Welcome to Maharani Weddings

Hello, Maharanis! Don't miss Sarah & Akash's wedding celebration in today's Platinum Guide Blog.

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
We met in St. Louis, Missouri. Akash had just finished the last stage of his medical training at Washington University, and I happened to be working as a lawyer for the hospital where he spent most of his time. Sometimes the world produces strange coincidences, and this one happened to be a particularly happy one. Akash quickly won me over with his intelligence, humor, and love of desserts.

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
One Sunday morning in 2020, Akash suggested taking my dog Benji for a walk in Forest Park. Forest Park is a large and very pretty park in the middle of St. Louis, where we live, and it was nice to be outside during the early pandemic. After walking Benji around for a while, Akash got down on one knee and popped the question. I wasn’t expecting it at all! I was so shocked and excited that I plucked the ring right out of the box and put it on my hand myself. Akash tells me that I was so distracted by the ring that I never actually said yes, but here we are!

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.
Akash and I looked at various traditions and put together a wedding weekend that honored but modernized elements of a traditional Indian wedding in a way that would accommodate our diverse guests.

For example, we held a combined pithi and mehndi party for the bride and groom that gave my extended family a chance to meet Akash's extended family in a more intimate setting than a full blown wedding. We also hosted a welcome party on a yacht instead of traditional sangeet so our guests from out-of-state would enjoy a bit of California. Our food, too, was a mix of Indian fusion and non-Indian dishes. Finally, and I think this was Akash's favorite part, we eschewed the traditional horse-led baraat in favor of an exotic car. Not only was this easier to plan and nicer to animals, it made for some really wonderful pictures.

We did most of our wedding planning with the help of a dedicated planner, Monika Patel (@nikaeventsbymonika). Monika was worth her weight in gold and cared about us. There are so many behind-the-scenes details to get right and Monika provided tremendous structure to the planning process, which was especially helpful as we were in St. Louis and planning a wedding in Southern California. I also think that we got the response that we did from our vendors because they liked working with Monika.

So much of the actual experience with each vendor is unique from couple to couple, but I can share two general experiences. First, you should provide clear guidance and vision to your vendors, but don't be afraid to receive guidance from your vendors either. As an example, our wedding and reception decor was designed collaboratively with Kismet. We shared our design aesthetic and trusted their judgment for what would work and what wouldn't, and we were absolutely floored by the end result. Second, don't be afraid to ask questions. Indian weddings can be expensive and it is perfectly reasonable to ask about modifications or alternatives to food, design, and venue that help you stay within budget.

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
Most of my outfits were modern, so I wanted my wedding lengha to be more classic. I decided early that I wanted a traditional red color and worked with a tailor in India to customize my lengha with a beautiful temple design that did not distract from the richness of the red.

For my welcome party lengha, I selected a Seema Gujral design that I purchased from KYNAH. I first saw the dress on KYNAH's Instagram and fell in love. After an online consultation with Aisha Rawji and a visit to the KYNAH pop-up in Santa Monica to try on it on, I knew I had the perfect, fun outfit for our welcome party.

My video visit with Aisha also pointed me toward my reception dress, another Seema Gujral design. Seeing it in person at the pop-up confirmed that the color and style would match the overall feel of our reception. The dramatic sparkles and tassels looked really beautiful under reception lighting and made for really great photos.

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
For me, watching the baraat from my room's balcony was really special. It was great to see everyone having so much fun, and when Akash turned around and waved to me from ten floors below, I knew it was going to be a wonderful day.

Akash would tell you that his favorite moment was the start of the wedding, when I walked in with my brothers. Akash does not show his emotions often at all, but he admitted to me that he almost became emotional at that moment. Almost.

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 I generally have a more modern aesthetic, favoring clean lines and simple color schemes. We really enjoyed working with Kismet to create unique designs for the ceremony and reception.

For the ceremony we kept things simple and airy. Everything was white and acrylic with subtle gold accents. The raised aisle was lined with dozens of candles, which was a really stunning effect.

