Welcome to Maharani Weddings

Sweeties, let us embark on a magical journey that unfurls the romantic tale of a couple whose love story painted the canvas of time with hues of passion, promises, and profound connection. The prelude to their grand union began at the enchanting Aashirwad Palace, where their Sangeet stirred hearts and souls to the rhythm of pure joy. Transitioning to the solemnity of their vows, the Milan Banquets graciously beckoned, setting a backdrop that mirrored their feelings' grandeur. As the sun set, casting a golden glow on the horizon, the Deewan Banquet transformed into a realm of romance, awaiting the newlyweds and their guests for a reception that was nothing short of a fairytale. Under On Point Events's expert touch, the dazzling ambiance breathed life into the evening. Their deft hands ensured foot-tapping music and a splendid photo booth, capturing moments destined to be cherished forever. In the realm of wedding photography, where moments are as fleeting as the gossamer veil of the bride, Virdee Films Photo Cinema stands as a paragon of excellence. Their signature style, an amalgamation of contemporary aesthetics and heartwarming candor, breathes life into every frame. Take a stroll through the wedding gallery. You will love it!

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Let's continue our day with a boost of inspiration with Sunaina & Hemanth's big day. The festivities started at the exquisite Marriott San Mateo. With the talented artists from Beauty Innovations perfecting every detail of Sunaina's hair and makeup, she was an ethereal vision as she walked down the aisle. The ceremony venue was adorned by the skillful hands of Dazzling Streaks Decor, transforming the space into a dreamlike setting. Under the expert coordination of An Elegant Standard, every aspect of the wedding flowed seamlessly. Throughout the day, the mehndi artist, Kristy K Designs, adorned Sunaina's hands with intricate and symbolic henna designs. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the reception venue at Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club came alive with laughter and dancing. DJ Tanveer's music filled the air, setting the perfect ambiance for their first dance as husband and wife. When it comes to capturing the essence and joy of a wedding, Lux Wedding Studios is a name that stands out among the crowd. Through their lens, the emotions and feelings from Sunaina & Hemanth's wedding were captured, creating a breathtaking collection of memories they will cherish forever. We invite you to glimpse their magical gallery. You will love it!

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
Hemanth and I met through a quirky combination of fate, family, and food. We initially met because our moms started volunteering together and became friends. Our family’s both live in the Bay Area and often meet at family friend parties. We mostly ignored each other’s presence at these parties as we were in our high school years and interested in totally different things. We both attended UC Davis but at different times (he's a couple of years older than me). So as he graduated from college and I went through my Freshman and Sophomore years, we started to talk more at these family friend gatherings over our new common topic of UC Davis. This is how we found out a crazy coincidence (and the fate part of this story): Hemanth and his friends had lived in the exact same apartment as me 3 years before me. It was Apartment 85 at the Fountain Circle apartments. We started sharing funny college stories over our experiences living in the same (slightly rundown) apartment and that's how our real friendship started. A couple weeks after this conversation, he reached out to me saying that his group of friends were going to drive to Davis to attend the annual school party called Picnic Day. My mom gets wind of this and (being the Indian mom she is) decides to send a huge food package with him to deliver to me. Upon delivery of the food package I decided to invite his friends to my apartment's house parties for the weekend! That weekend all of our friends became friends and we ended up hanging out as a group for a couple of years even after that weekend and after we all graduated!

I guess there’s one more “f” to add to this story which is the funny part. After we got serious, Hemanth and I found out that our grandparents live so close to each other in India that it’s even closer than our family’s lived to each other in the Bay Area. And, we found out that we had many common family friends in India too! Our joke is that maybe if we hadn’t found each other, the arranged marriage god’s would have put us together anyway.

So that's the "how we met part" but how did I know he was "the one"? Well as you can imagine going from friends to dating was another story. I had graduated and moved back to the Bay and we had continued hanging out as a group. But one day, Hemanth had reached out to me and asked if we could get dinner just the two of us. I confided my confusion about the situation to my mom and apparently neither of us could believe a guy like him could be into me...so we concluded that he must have reached out because "he was bored and needed new friends". It then took him a whole 4 months to convince me that he was seriously trying to date me! In hindsight I feel bad for the guy that he had to plan date after date and wait for me to finally get the idea.

