Love Across Borders - Janani and Sivaram

The love story of Janani and Sivaram is an exciting one. They met via social media, became friends in 2008 and started dating in 2011. Between this period, Sivaram who studied in London and is originally from Sri Lanka found his true love in Janani, a Brahmin from Cape Town, South Africa. Surprisingly, Janani hadn’t met Sivaraman till 2013 but had spent some time with his mother and sister during her vacation in Chennai. Finally they met each other when she surprised him in London in 2013. This couple then decided to take their relationship a step forward after completing their education and finding a good job by getting engaged in February 2014, with the blessings of both their families and decided to tie the knot in November, 2015.Janani defines Ram (Sivaram) as a very responsible and spiritual person, and since he is the eldest in the family she believes that he is naturally caring towards not just her but everybody. Though Janani was raised in Cape Town she was bought up in Tamil Brahmin lifestyle, and has always enjoyed meeting people from different cultures and religions.

Janani decided to visit Chennai to do her wedding shopping, and we are so happy that she considers shopzters a huge part of the reason for doing so. Unfortunately, Chennai was suffering from floods when she visited, however, she continued her shopping escapade.For their grand reception with all their family and friends which was held at Cape Town, the groom picked his sherwani from Chennai silks. Ram’s outfit for the wedding was bought from Kumaran Silks and consisted of a Custom made stone work Veshti, made to his taste and satisfaction. Both of Janani’s outfits for both the wedding and reception, which included an Oonjal Pattu Saree and Muhurtham saree respectively, were also from Kumaran Silks. Janani shares why Kumaran silks has always been close to her heart, “My Parents have shopped here for over a decade so they have friends at Kumaran Silks which makes it easier for us to select our outfits. They were very friendly and never got tired of showing us the variety of Sarees they have.”

Not just Kumaran Silks, the designs at Chennai Silks also stole Janani’s heart and she gave into buying most of her outfits from there. Including her Pre-wedding Events Saree (Viratham), the wedding day evening wear Saree, the Pattu Saree & Chuddidar set for the Day after the Wedding Day and the reception choli set. Although Janani designed her own blouse, she owed the excellence to Oopilla tailors, who made the most beautiful Blouses not just for her, but also for her Mother within the span of a week before the wedding date, which she was grateful for.Janani has always loved antique jewellery and so she decided that her wedding jewellery would be just that. However, due to time constrains and poor weather, she had to mix and match her pieces. Her pre wedding jewellery was from Vijaya (Shakthi Palour) and her wedding day jewellery was picked from Swarna Prabhu Jewellers (Hip Chain & Hair piece) and her parents’ favourite destination, GRT jewellers where she got the bangles and anklets (Kolusu).

The pre wedding make-up and hair for the bride was done by Vijaya (Sakthi Palour) and it included the jewellery for the event. The bride recommends her for Pre Wedding Events & smaller events, her work is good and satisfying. For her wedding day, Janani picked Noor Mohamed, who needs no introduction, he is a well renowned Make-up Artist but his work is Really Outstanding. His assistant Manoj & Female Assistant were remarkable, says Janani. He gave her a Natural Look and it was simple yet outstanding, and not overdone. The bride recommends him with praises for weddings and any type of grand events.For her Mehendi, she chose Ayisha Nawas who she found through the Shopzters Site and contacted her from South Africa, deeply satisfied with the commendable services.The wedding was held at Sri Lalith Mahal selected by the bride’s parents and the catering was done by Krishnamurthy, who served excellent meals, leaving both the sides of the family pleasantly surprised. The deco and garlands for the wedding were provided by the hall owner, Usha and her Assistant who co-ordinated from Day 1 themselves and provided excellent services.Janani booked Focuz Studios (Chandru Bharathy) in November 2014, one year prior to the event. The bride says, “Their work was Outstanding and they captured every moment of our ceremony. I highly recommend them for all types of events.” The photographers from that shot her from @focuz-studios# were Saranraj Annamalai & Singa Perumal, both of who made her Sivaram feel very comfortable with them, their dedication was also visible.This couple planned their Honeymoon nearly one year prior the wedding as Honeymoon destinations get booked quite quickly. They went to Cambodia, where the food to the accommodation was excellent. They stayed in Angkor Wat Hotel for nearly 5 days and travelled to Angkor Wat Temple for a day, and spent the rest of the days visiting other Siem Riep temples like Bayon, Preah Khan and shopping in the Local Markets, enjoying the local life.Janani describes her most emotional moment as kanikadhanam, when she felt tears but didn’t cry because she knew it would make her parents more emotional. The most exciting memories she has are from the wedding afternoon, nalangu which had loads of music, dancing and singing. Celebrity Pandiarajan attended their marriage and family and friends from over 25 different countries from all over the world were also present. Now this couple owns a photography company called JBD photography and we wish them the best for their future.