The reception design was also modern but slightly more elaborate, bringing in greens and muted pinks in addition to the white and gold. Hello Kismet even managed to hang two giant chandeliers on the stage! The look was finished off with a white and gold marbled dance floor and matching panels behind the stage. Overall, our events all favored a simple, modern, and airy design that gave a clean but sophisticated look.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
My primary advice is to relax and be flexible. There are inevitable hiccups in any wedding, especially during a pandemic. While I don't intend to advocate simply accepting everything that happens, I do think it is important to maintain perspective. As I've come to appreciate, most Indian weddings are at least somewhat chaotic, and yet everyone always ends up having a good time.

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Maharanis, the first wedding film of the year, is here! So, what do you think about getting ready for Komal & Patrick's Indian Fusion Wedding? These lovebirds celebrated a cozy ceremony at the Westin Morristown and if you wonder who planned this magnificent event, let me tell you all about it. Our couple wanted to make sure their wedding plans went perfectly, with a touch of luxury and genuine passion. Lucky for them, DeBest Events was the most incredible team to plan their wedding! They did their best to provide everything our newlyweds needed. You can tell the guests adored the way Komal and Patrick pampered them! Our lovebirds decided to call Gaurav - Powerhouse so they could put the energy everyone needed to dance all night long, and Cirque Central dazzled everyone with their absolute talent! Maharanis, this team works with your vision and gives you experienced insight to create a customized and memorable event. But that is not all; Komal & Patrick also called Cynthia Midori, a live painter that immortalized our newlyweds' special moment. How awesome is that! I adore this idea for a wedding! Maharanis, we can agree that Komal's innate beauty is undeniable. To highlight this, SV Bridal Concepts by Sanjana Vaswani did an exquisite hair and makeup design that made everyone sigh, including me! The best part of the event is a play button away from you as PhotosMadeEz captured a series of exceptional moments worth watching over and over again, so don't wait any longer and get ready to enjoy this beautiful film. I'm sure it will make your heart smile!

My favorite Maharanis, come back tomorrow for an incredible love story!

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Hello there, Maharanis! Get ready to enjoy Nikitha & Sagar's wedding in today's Platinum Guide Blog.

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I met Sagar when I was a medical student in Dallas, Texas. He was a second year resident training in Ophthalmology at the time. I was interested in Ophthalmology, and I happened to be assigned to his clinic that day. Sagar had actually seen a picture of me on social media over a year before we met while he was living in Denver. He told his younger sister, who went to the same medical school as me, to keep an eye out for me (lol), but he had forgotten about it completely until that day when I walked into his clinic. Eventually, he asked me on a date, and from the beginning, I was always intrigued by him. He is so unpredictable and spontaneous with his wit, intelligence, and curiosity. He is also one of the kindest and most empathetic people I have ever met. I don't think there was one standalone moment when I knew he was my life partner, but over time, I realized that I couldn't be the best version of myself without him.

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
Sagar is amazing at surprises, and his proposal was a complete surprise (I'm not lying lol). He thought of every detail to keep it a secret, and it worked. He created an email account for a fake pharmaceutical company and sent me an email inviting my residency program to a drug rep dinner at a nice steakhouse in Laguna Beach, where he actually was going to propose on the beach. He got my friends to convince me to go with them, and he told me he couldn't be there because he was on call, but that he would join later. I had just gotten off of a night shift that morning and was planning on bailing on this dinner. I texted my friends to try to flake, and of course, they wouldn't take no for an answer. So I begrudgingly got ready for the dinner and went with them to the resort. We had a great time bar hopping before the drug rep dinner, and it just so happened that same night was actually prom night for the high schools in the area, so there were people dressed up all around the hotel. My friend said there was this really great spot on the beach that she wanted to show us, so all of walked down to the beach. As we were walking across, I saw Sagar from a distance, and my first thought was "Oh, great, he made it to the dinner!". I saw a beautiful floral canopy set up on the beach, which I thought was for the high school prom. It wasn't until I saw a photographer taking pictures of us that I realized the set up was for me, and this was my proposal! Sagar said some beautiful words and of course, I said yes. We reunited with all of our friends, and I still thought there was a drug rep dinner we all had to attend, because Sagar's lies were so convincing!

