Romance can blossom anytime and any place, and this chance meeting really warms up from head to toe. A few Halloweens ago, dressed as Princess Jasmine, Sharon, met her Prince Charming, Manraj, after a missed blind date a few months before. But, it was at an Akhand Path that morning where Sharon first noticed Manraj in a handsome pair of socks! Yep, you heard us correctly, socks!
Fast forward a through countless dates and late night conversations to a summer vacation in San Sebastian, Spain. Needless to say, a surprise proposal was the highlight of that summer. They began planning their wedding months later during COVID, and decided early on it was safest to plan for an outdoor wedding in case indoor event regulations changed. They selected Glenmaura National Golf Club as the main venue to host all of the events. The property had a tent for weddings so it seamlessly met the couple’s COVID preferences.
Unable to go to India to shop led the bride to browse online and connect with onsite stylists in India. Through a series of WhatsApp video calls, they were able to walk through the showrooms with the teams from Shymal & Bhumika and Manish Malhotra and even take measurements through video!
Sharon and Manraj thoroughly enjoyed their wedding planning and didn’t let COVID get in their way of their dream day. They are filled with gratitude for their vendor team who worked with tireless dedication and creativity on their wedding. Congratulations to the lovely pair!
“For our Sangeet, we didn't do a bangle or bindi bar that we had experienced before and wanted something that was special to us. Since it we wed during the poandemic, we had customized masks and hand sanitizers made for our guests that were placed around for all the events and given in the favor bag. Also, in the favor bags were a pair of socks tying back to the story of how we met. We gifted everyone a pair of socks along with our love story.”
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How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
It was Halloween and my best friend from college invited me to come to Scranton, PA for the weekend. The plan was we would go to her boyfriend's akhand path in the morning and then celebrate Halloween in the evening. We got there early and sat in the front by the priests. As the prayer service was about to finish, a latecomer strolls in. When he kneeled down towards the priest, all I saw were his socks and thought, ''those are really nice socks!" Afterwards, I see the same guy in the lunch line and we start chatting. He mentioned where he lived and where he worked and it dawned on me, ''this was the guy my friend tried to set me up on a blind date with a few months ago.'' Now, here I was chatting with him and he was AMAZING! Didn't hurt that he was also very handsome! Little did we know that both our friends had planned this out all along for us to naturally ''run into each other'' that weekend. Needless to say, I was Princess Jasmine for Halloween that night and I had found my Prince Charming. I knew he was the one a few months into dating. Manraj is calm, caring, supportive, and the perfect balance to me in the best ways. There is not a mean bone in his body, he is all love!
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
Manraj & I planned a summer vacation to San Sebastian, Spain. The first night we got there, I wanted to keep walking around after dinner to explore the city. Manraj said he was feeling jet lag so we headed back to the hotel. The next morning, he woke me up at 7am and told me he booked a private breakfast for us at the aquarium so I have an hour to get ready. It was our first morning in Spain, so I kept stopping along the way to take pictures. It is Spain after all! We walked towards a boardwalk and Manraj goes ''ok last picture because we really need to get to breakfast'' and he asks a gentleman to take our photo. The gentleman snaps the photo on my cellphone, and then from under his jacket takes out a camera. I was confused and then I hear ''Sharon, it's happening.'' I turn around and Manraj is on his knee with the ring! The next 3 minutes are a complete blur. I couldn't stop crying and he was still on his knee waiting for a response. There were older men out for a walk on the boardwalk and they all stopped and started crying as well! It was so sweet! I was so happy he hired the photographer so we could capture that moment. We spent the rest of the morning waking up all of our family back home via FaceTime to share the great news!
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.
Planning a wedding during COVID was not easy, but in the words of my mother-in-law the morning after the wedding, our vendor team ''killed it!''
Since it was COVID, we were not able to go to India to do any wedding shopping. We had to browse online and then connect with a stylist onsite at the stores. A huge shoutout to all of the designers in India for really adapting to situation and setting up WhatsApp video calls with us to walk us through the showrooms and helping us take our measurements through video. We worked with Rahul from Shymal and Bhumika & Nidhi from Manish Malhotra for our outfits and both were super helpful to work with!
Due to changing regulations, we decided early on it was safest to plan for an outdoor wedding in case indoor event regulations changed. We selected Glenmaura National Golf Club as our main venue to host all of the events. The property had a tent already set up for weddings so it was the perfect fit to help meet our COVID guidelines.
Phil and his team at Glenmaura National Golf Club went above and beyond! He kept us updated on local regulation changes through the entire process and his team were so kind and helpful to all of the guests. I highly recommend him and his team for a venue! They have nailed down how to do an Indian wedding!
