spread a lot of love and took no stress, positivity goes a long way.

Me trying to dance in my mehendi outfit was a task, I'm sure I looked funny so that is a memory never fails to make me laugh. But as for the emotional moments, thinking about all my friends and family tearing up when I left was the hardest because we knew we wouldn't see each other soon again. India to USA was a big step for me.

 We haven't had a chance to go for honeymoon yet because Ramadan was around the corner when we got to USA. And it took me some time to settle down here. We are however looking at Hawaii or Puerto Rico as of now!