It's safe to say, we've saved the most epic wedding film for last. This video, shot and edited by A&A Video, follows this multi-day spectacular in Orange County, CA, from pre-wedding through to the reception. You may remember the bride and groom from their engagement photo session in Jaipur. The bride, Maharani Siddhi, is the co-founder of Borrow It Bindaas, so you can be certain that this cinematic gem is filled with countless, fashionable details. If we could only get a look at some of the bridal portraits taken by her wedding photographer, Matei Horvath Photography! This impressive highlight reel starts off with some of the most memorable pre-wedding celebration moments. From the mehendi to the sangeet, every single second is sheer excitement. The talented bride designed all of her own pre-wedding outfits with the with the help of her mother and her Borrow It Bindaas business partner, Manshi Gandhi, and every single dress is to-die-for. Her wedding legnha was a bespoke beauty by Sabyasachi. Bloom Box Designs provided some seriously splendid floral for the home events, and Sheer Romance did a bang up job with the design, decor and coordination of the Mata Ki Chowki, mehendi and yacht soiree. For the sangeet, Yeh Shaam Mastani, wedding and the reception, Ethnic Essence Couture Events provided the coordinating services along with planning the affairs and taking charge of the design and decor for each equally stunning event. Charanjeet was in attendance to entertain guests at the sangeet and 3D Sounds took care of all of the lighting and sound. The bride was a breathtaking beauty from the first night to the last, thanks to makeup artist Nida Gazi from Beauty By NG. Her hair was beautifully styled by Rosie Ortega and Michelle Udarbe, and she gave her family the royal treatment when she called on Dolled Up By Lulu to beautify them for this unforgettable affair. Henna By Rupal decorated the lovely bride with bridal mehndi fit for a Princess, and you'll be blown away with the gorgeous detail. This extraordinary celebration of love lasted several days, but must've felt like a whirlwind with all of the fun and exciting elements brought in by the bride and groom and their magnificent team of vendors. Some fantastic details included catered meals from some of the most sensational restaurants and caterers like one of our personal favorites, S3 Catering. Delhi Palace, Zaky's Kabob House and Jay Bharat were also in attendance to help feed the 700+ guests from across the globe. Chennai Express even had a live dosa station — how amazing is that?! Blue Lotus Insights played the role of wedding concierge and was available to guests to help them throughout this 7-day celebration. Little details like that make a BIG difference when it comes to logistics and keeping the bride happy and stress-free. Don't waste another minute, check out the endless array of breathtaking bridal lenghas, the floral accessories by Hello Kismet, a fun ride from LA Rickshaw, and the fabulous wedding cake by Cinderella Cakes.
The bride, on how she met her Raja:
"Ashish and I were introduced to each other through his sister in law; from our first conversation onwards everything flowed so seamlessly. We just understood each other, and our values and interests were very similar. We both have a lot of love for our families, bollywood films and love to explore new restaurants and activities to do! I would say by the second or third time we met; I just had a feeling that he was the one for me. With Ashish there is no shortage of laughs, he brings out the best in me, and he makes me enjoy each moment by just being a part of mine. I truly admire his kindness, strength, and most of all his humor. It sounds cliche but he did make me the happiest girl when he asked me to marry him. The icing on the cake is how great our families get along with each other; we can all spend hours talking, laughing and just hanging out with each other. It all truly is the perfect fit!!"
The super romantic proposal story:
"The proposal was a complete surprise and swept me off my feet! I was guided to the beach by a pathway of rose petals to find a beautiful canopy of market lights, rose petals and candles with a projector in front of me and a seat with a cozy blanket. It was just past sunset on a september night so the weather was perfect and the stars were shining bright. I hit play and the movie began on the projector and in true bollywood fashion with a fun story line, song and action sequence; Ashish created a movie detailing his journey of how he knew I was the one, and of course every romantic movie ends with a chase and at the end of the movie he appeared in person and got down on one knee and popped the question! I was so ecstatic and it truly was the perfect proposal in true bollywood fashion! And the best part was our friends and family were on standby and joined us on the beach with champagne and dinner and we all watched the film together. It was such a beautiful start to our journey!"
On her wedding style:
"When we were working through each event, we realized that we wanted each of the 7 events to have its own unique element with different color palettes, decor elements, and food; we wanted our family and friends to be transformed each time! Our Mata Ki Chowki really represented our family's Kolkata roots and the majestic images of Ganpati, and the Durga Goddess really added special character to the home; along with the elegant gold and pearl torans hanging in the space. For the Mehendi Bazaar we transformed the space with umbrellas from Jaipur that we had hanging upside down, beautiful pink draping, and a mini bazaar set up with bags, bindis, DIY rangoli boxes for the guests to take home! All of our home events were truly transformed with 3D sounds amazing lighting and sound throughout. For the Sangeet both Ashish and I are HUGE bollywood film buffs so we absolutely knew we wanted to incorporate our love for it into our Sangeet. We had a cocktail hour with a large screen behind our circular bar playing reels from our favorite films, we bought mini rickshaws from Delhi that served as the center pieces, and each table overlay was a collage of our favorite films, and the rickshaw entrance blew everyone away! For the Wedding ceremony I knew I wanted minimal florals as I really wanted the Mandap to be the star of the event, I envisioned a beautiful ivory structure with red and gold touches to complement my bridal lehenga. Ethnic Essence made a bridal runway a mandap a bride can only dream of. The gold sequin touch on the bridal runway and mandap really enhanced the beautiful ivory structure that they created. For the reception the inspiration of the entire event worked around my custom made Red Ball Gown; we built the theme of the cocktail hour areas and the ballroom all around this inpiration with an elegant gold archway guiding guests to a step & repeat, digital escort screens, unique appetizers and gold tufted bars where guests enjoyed specialty "khara" "shah" themed drinks. The colors, florals, star drop walls, ice bar, gold mirror dance floor and overall style around the event was truly unique and stayed true to a starry night, hollywood, vintage theme. It was SO magical!"