I feel so blessed that he asked me out and decided to make our friendship into a relationship! I always knew I wanted a relationship to feel effortless and like I was hanging out with my best friend. The fact that we started out as friends really helped our foundation, and to this day he remains my best friend. I knew he was "the one" when I caught myself helplessly using all of his made-up lingo, feeding his pizza obsession, and always wanting to share every story and detail of my life with him!

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
Hemanth made our proposal happen in my favorite city Chicago with an amazing day of details planned. For someone who doesn’t usually like to make reservations or be particular about the details, he blew me away with all of his plans! I was living in Chicago for graduate school and he was visiting me that weekend. I had an inkling that it was going to happen since we had gone ring shopping together, but he was still able to really surprise me. It was February and it was cold so we planned a day at The Art Institute of Chicago. We were walking around the museum and he kept asking me to come view this one painting by the staircase. Once I walked over there he insisted that we ask this stranger to take a picture of us. Before I knew it he was on one knee, had pulled out the ring, and the “stranger” was actually an arranged photographer who pulled out her professional camera! I was so surprised but I didn’t even give him a chance to say his speech and I immediately said yes. We spent the next hour doing a beautiful photoshoot all around Millenium Park. That photoshoot is something I will truly cherish for the rest of my life- it captures the most special moment of my life with my favorite person and my favorite city as the background.

But the surprises did not end there! He had planned a series of reservations at beautiful restaurants around the city. The first was a champagne bar to celebrate the occasion, the second was a riverside restaurant to enjoy appetizers, the third was a popular Chinese spot because that’s one of my favorite cuisines, and finally at dinner he surprised me with a chocolate cake (one of my favorite desserts) that had “Soon to be Mr. and Mrs.” written on it! The day was pure magic for us both and  props to him for making such an amazing, thoughtful proposal happen!

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
My outfit-shopping experience was a unique one for an Indian bride! I had three major events to shop for: the sangeeth, the wedding, and the reception. I knew I wanted to do a lehenga for the sangeeth and potentially a sari for the wedding, but the reception was the big unknown for me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a lehenga or execute my vision of a fusion white dress look. I had the pleasure of planning a trip to India and shopping there. I shopped in Hyderabad and it was definitely hard to pick between all the different designers and their beautiful designs! I tried to stay within a certain budget and not get too carried away and landed upon an Aisha Rao design for my sangeeth lehenga. Their studio treated me with amazing customer service, making the lehenga to my exact measurements and getting the whole outfit together in less than a couple of weeks! I absolutely loved the embroidery work and animal/floral motifs that describe her design style. I loved the colors and motifs of my outfit so much that I even designed our sangeeth dance floor wrap around my outfit!

My reception outfit was a story of extreme luck! I hadn’t really fallen in love with any lehengas for my reception while I was in India and I had about 3-4 months left to look for a reception outfit. Panic set in and I pivoted to executing my vision of a fusion style wedding dress inspired by both eastern and western styles. I started to research middle eastern brides because I loved the elements of the embroidery in their gowns that connected the eastern and western styles a bit more. I found Turkish designer Tarik Ediz and fell in love with his designs! I knew I wanted to incorporate some sort of mermaid style gown with a train and they had exactly what I was looking for. I got extremely lucky that a popular gown shop in the Bay Area (BChic) had a similar size for me to try on and their customer service was excellent. They ordered a new gown to my size and had it rush shipped within weeks. They worked with me to add lining to the bodice and customize details that made the train easy to hold and dance with. I was absolutely obsessed with how it all turned out! Hemanth wore a cream tux to tie it all together and our pictures just speak for themselves!

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
The things that stood out about our wedding to our guests was how well-planned and organized it was, how much we took care of our guests, and how good the food was! What was funny to us was that we really had no clue what was going to resonate with our guests as we planned our details out, and sometimes it’s just the smallest things that they notice! I believe the details really do matter. Things as simple as providing breakfast for my bridesmaids for their early call times, providing guests with food take away boxes after the events, handing out hotel room gift bags upon check in, or handing out sweet boxes from India as take home gifts really did resonate with our guests.

We were lucky to have such fun and lively guests as well! Our crowd’s energy really made all of our events that much more enjoyable. Our bridesmaids and groomsmen and close family kept the group chat of around 30 people going for months after our wedding. Everyone was in great spirits and just there to have a great time! They brought the fun, the energy, the laughter, and especially the dance moves. I believe this also truly made our wedding so enjoyable for everyone!

