Welcome to Maharani Weddings

It's Filmy Friday, dolls! It thrills me to pieces that you've joined me for our traditional, weekly reverie into the world of wedding films. Is there really any better way to kick off such a splendid day than with a same-day edit by the phenomenal team at Robles Video Productions? That's hard to top! They're sharing this splendid highlight reel they shot in Quincy, Massachusetts, which is sure to steal your heart. Watch as the newlyweds-to-be get ready for the most unforgettable day of their lives. We are absolutely in love with the Indian bride, Maharani Jenny's, gold sequin blouse with a peek-a-boo back. Her hair and makeup, by artist Susmita Patel of Style by Susmita, was flawless as can be, and we were in awe as we watched her approach the Raja of her dreams, Mitul, for their first look photos. The happy couple's ceremony space at the Boston Marriott Quincy was decked out in incredible Indian wedding decorations and dripping in luxe details — like an aisle completely covered in romantic red and pink rose petals. Blueprint Occasions planned and designed the perf celebration for Jenny and Mitul, and you can see it all for yourself below!

From the bride, on how she met the Raja of her dreams:

"Mitul and I actually have known each other for many years. We grew up together and so we got to know one another during family get together, barbecues, and birthday parties. We grew apart as we got older, but reconnected through some mutual friends and have been together ever since!"

On her Raja's romantic proposal:

"Mitul put together an unforgettable weekend for the proposal. It was during my birthday weekend in July 2013, and took place in Newport, RI. He had invited all of our closest family and friends to celebrate a surprise birthday party and our engagement! Mitul and his brother surprised me with a helicopter tour of Newport, which was followed by a dinner with everyone who came out to Newport for the weekend. While on the helicopter, Mitul gave me a present which I opened to find a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Mit knew I already had this book, so I was bit confused at this point still did not expect what happened next. I opened the book which I found to be cut out to the chapter titled "The Unbreakable Vow" and within was a gorgeous ring! You could say I was flying high on cloud 9 after that!"

On her wedding style and working with her planners:

"I initially began to use Pinterest to gain some insight and ideas on how to make my dream wedding come true. I found myself centered around peacocks and the color purple, which are both my absolute favorite. Mitul's family passed on a 108 year old peacock necklace to me, which was an incredible thing that tied the peacock theme together. I searched for floral peacocks and peacock wooden carved mandaps, and what I found just completed my entire vision. My planners Sayjal and Ambika at Blueprint Occasions got me in touch with the vendors to take my vision above and beyond of what I imagined. It all turned out absolutely breathtaking!"

On what she loved most about planning her dream wedding:

"I of course loved shopping for my clothes! Traveling through Mumbai, Delhi, and Jaipur for designer clothing was the coolest thing to experience with my family. We have visited before in the past, but it's completely different when shopping for your wedding. I also loved designing the look and atmosphere for each of my events. It was a large gathering, but all the details I incorporated into each event made the entire weekend feel intimate."

On the search for the perfect lengha(s): 

"I spent days and months on the internet searching for designer names and photos to be inspired for all my looks. I would watch all the runway shows on Youtube and save photos on Pinterest once I found something I liked. I also did a lot of traveling, while in India and met with designers in person. I would put my critique and thoughts into what I wanted and use their expertise to perfect my whole."

On her most memorable wedding day moment:

"The moment that was most magical to me was when I was walking down the aisle. I don't think I have ever been that happy in my entire life! It was just so heart felt to see all the people I love looking up at me with smiles and tears of joy in their eyes as I walked toward my future husband. I won't ever forget that moment or the feeling of being in a room with so much love."

On her and her Raja's first dance song selection:

"Our first dance was to "Make you feel my love" by Adele. We chose this song because we first heard it together on the radio while we had just started to date. It has so much love built into the lyrics which related so deeply to the both us."

On her hair and makeup:

"My stylist, Susmita Patel, was amazing! I did have looks in mind for each event, but I never actually told her what I wanted. Ironically, all my looks were based off of Deepika Padukone and Susmita ended up doing exactly that! She was just on point with everything I wanted and there wasn't a single moment where I wanted to change anything."

On the role that family and friends played in making her dream wedding a reality:

"My entire wedding weekend could not have been possible without the help of numerous family and friends, but most importantly my parents! They went above and beyond to make sure my dream wedding came true! My sisters helped with so many little details through the planning process and were there to help de-stress when things got a little overwhelming. My sisters and cousins helped with the 350 paper rose escort flowers, which took us 3 days to make! It was a tedious task filled with labels and hot glue, but they were a great team and got the job done! I can not thank everyone enough for all of their efforts to make this weekend flawless and unforgettable for us!"

Additional comments from the bride:

"All of my jewelry was from India. My favorite was the strings of emeralds I wore during my Sathak! They were absolutely stunning and tied my whole look together. My floral arrangements during the reception and the floral peacocks were my absolute favorite. The team at Flou(-e)r did an amazing job and I was completely blown away. The team at Alankar did a fabulous job putting together the decor for each of my events and brought my vision to life exceeding my expectations. I was just blown away with all of my vendors and could not have found them all without the help of my amazing team at Blueprint Occasions! We'd like to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything everyone did! It was an amazing weekend and we will cherish our memories for the rest of our lives!"