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.
We basically planned our wedding twice because of COVID, as many other couples have had to do as well due to canceled weddings. To make things even harder, we were both still in training AND doing long distance; I was in residency in Dallas, and he was in fellowship in Los Angeles. You wouldn't think a 2 hour time difference was that significant, but it really was, especially when almost everyday we had a wedding planning meeting. Since we had to reschedule our wedding, it was definitely tough to coordinate new dates with all of our vendors. But we truly had a much easier experience due to our amazing wedding planner (Divine Wedding Details). One of the venues we had booked would not allow rescheduling or refunds despite the pandemic, which was unfortunate, but other than that, everyone was so accommodating and helpful. The theme for our wedding was initially "The 20/20 Experience" after Justin Timberlake's album, since we are both ophthalmologists, and our wedding was scheduled for 2020. We even modeled our Save The Date magnets after that album cover, which we later made into crew neck sweatshirts and hoodies for our wedding guests! Obviously, the 2020 Experience was terrible for the entire world, so we dropped the title and kept the cool picture of us. The vision for our wedding was always to make our weekend a unique, memorable, and fun experience for our friends and family. We wanted everyone to have a great time and were willing to go above and beyond to make sure our guests were taken care of. The other parts of the wedding weekend were just details to us. We collaborated with Bilen Walga with Prashe Decor for decorating our big events, and he made the process so fun and efficient. He picked up on what our taste was in our first meeting. The rest of our vendors were also really great to work with and their experience in the wedding business really showed. Both of our outfits came from a variety of different designers, some of which include Anita Dongre, Tarun Tahiliani, Sabyasachi, Valdrin Sahiti, Dolce & Gabanna and my personal favorite, Falguni Shane Peacock. I wore a traditional Telugu sari from India for our ceremony. We coordinated with the Indian designers via WhatsApp and video calls, which was great given that we could not travel there at the time. Planning a big Indian wedding is definitely a lot of work, especially when you have demanding jobs, but we both were so happy with the outcome of everyone's hard work! My favorite part of our wedding weekend was adding personal touches for those we love. For example, my sister loves Dippin' Dots, so we actually had Dippin' Dots cater part of the dessert at our Sangeeth!

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I always knew I would wear a traditional South Indian sari for my wedding, and thankfully, I had the help of my mom and one of my best friends (Ambika Shivarajpur) to pick out the perfect one. I didn't have a color in mind, but when I shop for clothes, I know right away if it's the "one" or not. We went to about 12 different sari stores in Hyderabad (pre-pandemic) to find the right one (I am pretty picky), but I think it turned out pretty great.

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The most enjoyable part of the process for both me and Sagar was filming our own music video to be played at our entrance at the Reception! I had always wanted to film a music video for our wedding, and Sagar is someone who would never think to do that. That's one of the themes of our relationship; I constantly have crazy ideas for us, and most of the time he goes along with them. But he not only participated, he was the best part of the whole video. One of his favorite songs is Right Above It by Lil Wayne ft. Drake, so that's the song we chose. We bought all the equipment to shoot a music video the same day and we recruited one of our best friends (Dheeraj Reddy: https://www.dpr.photos/) to film it for us. We had our closest friends and my sister direct it, and it turned out amazing. The video really showed us in our true element. It was one of the most fun parts of our wedding for both of us.