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.
Our sangeet decor was jaipur and palace inspired decor. I absolutely loved the elements of all the colored lamps, the beautiful customized dance floor wrap, and the decor matching with our outfit theme! Major props to our decorator and event coordinators for making it all happen.

Our reception was at a different venue than all of our other events. We decided to do this to add variety for our guests! We held our reception at the beautiful Palo Alto Golf and Country Club. It was a stunning venue with view of San Francisco in the distance. Our cocktail hour was held over looking the sprawling golf course and during the sunset hour! Our guests absolutely loved this and we got to take beautiful outdoor pictures before our event.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Pick your battles and if that means all of the battles are your battles, then so be it! It's you and your fiance's day and you guys deserve to have everything you want! Don't let too many people tell you advice because the process is already so stressful. Keep your peace and focus on the happiness of you two as a couple!

As a bride and groom, sometimes you forget this detail - plan ahead how you guys are going to get around to your events! You don't want to get caught scrambling before your scheduled pictures, etc. This is a detail you can work out with your event planner.

For the bride- make sure you do a makeup trial! Knowing exactly what you're going to look like is really important. I do not regret paying extra to get my trail done, and I regret not organizing trials with all of my artists.
Darlings, join us in celebrating the beginning of more adventures and love. Stay tuned for more!

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Welcome, darlings! I can't think of a better way to start the day than with Noopur & Amar celebrating their wedding! Nestled along the pristine shores of Hilton Clearwater Beach, the ceremony venue was nothing short of a tropical paradise. The elegant architecture blended seamlessly with the natural beauty of the surroundings, creating an ambiance of serenity and romance. It was the ideal canvas for their dream wedding, where cherished memories were made against a breathtaking coastal backdrop. Apsara Events' meticulous planning and design of this wedding wove a tapestry of dreams into a splendid reality. At the same time, Myar Decor, with its artistic brilliance, adorned the space with radiant floral arrangements, creating an ethereal ambiance. C Minerva's Looks, synonymous with elegance and finesse, bestowed Noopur with a bridal transformation fit for a princess. Tabla's culinary artisans curated a feast that delighted every palate. Meanwhile, M4U Events took charge of the dance floor, captivating the crowd with their pulsating beats and infectious energy. Their seamless transitions and carefully curated playlists ensured the dance floor remained alive throughout the night, creating a vibrant atmosphere with everyone moving to the rhythm of love. Bhowmik Dave Films & Photography, with their discerning eye for detail, immortalized every precious moment of the wedding. Get ready to have your senses dazzled with today's gallery. 

How did you meet your Groom, and when did you know he was "the one"?
On a not-so-cold winter’s night in Florida, Amar and I first heard of each other, thanks to the clever matchmaking efforts of our respective mothers. Both of us, a little wary of the dating scene but wanting to be open-minded, decided to embark on this journey.

Amar, who had traditionally refused dating propositions through family or friends, found himself on that day feeling somewhat adventurous and agreed to text me, then a mystery woman to him. While I was busy handling the last few months of my residency in Dallas, a barrage of underwhelming ice cream dates had begun to tire me. Still, when my mom mentioned a certain someone in Gainesville, I shrugged and said, "Why not?" knowing that I was about to move back to Florida that summer.

We laid down the rules for our parents (no inquiries about how things were going), and on January 31, 2020, the first spark was lit with a characteristically formal "Hi there - this is Amar Kelkar." A nonchalant “Hey” from me amazingly set the stage for countless conversations that followed.

Within a few days, our text exchanges became a constant, and the connection was undeniable. This led to our first phone date, which, unbeknownst to Amar, coincided with Valentine’s Day. His inadvertent disregard for the occasion, followed by a three-hour FaceTime "study" date where he actually spent the entire time studying, could have been missteps, but they only added to the charm.

The depth of our bond was validated when Amar thoughtfully arranged for a dinner date over Zoom, complete with my favorite sushi and formal attire to mimic an in-person date as closely as possible. Despite the uncertainties of the year 2020, the anticipation of our first real-life meeting was thrilling. When it eventually happened, it felt as if the stars had aligned; it was nothing short of magical.

I knew he was 'the one' in the heart-to-heart moments we shared over countless deep conversations about what life, love, and medicine meant to us in the context of a seemingly world-ending pandemic. Due to these circumstances, we had conversations early in our relationship that most would not have until much later. We felt as though we had known each other for years before we even met for the first time! His inherent kindness, patience, and selflessness made me fall in love, and I knew I wanted to spend my life with this man.