On what she enjoyed most about planning her dream wedding:
" I truly enjoyed my meetings with Ethnic Essence and her team; my mother and I would spend hours with Smita Mohindra and her team, getting our creative juices flowing on how we can make each detail of each event something creative. I also really enjoyed seeing how involved my father got into all the details too; we all loved planning the entire week of events together over the past year and it was great how enthusiastic everyone was throughout each part of the process- from custom designing the invitations, to curating different return favors for our guests-Gotta Batwas from Jaipur, Ganpati Pearl Torans, to Gajra Bracelets; we really wanted to give our guests an unforgettable experience. What I really enjoyed most was working along side my mother; she is truly a fabulous woman who really thinks outside the box. Ethnic Essence, 3D Sounds, and Sheer Romance and all the vendors really pulled off incorporating our desired elements while also bringing in their creative energy together very effortlessly and beautifully. It was so great to work with vendors who were just as into the creative process as we were and were also very excited to push the envelope and try new things."
On choosing the perfect lenghas:
"Having been the Co-founder of Borrow It Bindaas; I've been thinking about my wedding week lehengas for a long time; especially the elements I wanted incorporated into each look. For my Bridal Look- I always knew I wanted to be a Sabyasachi Bride; since my family roots are from Kolkata; there was a personal connection to Sabyasachi for me. We went to their flagship store in Kolkata and worked one on one with two stylists there and curated my perfect bridal outfit; I just loved the elements of the blush/rose pinks, the marron velvet with the gold zardosi work and the skirt filled with hand sewn moti pearls throughout. These elements and of course with the touch of Mr. Sabyasachi himself truly made it a royal bridal lehenga that I complemented with a Polki Set (gifted by my parents) with emerald stones to add a pop of color to complement the blush tones.
For all of the other outfits in my Bridal trousseau, I custom designed each one with the help of my talented Mother and Manshi Gandhi (one of the Co-Founders of Borrow It Bindaas). I was inspired by some of my favorite designers and the various elements they use in their work from Gotta touches, to certain colors, fabrics, and beading. Some of my favorite designers are Anita Dongre, Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi & Ellie Saab/Monique Lullier (for my red gown). For most of the Jewelry for my pre-wedding outfits; I wore several Heriloom pieces from my late grandmother and my mother which made it that much more special to wear and incorporate that into my bridal trousseau."
On her most memorable wedding week moment:
" The entire week was truly a dream but there are two moments that really stood out to me as magical: my walk down the aisle and our reception entrance. We had a live flute player who walked down the aisle playing along to an acoustic cover of Mast Magan (from the film 2 states); the aisle was a shimmery gold; and the ivory mandap looked beautiful and the weather was perfect. As I walked down the aisle with my father by my side, my brothers and uncles held a gorgrous bridal canopy above me with hanging fresh red rose buds and gold kaliras; I teared up a bit as I neared the end of my walk down the aisle because it was all so surreal and beautiful. It was truly my dream wedding. My second most magical moment was when Ashish and I first entered the reception ballroom with our entrance and our first dance; Ethnic Essence truly transformed the ballroom to a classy, starry night, vintage hollywood themed room with star drop walls, an ice bar, a gold mirrored dance floor and elegant red rose florals; it was the definition of magical to us."
On her hair and makeup:
"I always knew I wanted to work with Nida Gazi from Beauty by NG. She understands the Indian skintone and loves to try new things while also continuing to keep your personal style. During the madness that goes on during a wedding week, she truly is a calming force and was with me from start to finish of getting ready to make sure I felt like a princess at each event. I was very particular about my looks for each event; for the Mata Ki Chowki since we have a background in Kolkata, I wanted to go with a Bengali look, for the Mehendi I wanted something shimmery and whimsical to go with my floral jewelry, for the Sangeet- I was in over 6 dances in the program so I knew I wanted something easy but glamourous to be able to dance in, for the wedding I really wanted to look like myself and not too done up so we went for a natural look while also of course matching my bridal lehenga. For the reception we just both LOVED my custom red gown so we wanted to do an all out glamourous and classic look for this. I met with Nida around 2-3 times personally and we went over each outfit, several photos and talked in detail about each look. She truly is the best at what she does and very professional as well; by the end of the week she felt like family!"
On the role family and friends played:
"Apart from my parents, my family was the backbone of this wedding. When we would have our family dance practices we would combine these with family meetings at the Khara residence with my sisters and cousins to work together and split up the tasks. We worked for months on end- filling welcome bags, assembling invitations, attending various vendor meetings, and much more! Everyone was so excited and eager to help it made it really fun! With a week of 7 events, over 75+ people from India and a full Baraat of over 250 people from out of the state; we wanted everything to be perfect for our guests and give them an unforgettable experience. To have such a strong support group of family and friends truly gave each of our events a very personal touch and got everyone involved!! There was so much love in the air and blessings from our family and friends; we are truly grateful!"
What a fabulous way to end this Filmy Friday — am I right?! Have a funtabulous weekend, Maharanis! We'll see you back here on Monday! In the meantime, check out some highlights from this week:
Let's also take a moment to welcome our newest Platinum Guide members:
Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park
Face and Crown
Samvadiyacards.Inc