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Our guests have told us so many positive things about our wedding, and that's all that mattered to us:  our family and friends to have a memorable and fun time. Guests told us they felt very well taken care of; we had meals and drinks for all guests for the whole weekend even if there wasn't an official event. We also made sure every single guest was fully vaccinated for COVID before attending, and we made it mandatory to be vaccinated to attend. We also had sanitizing stations, masks, temperature checks, and rapid COVID testing on site at each event. As a result, our guests felt much safer celebrating with each other, and they felt grateful to feel a sense of community after a long time. That's what meant the most and made us feel like our hard work had paid off. We had a lot of people tell us that they loved our speeches and the fact that our personality showed in our planning.

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
Sagar has never been a dancer, and I am the total opposite. I have been dancing my whole life, and it truly is one of my passions. I was on an all girls Bollywood Fusion dance team throughout college, and we competed nationally. I still teach at a dance studio; dance is something I will always be passionate about. Sagar on the other hand, truly has zero coordination on the dance floor. I had always wanted to do a fun Indian dance together at our reception, but I knew he wouldn't be able to because it truly stresses him out! At our reception, Sagar surprised me with a 5 minute long Bollywood dance performance that he secretly coordinated with over 30 of our friends! He did a dance to Chura Ke Dil Mera with a bunch of my girl friends who were on my dance team, and it took every bit of self control I had to not jump on the dance floor with them! He looked amazing, and I was having the time of my life watching him dance. It was my personal favorite part of the whole weekend, and it shows the type of person Sagar is. He would do anything for the people he cares about, even conquer two of his greatest fears: dancing and dancing in front of an AUDIENCE. I probably watched his dance over 50 times on repeat the week after our wedding.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Wedding planning is HARD. And if you have a full-time demanding job, it's even harder. And if you are doing long-distance with your partner, girl, say a few prayers. But a good planning team, friends and family that care about you two, and reliable vendors make the process much easier. I have only planned one wedding, so we don't have a whole lot of wisdom on the matter, but I will say, make the wedding memorable the way YOU want it to be remembered. After all is said and done, you and your man should be able to look back and feel like it was exactly what you both wanted. Also, take time to relax during everything. I remember my sister pulled me aside the week of the wedding and forced me to slow down and meditate with her for 10 minutes (she's the best). Don't forget to take care of yourself, mentally and physically, because you're going to need that energy! Sagar's words of wisdom are as follows: "Have fun and may the Lord be with you". LOL, but seriously.

That is all for today, Maharanis! See you tomorrow for a new romantic story!

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Happy Fri-yay, Maharanis! As you know, 2021 has given us the most incredible entries, love has been present on every feature, and today, I am eager to share this year's last love story, Esha & Henil's. This gorgeous couple celebrated their love at a cozy yet elegant venue, Marigold Banquets. This place is the perfect combination between elegance and rustic and modern architecture. Those details, accompanied by the luxurious decor by Tradition and Trends, made this wedding an unforgettable one! We all know every event deserves attention to detail, professionalism, and, most importantly, passion. Events By Srishti have all of these, and our lovebirds couldn't find a better team to plan and design their most important day. The newlyweds were all about pampering their guests! That is why they had Medley Entertainment to make everyone feel their love through music and  Luxe Event Group to make everyone dance all night long. I think both teams did a great job! As you can see, our lovely Maharani, the handsome groom, and their guests had the time of their lives! My dears, it is time to mention how charming the bride looked during her big day. Esha looked phenomenal thanks to the delicate yet beautiful hair and makeup done by Maliha Khan MakeUp and a very detailed Mehndi art by Tejal. Henil couldn't take his eyes off of the love of his life, and we know why! We all can agree they will live happily ever after, and you can see this through the pictures Fine Art Production captured. They did a fantastic job, and we applaud them! Maharanis, check out the gallery we've put together for you! And don't forget that 2022 will bring more romantic love stories! 

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I met my Groom through a family friend and we started talking and dating casually. As time passed, we realized that we share the same ideology and the mutual respect for each other was on point. I loved the way he noticed little things that I liked or disliked, and did everything for me without asking. He blended so well with all my family members and took care of me as his princess. I knew he was the one, at the very beginning of our relationship. He used to his Masters in Scranton University, so one day for the first time I went to drop him off at his place. That day he invited me inside and cooked some delicious food (AKA "Poha") after driving him back for 2 hours. On my way back, he stayed on the phone call with me the entire time until I made it back home. That is when I realized that he was the one and that he will always take care of me and keep me happy!

