Join me in celebrating Sonia and Pavan's Indian wedding spectacular taking place in Indianapolis, Indiana, brought to us by the amazing planning and design extraordinaires at Tara Nicole Weddings and Events! Let's kick things off with an awesome pre-wedding photo shoot, courtesy of Carpenter Photo & Design. This charming couple is all about style and color for their sangeet soirée being held at The Ritz Charles. Our Maharani is dazzling in a mint lengha choli with a striking gold and magenta border by Seasons! The hair and makeup mavens at Karen Hall and Co give her a carefree, loose hair style and flawless makeup. Snuggling up close to his bride-to-be is Pavan who looks festive in a sky blue sherwani. I know you're at the edge of your seats wanting to see more from this dynamic duo, but while you eagerly await, head over to the gallery for tons of beauty tips!
From the bride, on how they met:
"We met on Cinco de Mayo in downtown Indianapolis. I was out with my friends, and thought Pavan looked familiar. After a few minutes of talking, we realized that Pavan’s sister was best friends with one of my ‘big sisters’ growing up, Reisha. Two days later, we went out on our first date to Barcelona Tapas and then dancing at Sensu. Luckily, Pavan was already smitten with me when I left for India a few days later. We managed to talk 1-2 hours a day long distance (racking up a pretty hefty phone bill) for the entire month I was over there, even though I had to sneak away from my family so that they would not catch me talking to a boy. Pavan convinced my mom into letting him pick me up from the airport, by promising to bring me a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. We have been pretty much inseparable since then :)"
On the proposal:
"For our 1 year anniversary, we had planned to take Friday off of work to spend the day together. However, at the last minute, I decided I couldn’t miss another day of my pharmacy residency rotation and went to work (clearly had no idea Pavan was planning on proposing). Pavan ended up having to pull some major strings to make the following happen… He showed up to the hospital at lunch with a big bouquet of roses and told me he was taking me out to lunch. I refused to hold the flowers at the hospital and required major convincing to even leave for lunch. He took me to Barcelona Tapas, where we had our first date (hint #1). After assuring me that I had the rest of the day off, he took me to the Indianapolis Museum of Art where we had wanted to visit before moving to Chicago, and he had packed a picnic of chocolate covered strawberries & champagne (hint #2). Then, he took me to get massages, and was being even nicer than usual (hint #3). That night our parents were meeting for the first time, so a big dinner had been planned. However, on our way home, he called his parents who were conveniently stuck in traffic and mine were at the neighbors (hint #4). Once we got to my house, he led me outside which was decorated beautifully with roses and candles (thanks to my sister-in-law-Pooja!), and got down on one knee. Shocked beyond belief, he took me upstairs and I was surprised again by both of our families. My mom who never drinks recommended we go get champagne, and SURPRISE all of my bestfriends were downstairs waiting. (I clearly need new friends who don’t hide things from me!!) I couldn’t have imagined a better engagement, AND we got to spend it with all of our loved ones."
On the lenghas:
"My family is Marathi/Konkani so I knew I had to wear a sari for the wedding... despite watching hours of Say Yes To The Dress and wanting a white dress! I found some "ideas" on Pintrest, but figured I would know what I wanted when I saw it. We went shopping in Mumbai for my wedding outfits and to my disappointment I couldn't find much that I liked initially. I knew I wanted something bright for the sangeet. I ended up finding my wedding sari and sangeet lengha at Seasons in Mumbai. Another Marathi custom is wearing orange/green, which are colors that look absolutely awful on me. My wedding sari was red with off-white pleats with motifs, and a blue blouse which made my mother happy. I tried on many reception lenghas, but many of them were too heavy for me to hold up comfortably. I also don't like neon colors or velvet, which were in style when we went shopping. I found my reception lengha at Kalki in Mumbi and had the blouse custom made. I thought I wanted a white lengha for the reception, but loved my red/orange ombre lengha so much that I didn't look back!"
On the hair and makeup:
"I already knew I wanted my hair half up for the sangeet, all up for the wedding and all down for the reception. I found many styles I liked on Pinterest, and tried many of them with my hair stylist beforehand to make sure they looked good on me as well. I don't wear a lot of makeup normally, so didn't want the makeup to be "too much". We went with some reds/neutral tones for the wedding/reception, and some brighter pinks to match my lengha for the sangeet. My hair/makeup stylists from Karen Hall & Co had me bring all my wedding outfits to the trial to make sure everything looked nice together."
On friends and family helping:
Some of my friends did dances at the Sangeet, but the two biggest surprises were 1) my Dad's college friends from IIT and their wives danced to Fevicol Se from Dabangg 2 which was AMAZING! 2) Pavan and our family/friends did a flash mob to Chumak Chalo during the reception which was so fun."
See the bride getting ready for the big day, next!
