Long distance relationships are not always a story of sweet nothings. At times, they do ooze out with sweeter somethings. Such is the story of our beautiful bride Neha and her prince charming, Antariksh.
Let's hear it from the bride herself. "I got married to my college sweetheart in November 2016 in a traditional Kerala-style wedding ceremony. I met my husband, Antariksh, 7 years ago when we both started university in England. I am a Malayali, and so is my husband, but we happened to meet and fall in love 4,500 miles away from home. After being in a relationship for over 6 years, Antariksh proposed to me in London and just about 10 months later, we tied the knot in my hometown, Chennai.
We had several functions leading to the big day – a Mehndi evening done in a fun Punjabi way, a Sangeet night with a Mughal theme, a Malayali wedding and a Tamizhian reception.
My mother and father, the superheroes of my life, planned the wedding of my dreams. After a beautiful ceremony with just family in the Ayyappan temple in Chennai, we had a grand Kerala-style celebration in the MRC Hall. She designed my entire outfit and every piece of jewellery I wore on the day. I wore a Kancheepuram saree bought from Kancheepuram, and gold temple jewellery – a few pieces passed down from my earlier generations, and a few that were made just for my wedding.
I walked down the madap aisle with ‘singari melam’ artists leading the way, followed by my bridesmaids, all in traditional Kerala ‘mundus’. The highlight of the wedding was when I pushed my husband causing him to fall down in the middle of the ceremony. A light moment for our family. Our wedding was quintessentially Malayali, with Kathakali dancers welcoming guests and a traditional Kerala sadhya served on banana leaves. The ceremony was followed by a reception also at MRC, with a musical concert by the maestro, Rajhesh Vaidhya.
The groom wore a mundu and kurta bought from Trivandrum. The talented and lovely make-up artist (and my childhood friend) @mesmereyes-makeup# by Akriti Sachdev did my bridal make-up for all functions. Our wedding photographer was Gracian from Scintilight Creations who captured both the emotional and fun moments in a beautiful way! One of the photographic highlights was our pre-wedding shoot in Mylapore outside Kapaleeshwar temple, capturing the colours and spirit of my beautiful hometown, Chennai.
Antariksh and I live in London. We also had a British registry ceremony in Mayfair, London, but will forever cherish the moments from our very special Malayali wedding! It was the perfect combination of traditional simplicity and grandeur. All before we headed off on our honeymoon in Bali! "