I still have three more amazing wedding films up my sleeves, so make sure to check back in all day!

Lets raise our glass and toast Neha and Ankur at their chic Indian wedding reception taking place inside the Coronado Island Marriott Resort & Spa in San Diego, California. All the dinner tables are adorned by statuesque floral centerpieces in sleek, glass vases and charming, miniature versions as well. There's flowers at every turn! The night concluded with great performances and lots of music being mixed by 3D Sounds. Relive all the splendor and magic of this great spectacle, which was perfectly planned and designed by the phenomenal folks at Blue Lotus Insights and shot by RANDERYimagery, in the gallery!

Hope you cherished every moment of this wedding as much as I did!

Blue Lotus Insights, 3D Sounds and Coronado Island Marriott Resort & Spa are members of the Platinum Guide. Love what you see? Explore their portfolios.

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Maharani Palvi has slipped into a sensational reception lengha, and she and her brand new hubby, Michael, stroll while posing for a few final portraits with Kimberly Photography before heading to the celebration of a lifetime with family and friends. DJ Pram and Rang Entertainment are at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina. They start the party as the lucky partygoers take their seats and feast on some of the most fabulous Indian fare catered by S3 Catering — my mouth is watering. The entire reception venue has been decorated from top to bottom in violet and lavender hues. With darling floral details and contemporary decor by Occasions by Shangri-La, plus modern mood lighting, it's simply set to be a night no one in attendance will soon forget. The newlyweds treated their guests to aerial entertainment from the Aerial Dragons and a five-tier wedding cake masterpiece by Hands On Sweets. Tracie Domino Events sure knows how to plan one extraordinary event! We can't see what she does next! Check out all the details from this fun-tabulous celebration in the complete gallery!

The bride, on her most memorable wedding day moment:

"Like most Indian men, my dad is not one that expresses his feelings. On the day of the Catholic Ceremony, my dad comes into the bridal holding room, looks at me, tells me “You Look Beautiful” and as he teared up he gave me a hug."

On her and her Raja's first dance song selection:

"Our first dance song was Heaven, originally sung by Bryan Adams but the version we chose was actually sung by Megan Nicole and Boyce Avenue."

On the integral that family and friends played:

"Michael and I took on the majority of the wedding planning activities as we wanted to ensure everything was planned according to our how we wanted it. We involved very few family and friends throughout the process as we wanted to retain our vision and ensure everything got completed by the dates we had planned. My sisters (Priya and Tina) and friend (Kajal) helped out with various planning activities such as providing decorating ideas, providing vendor recommendations, reviewing vendor contracts, reviewing seating charts, helping with wedding cloths shopping, planning family pickup and drop logistics, writing out invitations, making nasto, and various other activities. Most importantly, they (my sisters, Kajal, Reshma, Shetalbhabi and Michael) provided me a lot of moral support. Even if I didn’t agree with what they had to say, they kept me grounded and were the talk of reason, when things got stressful and tough,

Shetal Bhabi spent endless hours educating me on the various wedding rituals, who does what in the ceremonies and what specific things one needs to ensure they wear during the wedding along with their meaning. She went out of her way to make sure I had whatever I needed for each ceremony and also helped me get ready on my wedding day.

Masi, Masa, Ka-Ki and Ka-Ka spent a lot of their time helping my parents prepare for the wedding events prior to everyone’s arrival. They helped my parents with a number of things including making a variety of nasto to include in the room drops. They helped my parents make mistan to distribute to family and friends as part of post wedding offerings. The most important thing they helped with was providing my parents moral support throughout the entire planning process. As both Masi and Ka-Ka have been through the wedding planning process, they were able to provide first-hand experiences and advise accordingly.

My Mami’s and Mama’s did an amazing job planning and the execution of the mameru. I have never seen it this organized or as nicely presented. I loved every aspect of it and all of the guests loved the gifts they were given."

on working with her dream team of vendors:

"We thoroughly enjoyed working with each one of our vendors and watching our vision become a reality. We loved seeing the excitement in the vendors faces [or hearing it in their voices if we were on the phone] when we mentioned, in conversation, that we were working with vendor “X”. Their feedback on the vendor(s) would provide us more affirmation that we selected the right vendor for the job(s). The fact that each and every one of our vendors worked fluidly with one another provided us with ease and permitted us to actually enjoy each event rather than worrying about what will go wrong next. One perfect example of this that comes to mind is, post the Hindu ceremony, I was looking our wedding planning/coordinator, Tracie Domino of Tracie Domino Events, and Kimberly Ramono of Kimberly Photography saw the look on my face and asked me what I needed. She told me to give her a few minutes, she would find her and let her know I needed her. Within minutes Tracie was located and attending to my request. Not only were Kimberly and her team fantastic to work with, she always seems to be around and helping me out with little things that weren’t even part of her job. These extras went a long way with me.

