North Vancouver, Canada Indian Wedding by Knotting Bells

Happy Monday, Maharanis! We are starting a new week, and as always, we are doing it with a romantic love story that will take your breath away. So, get yourself comfortable and enjoy Rimmy & Akash's wedding celebration thanks to the remarkable shots captured by Knotting Bells. The big day started with an outdoor photo shoot that we loved so much. Every single shot is a work of art capable of brightening up your day. After the photoshoot, it was time to head over to The Polygon Gallery to carry on with the solemn and traditional ceremony that united these two soulmates in marriage. A Stylish Event by Ishita thoroughly planned every moment of this celebration, delivering nothing but utter perfection, finding the best ally in Mohani Event Design, who transformed the halls of this striking venue into a magical and mesmerizing setting more than suitable for the occasion. This winning combination took Rimmy & Akash's vision of their dream wedding and made it a reality. How amazing is that! To add an extra touch of exquisiteness, Botany and Bloom crafted gorgeous floral arrangements which were delicately placed all over the room, and on top of the Mandap, adding a spark of color to the night. There was so much beauty all over the place, but nothing compared to our gorgeous Maharani Rimmy, who looked like a goddess thanks to the nude makeup and sleek hairstyle designed by Beauty Call Makeup and Hair Artistry. Not to mention, the fabulous Mehndi outlined by Maharani Mehendi. If that doesn't say beauty, few things will! The night got to an end with a vibrant and luxurious reception party held at The Pipe Shop, where all the guests celebrated the newlyweds dancing to the beats of DJ 151 and tasting the delicious food prepared by Dhaliwal Banquet Hall & Restaurant. If you want to take a closer look at this marvelous celebration of love, don't miss the fully-inspiring gallery that we have prepared for today. It is worth the while!

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
Akash and I first connected on Dil mil in 2016. We talked briefly and then he ended up ghosting me so nope, definitely didn’t think he was the one. We reconnected on WhatsApp in 2017 and the first time we actually talked on the phone we talked for HOURS, but he lived in US, while I was in Canada so we never really considered dating. We stayed friends and talked everyday though until I finally met him in San Diego where I was attending a business conference and he was partying. When we met in person, there was just no doubt that love really is friendship and I realized he was “the one”

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
I’m an avid reader and my favourite book of all time is The god of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. When we were friends I once told him about this beautiful quote from it: “He folded his fear into a perfect rose. He held it out in the palm of his hand. She took it from him and put it in her hair” symbolically signifying that not only does she accept him with all his faults and weaknesses, but also proudly wears them on her person.

Akash based the proposal on this quote and bought old, torn copies of “The god of small things” and rupi Kaur’s “milk and honey” (another favourite from our relationship) and used them to make 600 paper roses by hand. In March 2018, he flew down to Vancouver and with the help of my two best friends decorated an Airbnb in Vancouver. I was told it was my friends proposal and little did I know that I was walking into my own dream proposal set up

Tell us how you went about planning your wedding, and your overall experience with the Venues, Hair & Makeup, Outfits, Decor Theme, and all of the other important details.
Our wedding was completely and totally about us. We were certain about one objective: we wanted our guests to leave the wedding weekend knowing a lot more about us as a couple. So every single thing had meaning attached to it, and every detail was personalized. Our sangeet was a fun, Bollywood meets pop art set up where Akash made artwork on his iPad which formed our decor. Our wedding was set at an art gallery since we both love art, culture, literature and one of our first dates was at an art gallery. The venue was a perfect juxtaposition of modern versus traditional which is what both our personalities align with - we’re both modern/radical in our thought and very rooted in our traditions & cultures with our Indian upbringing. The view was that of Vancouver downtown skyline - the place where he had proposed and in the city we grew to love each other. I even for a red rose in my hair to symbolize the roses from our proposal.

For the reception, we envisioned our entire relationship/proposal set up coming to life. We picked an old shipyard which resembled the proposal venue/Airbnb in its wooden beams and string lights. We set up an Akash and Rimmy museum of sorts where we displayed important artefacts from our relationship with little descriptive notes. Our proposal poem was set up at the entrance and it flowed into the aisle much like a page out of our book and the stage had “per aspera ad Astra” which is Latin for “through adversity to the stars” since stars/fate/destiny play an important role in our relationship. This phrase is also one that Akash engraved on the proposal ring.

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I grew up and lived in India all my life, but I was never the type of girl who dreamt about getting married. In fact, I never wanted to get married.
When it finally came to planning the wedding, i had a lot of trouble picturing myself as the bride so initially I was very confused about the colour of my lehenga.

Gradually, I realized it had to be red because I wanted it to represent how traditional I am despite being a modern, fiercely independent feminist woman.

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The most enjoyable part of the process was having our wedding be our creative canvas. Akash is just so talented that everything in our wedding weekend was unique and quirky but still so representative of us. Our guests comfort and happiness mattered to us a lot too so we planned so much around that. We grew so much closer as a couple in making decisions during the planning process and loved creating this amazing vision for our loved ones to celebrate our love with us

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
The personalization. They loved that each event was so different from each other in terms of the venue, decor, vibe but that each of us told them something more about us/our story/our relationship

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
So many! My favourite memories are of us laughing and having a great time on the mandap, dancing and having a blast at the reception in full Bollywood style, or me as the dancing bride waiting for my groom to arrive in his fabulous boat baraat

For events other than your ceremony, please tell us as much as you would like about the decor, style, dances, and all the special details.
Akash and I are both poetically/creatively inclined, we love bollywood, we’re both emotional and so everything from our decor to our dances captured this.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Don’t let anything get in the way of what truly matters on your big day. Things will always go wrong but if you focus on the fact that you’re marrying your special someone, everything else will fade away. Also, if the bride and groom are happy and having a GREAT time that kind of energy is contagious and your guests will automatically pick up on it

Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
Mehendi - my Mehendi was FULLY custom and too k about 8 hours to complete. I had our portraits, roses, important quotes etched on my palm. The event itself was intimate, colourful and lots of fun with impromptu singing and dancing with close family and friends.

Haldi- while I had an intimate haldi at home, Akash had his share of fun with his boys too

Baraat - we had a boat baraat since the venue was overlooking the water. It rained all weekend long but somehow the clouds parted and made way for the sun just in time for our baraat. It’s perhaps the most memorable time from our wedding weekend

Roast and toast - we also organized a friends only roast and toast night where friends got to mock us! Instead of formal speeches at reception, this event offered people the opportunity to be totally unfiltered, creative in their speeches about us without holding back. It was a huge success!!

What a great way to start this week off with the right foot! If you want to get more inspiration to start planning your wedding, make sure to join us tomorrow. We have a new love story every day!