Fun people, Fun Wedding and Fun Memories! When they have a 'Jolly with Jodi' theme going on, what more can be expected? Shilpa and Bharat got married amidst a whole lot of fun and laughter and she has shared her Wedding Story in her own words! Read on and Enjoy!
Hi, I'm Shilpa. My hometown is Erode. I did my undergrad and worked in Chennai. My husband, Bharat, works in Perth, Australia. I didn't have the slightest clue that the love of my life was all the way in Australia!! Fortunately, we came to know about each other through our parents and they introduced us.
We exchanged numbers and started talking. The very first day we started talking, both of us were laughing and cracking jokes like long lost friends. We both felt the spark, but we never said yes to each other immediately, though our instincts said so!! I wasn't sure if it was a yes from his side. On the other hand he was worried about what I thought of him. This kept going for 3 months, but we never stopped talking and sharing our days with each other. One fine day he texted, “I'm coming to India with my parents to see you". I was so nervous and at the same time excited. Finally, we met and the moment we saw each other, we knew it was a "yes". I asked him why he took so long to say yes to me, he said he wanted to make me feel special by coming all the way from Australia and bringing his parents from the US and then say yes to me in person which I thought was very sweet of him. :)
They only had a week in India, so our engagement was very rushed. We had to plan everything within a day. Nevertheless, it was a very memorable event with just our close family. Our wedding date was set to November 6th 2016. So, we had an engagement period of 8 months. First we thought it was too long, but it really gave us enough time to plan our dream wedding. Both my parents and his parents were very particular about having a big fun wedding and were not willing to compromise on anything. So we started to plan for a 3 day wedding.
As soon as the date was fixed, my mom and I picked the best bridal outlets in Chennai and Coimbatore like Moksha, Diva, Kay, Kalanikethan, Sreenivasa silks, Nalli, PSR, Mahaveers, Tharakaram for Lehengas and Sarees and made a visit to each one of them. We wanted to do our research before buying my wedding dresses and sarees. We never rushed through it. The excitement slowly started building as we started buying my dresses one by one. It's great to have a mom who loves shopping as much as you do! She was the best partner when it came to picking my outfits.
As soon as the wedding was set, I started doing my research on photographers, decorators, blouse designers and makeup artists. Luckily, Prasitha akka (Owner of Shopzters!) is my school senior and a long-time friend. So I didn't hesitate to contact her and get her help with picking the best vendors. I had put in a word with her and she kept updating me with vendor names and their details. Shopzters has always been a great inspiration to me and I kept watching out their website for more innovative ideas.
Meanwhile, my parents were busy picking a hall for the wedding. Since our family has been in Erode for about 50 years, we knew a lot of people and we were expecting about 1500-2000 guests for the reception. Eebees Mahal in Erode was a newly constructed hall and we really loved the interiors and the hall was perfect for the crowd we were expecting.
Next was the food for the wedding. Since our family owns a restaurant business, there could not be any compromise when it comes to the food at the wedding. Iyer's catering from Chennai did our wedding catering and they did a fantastic job. Even a month after the wedding now, friends and relatives have been calling us just to appreciate their food and hospitality.
My husband and I picked @aa-photography# for photos. We were very impressed with their previous work and I personally love the colourfulness in their pictures. It's amazing how artistic their pictures are. So we did our pre-wedding shoot with them at Le pondy, Pondichery. Our main theme for the shoot was the movie 'Ok Kanmani'. Both my husband and I love that movie. So we decided to do movie posters like that. We even picked one of those pictures as our 'Save the date' poster.
Videography for the wedding was done by MS digital studio, Erode. Their helicam/drone camera and the crane camera was a huge hit at the wedding. We loved the outcome.
Our decorator for the wedding were Priya decorators, Erode. He was my dad’s friend and he was willing to customise whatever I wanted. I really loved the idea of a floral background. I've always had a funky taste and I didn't think twice before I picked a colourful background.
My makeup artist was my favourite Jaya aunty from @my-fair-lady# beauty parlour, Erode. She is my mom's close friend and the best part is that she did my mom's wedding makeup!! She called us and told that nobody else should do my makeup but her. She did an amazing job and everyone appreciated the makeup on all three days.
Most of my jewellery was bought from GRT, Prince Jewellery and Bhimas. Some of them were custom made by a goldsmith. For accessories and footwear, my mom and I used to go to Coimbatore every week just to look for them. And we bought one by one as we saw and liked.
Few of My blouses were designed by @anya-where-tradition-meets-fashionclothing#, Coimbatore which was a suggestion from Shopzters and it turned out great. My other blouses were designed by Sukhi's fashions, Erode and their work was amazing too.
My lehengas were bought from Kalanikethan and Neeru's boutique, Chennai. Most of my sarees were from PSR and RMKV. I personally liked Coimbatore the best for silk sarees. My 9 yards for the wedding was from Tharakaram, Coimbatore. They have a unique collection when it comes to madisaar. I always go for bright colours, so all these shops matched my taste.
My husband made it clear to me that he didn't want to see any of my wedding dresses nor sarees while I was shopping for them. I asked him why, and he said that he wanted to see me wearing them on the occasion and be surprised. I thought that was very cute and I agreed. So, I accompanied him for all of his shopping so that I could match it. We picked his suit for the evening party from @raymond-made-to-measure#, Coimbatore and got it custom tailored there. We picked an indo-western suit for the reception from @manyavar# and luckily found the exact same colour as my lehenga. He was surprised to see me on the day of the reception and everyone loved the colour coordination.
We had mehndi at my house with all my gal pals. It was such a lovely time. We were planning surprise dance and singing performances for the evening party, so those practice sessions were going on side by side. My mehndi was done by a professional artist from Mysore. She did a wonderful job with all the intricacies.
My in-laws did all the planning for the evening party and we wanted a catchy name to the party and decided to call it 'Jolly with Jodi'. Everyone was so excited to see what the event would be like. We had a professional DJ, MC, dancers and singers. The crew did a great job and the wedding was off to a great start with the party. We had mock tail counters and different cuisines for the evening. We also had a photo booth with a lot of props and a very colourful decor. At the end we had a dance floor and each and every one let loose and danced the night away! My father in law planned for a surprise lungi dance and got lungis and distributed them to anyone who was willing to come and dance and that was a huge hit!
All three days turned out to be so beautiful. Thanks to both parents who had planned each and every detail so beautifully. So many friends and relatives came all the way from various cities and many from abroad, and they all had so much fun. We are still being called 'Jolly Jodi'!! Haha.
When we started discussing honeymoon, our first thought was Paris, the most romantic city in the world. Though we considered various other options, we both seemed to lean towards Paris. So we had a beautiful 10 days in Paris and Amsterdam. We didn't book any tourist packages; we took our time and explored the cities at our own pace. After all the wedding madness, the European honeymoon was so dreamy and perfect!!
My suggestion to all bride to be's would be to work really hard to plan their dream wedding. But make sure not to get stressed during the whole process. Luckily I had friends who pampered me so much throughout the wedding and made sure I was happy and taken care of. Sometimes, it's okay to delegate some of the work to friends or relatives and concentrate on pampering yourself. It'll all be worth it, Trust me!!