And thus, we have navigated life's major milestones - adopting our pup, Maple, transitioning into new jobs, moving, and getting married! Our story stands testament to the magic of connection, patience, trust, perseverance, and an inadvertent Valentine's date that Amar shall never forget. Finally, we did reveal our secret to our parents, who, after all, started this beautiful journey!

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
Our proposal was perfect! Amar, knowing that we had a trip to Spain planned weeks later, caught me completely off guard while I was visiting my sister in DC. My sister convinced me to attend a vaguely concocted "pop-up bar" event in the National Mall along with our parents and our dogs, Remy and Maple. As we walked on to Founder's Island (right next to the Lincoln Memorial), I spotted an unattended cheese board and sign with my name on it, and, out of nowhere, Amar appeared from behind a willow tree and proposed!! Seconds later, the rest of his family appeared along with the photographer, and a photoshoot commenced with both of our families present!

What was so special was how Amar recognized how much it meant to me to have a big loving family all together, including our pups!

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 started with finding a wedding planner (Sokha Im from Apsara Events). We then picked our venues (Hilton Clearwater Beach and Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach) and dates. We decided to have our ceremony and reception on two different dates so that we could really enjoy each event and not have to be sleep deprived. This was probably our favorite decision! After that, we then started to find our other vendors, like hair and makeup (CMinerva), decor (Myar Decor), photo/video (Bhowmik Dave Photography), mehndi (Henna Allure), DJ (DJ Rishi Rex and MC Ashish with M4U), and caterer (Tabla). I did a pre-wedding trial with our hair and makeup vendor, and we also did an engagement shoot with our wedding photographer, which I highly recommend doing! It really made us feel so much more at ease when it came time for the big weekend. We also wanted to include our dog Maple as well as my sister's dog Remy in the wedding, so we hired Furry Ventures to handle the pups for us, which was so helpful! Another really special detail of our wedding was our priest, Achala Bapat. We worked with her to streamline the ceremony to fit within our time goals, as well as modernize and customize the content we wanted to include. She was also incredible at interpreting the religious and symbolic meanings of each step for us and all of our guests. She even did a walk-through with us the night before the wedding so that we felt super comfortable on the mandap.

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Do you have a favorite color in mind?
Since Amar and I are both of Maharashtrian background, I decided to wear a traditional nauwari sari for the ceremony. However, I wanted a modern take on this traditional type of outfit. To achieve this, I went to India with my family and had my outfit custom designed with exactly the colors, materials, and embroidery that I wanted. For the reception, my father-in-law surprised me with my dream Sabyasachi lehenga!

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The most enjoyable part of wedding planning was when Amar and I would make the planning into dates. We would go to a cocktail bar and work on our planning over some fancy drinks. Another fun part of wedding planning was concocting our signature cocktails with Amar's sister and practicing all of the choreographed dances with my sister and our families. The next most enjoyable part of wedding planning was when it was over! Wedding planning can be so stressful that we were honestly very happy when we were done planning and could just watch our dream become a vision before our eyes!

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Our guests loved the food, the venue, and the music! The dance parties were unreal, and every single person was on the dance floor with us!

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
Our first dance is my favorite moment of the entire weekend. Amar and I both love to dance, so we truly enjoyed choreographing, practicing, and performing our first dance! And the best part- Amar, who has been a singer his whole life, surprised me by serenading me with a jazz tune right before our first dance!

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.
Amar and I loved the little touches we were able to add to our events. For example, we had an ice stamp made of our logo, so all of our signature cocktails (which we also concocted together with our sisters) had a specially stamped block of ice in them!

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Wedding planning is stressful no matter what. Try your best to make as much of it as enjoyable as possible. Turn the planning sessions into dates with your fiance, and remember to focus on the best part- that you are marrying your favorite person!

Stay tuned for more unforgettable tales; until then, may your hearts be filled with everlasting joy.

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Greetings, Maharanis! Get ready to enjoy Trisha & Tanuj's wedding in today's Platinum Guide Blog.

Thanks for joining us today. Remember to come back here to be updated on new love stories!

Brandon Andrews Photography and William Bichara Photography are members of the Platinum Guide. Love what you see? Explore their portfolios.

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Hello, darlings! Don't miss Vanessa & Harman's lovely charming tale in today's Platinum Guide Blog.

May this feature inspire you to believe in the magic of love! Come back for more tips, darlings.

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