Our vendors went out of their way to ensure they helped make our vision a reality. Some even made sure to do some little extras here and there that made working with them even more special. Tracie introduced us to this amazing couple, Carlos and Marie Ramírez, owners and chefs at Hands on Sweets, worked with us to design our dream wedding cake. Initially when I filled out the questionnaire, I was filling it out thinking we were giving Carlos and Marie and insight into our dessert likes and dislikes. It was actually used to determine what we were going to be presented at the tasting. When I pointed out that I was looking forward to tasting some of the other options they had on their website, Chef Marie asked me which ones and we told her, without hesitation Marie told me us if we wanted to stop the following Friday or Saturday she could arrange to have samples ready for us to take home and try before making our final decision on the cake flavors.

Throughout the planning process, the one thing I knew was that I did not want any traditional dance performances during the reception but could not put my finger on exactly what I wanted. Tracie provided option after option but none of them had that wow factor that I was searching for. One Friday night (less than 1 month before the wedding), my sister Priya and friend Kajal decided they wanted to explore what was new in downtown Tampa. We stumbled across this juice bar [Urban Juice Bar] that served sake and beer at night and decided to check it out. As Priya and Kajal played a round of pool, I continued talking to the bartends and learned there was a yoga studio and spa upstairs. We were given a tour of the place and learned that one of the Arial Yoga instructors had her own ariel acrobatics company. The very next day I was on the phone with Kaley Gay from Aerial Dragons arranging our wedding reception entertainment. Within 2 weeks Tracie and Kaley had all the details ironed out. Kaley had so much energy and enthusiasm that I knew we had found the right person for the job. Kaley and Jessica Watson put on an amazing show. Not only did Michael and I enjoy it but all of our guests thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Last but not least, our wedding planner/coordinator, Tracie Domino from Tracie Domino Events. I came across Tracie Domino Events via a simple google search. She along with several other wedding planner/coordinators were returned on my search results. In reviewing several websites a number of factors specific to Tracie and her talents jumped out at me including her experience, self-presentation, organizational skills, detailed, etc. After doing our (my sister Tina and I) due diligence, Michael and I decided to engage Tracie as our wedding planner/coordinator and we are glad we did. Her vendor network, take charge attitude and wedding planning execution skills made our wedding stress free and enjoyable not only for us but for my family."

See you tomorrow, dolls!

Rang Entertainment is a member of the Platinum Guide. Love what you see? Explore their portfolios.

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For more information on how Platinum Guide members are chosen, click here.

Welcome back, lovelies! KSD Weddings photographed, filmed and edited the most memorable Indian fusion wedding in New Jersey this past summer, and I'm so excited to share it with you! The planning and design experts at Bells N Rings Events put together this incredible affair, and every single detail of it is marvelous from beginning to end. The bride and groom of the hour will melt your heart with their voiceovers and you'll probably tilt your head and "aw" more than once. Dipti Desai of Sakhi Beauty's phenomenal mehndi work will have you ooh-ing for sure. The bride, Shelley, wed the Raja of her dreams, Kevin, in not one, but two unforgettable ceremonies. The outdoor Hindu wedding ceremony was complete with a spectacular magenta mandap and the most luscious floral decor by Elegant Affairs. Maharani Shelley dazzled in her traditional red bridal lengha as well as her stunning white gown and delicate lace party dress, while Raja Kevin shows up in some serious style — dashing in both his sherwani and his suit and bow tie. The energy is contagious as the newlyweds arrive to their reception, where DJ Raj Entertainment & Event Lighting has started to pump up the crowd for the party of a lifetime.  Check it all out — you are totally going to fall in love with this adorable duo!

Stick around, dolls! We still have one more fantastic wedding film coming up!

Elegant Affairs Inc., Bells N Rings Events, DJ RAJ Entertainment & Event Lighting and SakhiBeauty Salon New Jersey are members of the Platinum Guide. Love what you see? Explore their portfolios.

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For more information on how Platinum Guide members are chosen, click here.

In honor of their pending Indian nuptials which are just moments away, Nisha and Ashwin meet with Gio Photography & Video for a fabulous outdoor first look photo shoot in New York. Our Maharani is simply delightful in a stunning gold and coral sari, with gorgeous hair and makeup to match—courtesy of Heena Das Beauty. She's not afraid to share the spotlight with her bridesmaids who look beautiful in their vibrant, magenta ensembles. And, we can't forget Ashwin and his trusty groomsmen hamming it up for the camera. Check them out as they flex their guns! What a fun and stylish bunch. You can see more awesome portraits of the couple and their wedding party in the gallery!

The ceremony shots are coming right up!

Touch of Elegance Events, Heena Das Beauty and The Garden City Hotel are members of the Platinum Guide. Love what you see? Explore their portfolios.

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For more information on how Platinum Guide members are chosen, click here.