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
Omee took me to California to visit his family for the first time. It was during that time, he took me to a surprise helicopter ride during sunset in Los Angeles as it was my first time visiting California. It was during that ride, he got on his knees and proposed to me near the HOLLYWOOD sign and I said "YES". Then we landed and celebrated with a bottle of champagne.

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
Initially, when I imagined getting married, I always wanted to wear a traditional red lengha. When it was turn for me to get married, I went to India and went shopping for my wedding outfit. I tried on many different red lenghas but none of them clicked with me! I went to Kathputli, the store where I bought my lengha looking for a red length however, my eyes landed on a pinkish shade lengha which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it! I tried it on and I knew that this would be my wedding lengha.

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
There are many enjoyable parts of the wedding planning process such as creating my own wedding website from scratch, creating the invitations, decorating the house, and etc. The most enjoyable part was, the family gatherings we had starting 2 months before our wedding. We used to meet up every weekend as my dad's and mom's side of the family were preparing a dance for our Sangeet Night. My mom's side family ended up creating a personalized Sanedo based on my and Omee's relationship. The best part was getting together and everyone enjoying the process and making it feel like a nostalgic Indian wedding environment.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
For Brides-to-be, I would say that enjoy the entire process from the time you start planning the wedding to the time you get married. There will be times, that you will get stressed but at the end of the day, it is all worth it! One other advice I would give is to do a BARAAT as a bride too! It is an amazing experience. This is something I ended up doing and I really enjoyed the entire experience with my family. It was fun to experience all the family members from both the bride and groom's side come together and celebrate the Baraat!

Maharanis, we say goodbye to 2021 but we invite you to keep coming for more 2022 love stories!

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Hello, Maharanis! Don't miss Palak & Naman's wedding celebration in today's Platinum Guide Blog.

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.
As a Covid Bride, postponing and replanning our wedding was definitely very stressful.   We were fortunate to have had the best vendors that were very accommodating throughout the entire process. A big shout out would go out to our Day of Coordinator - Henna Patel.  She took care of us from the beginning to the end of the journey in the most cool, calm, and collected way. Everyone was shocked at how organized and on schedule our wedding was, especially for an Indian wedding! Heena and her team allowed me to be stress-free and have fun throughout my entire wedding day.

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I was set on a maroon colored bridal lengha but I didn't have a clear vision of the exact outfit that I wanted.  I was not able to go to India for wedding shopping but my parents were able to.  They would facetime me every night and show me every maroon outfit there was at the shop. Eventually, I picked out certain parts of different maroon outfits that I liked, to make my own.  I absolutely loved the way my lengha turned out and am thankful for my parents for making it happen.

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Me and Naman have been together for 11 years!  One of our biggest blessings from this is that our families and friends have also known each other for a long time.  Our wedding was not a celebration of two sides coming together, it was a celebration as a whole unit.  I think this was something so special to have at our wedding and it brought a different type of energy to our wedding.  Many guests told us how much fun and love they felt at our wedding and I would credit that to the energy brought by our close family and friends.

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
Our wedding day truly was one of the most fun days that I have ever had, there were so many special moments throughout the day.  A special moment that stands out to me was reading the letter that Naman wrote to me right before our first look.  With all the adrenaline and emotions that come with the morning of a wedding, it is easy to lose sight of what is important.  Reading the letter brought me back to the only thing that matters - my relationship with Naman. Naman's letter ended up being almost identical to the letter that I wrote him and at that moment, everything felt so right. I couldn't wait to go see Naman!

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
The one thing that I kept in my mind throughout my wedding weekend was that this is the only time in my life where all of my favorite people will be under one roof at the same time.  This helped me live in the moment, instead of focusing on things that might have been going wrong.

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