Manraj's favorite cuisine is Indian, so the caterer vendor selection was going to be the most important. We wanted Indian food, but elevated! It was instant love from the initial tasting with Chef! Chef Anand, Abla, and the entire team were so kind and helpful. He created a mind blowing menu for all the events and helped us select a signature cocktail for each event to compliment the food. Since our Sangeet was on a golf course, he came up with he idea to present his food stations inspired by classic sports clubs of India. The signature cocktail for the evening with a Nimbu Pani cocktail. For the wedding, he proposed doing a more traditional Sikh langar style lunch served in thali's. For the reception, a 5 course plated Indian dinner and dessert menu.They took every safety precaution with our guests to minimize contact. Needless to say, everyone was overjoyed and full!
For decor we worked with Elegant Affairs. We both had close family and friends that had positive experiences working with them so there was a certain level of comfort in knowing we were in the right hands. They made the tent setup come to life and we had a jaw dropping moment every time we walked into each event to preview it! Neither Manraj or I are creative people, so working with Sharda & Vikram was a perfect match. They took our few pieces of inspiration and amplified it into our stunning wedding! For the Sangeet, once Chef Anand had decided his menu, Vikram created our beautiful decor theme to compliment the Indian sports club theme. For the wedding ceremony, we wanted a simple yet elegant and we loved walking in that morning before all the guests arrived seeing the room transformed. For the reception, we had a basic idea of black, gold, and ferry lights. Black is a difficult color for an Indian wedding, but we knew in the right hands it could be executed properly. Vikram took our feedback and created our stunning reception by adding softer touches of taupe and light floral. We fell in love with all of our events and were over the moon with the way everything turned out!
Hair, Makeup, and Styling I worked with Style by Susmita! Since Susmita had worked with close family and friends, there was a certain level of comfort working with her. She was amazing! She set me up on a beauty regimen months before the wedding. She did my hair, makeup, and all my draping and jewelry styling. The downside of planning a wedding during COVID was that I could not go to India to my wedding shopping. I ordered my outfits from Shymal & Bhumika and Manish Malhotra. I shared the images of the outfits and Susmita helped me shop for jewelry. She was always in a calm, positive, and happy spirit, which is exactly what a nervous bride would need!
The easiest part of the planning process was who do we work with when we want to dance? DJ Raj Entertainment! When I shared my vision for wanting ferry lights all over the dance floor, he executed our beautiful night of dancing under the stars! We knew the team was great with the music, so we simply told him to play whatever gets our Punjabi family onto the dance floor!
For photo and video, we worked with Clane Gessel for photo and Mehul and Mayank from Memories Studio for video. Clane has amazing shots with nature and architecture, and our wedding was in the fall, so it made for a beautiful back drop. Also, Clane is the only person that has figured out a trick to keep Manraj's eyes open during photos! Mehul & Mayank were also awesome to work with! They educated us through different edits that could be done with all of the footage. We asked that our video bring energy and life, and they killed it!! We love watching all of our videos and seeing how happy and joyful everyone was the entire weekend!
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
One of the most enjoyable parts of planning were the multiple trips to Chef Anand for food tastings. If you haven't been to his restaurants in NYC, you have to go! Our other favorite part was planning the decor with Vikram. It was fun to see the updates each week and see how he brought our vision to life!
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
They loved how the food and decor made them feel they were transported to a different place, and Vince Chang! Vince was the MC at our wedding and was unstoppable! He kept the energy up all weekend, everyone loved him!
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
It's impossible to pick one moment, so here are the top 5 moments:
- Our first look! Neither of us had seen what the other had ordered. We saw the video after and you can feel the love and laughter. Manraj looked so handsome for all the events!
-Manraj's dad's reception speech- a tearjerker!
-Father-Daughter dance- also a tearjerker!
-My 78 uncle busting moves on the dance floor- caught it on video!
-All the Sangeet dances! All the time and effort our family and friends put in to the practice!
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Simple: have fun with it! It only happens once, so enjoy it!
Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
We loved the way everything turned out! The details that stand out were from the Sangeet. The first detail was at the scotch bar. We made a special request to Chef Anand for Army style Masala Peanuts. When Manraj was younger, he remembered enjoying these army style peanuts with his dad in the Indian Army mess hall. The second detail was in our Sangeet favor bags. We didn't do a bangle or bindi bar that we had experienced before for Sangeet events. Instead, since it was COVID times, we had customized masks and hand sanitizers made for our guests that were placed around for all the events and given in the favor bag. Also in the favor bags were a pair of socks. This ties back to the story of how we met. The first thing I noticed was how nice his socks were. We gifted everyone a pair of socks along with our love story <3
