Hello, Maharanis! Astha & Chintan's incredible wedding is now live in today's Platinum Guide Blog.
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
So it was March 19th, 2021, our two-year dating anniversary, and Chintan said he planned a special dinner in NYC. He told me we were going to stop by at our favorite rooftop in Jersey City (Rooftop at Exchange Place) and then make our way into the city. So we get ready and head over to the rooftop, and as I enter, I hear music, and I get a glimpse of all our loved ones waiting for us on the other side. Then Chintan takes my hand and walks me to the center of the room, and immediately breaks into dance! He planned a whole flash mob Bollywood-style proposal with my favorite songs and favorite people dancing! All of my family and friends joined him for some songs, and he ended the dance with “Marry Me” by Bruno Mars. He took me to the front of the room and proposed with the New York skyline as our beautiful backdrop and with our family and friends cheering us on!
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
So we went to Mumbai for my wedding shopping because my family is from there so we had a lot of stores to visit in mind. My mom had this dream of me wearing a Sabyasachi lehenga, and I told her if I loved something, I would definitely consider it. So we enter the store; the beautiful surroundings and vibes are definitely enchanting! We look at a couple of outfits, and I see this red outfit that my aunt and mom selected for me. I was actually against wearing red because I didn’t like that color much, and the outfit they showed me was red, but I decided to try it on anyways. I try it on, and the rest is history! I bought that outfit right away, and I ended up wearing a beautiful red lehenga for my wedding :) everything changed when I wore it, so I’d definitely recommend trying different colors even if you don’t like them. I only tried one bridal outfit, and that’s all it took for me!
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.
So I was always clear on what kind of styles and themes I wanted for all my pre-wedding events, and because I’m a classically trained dancer and loved dancing and choreographing, I planned out all the dances, songs, and the whole program of all the events. My first event was the Mehendi which I wanted to be a “mela,” bright, colorful carnival style! We had lots of gifts, giveaways a whole Chudi bazaar full of bangles, turbans, bindis, purses, earrings, and many more items. They all were customized with our hashtag, and our guests loved it and took everything home! I did two dances in the mehendi, and my friends performed “mere yaar ki shaadi hain,” which was so fun! The Sangeet was that night, and we had a live singer Rex D’Souza who set the dance floor on fire! Everyone had the best time of the whole weekend on the Sangeet night! He was singing non-stop for 4 hours, making everyone dance which was an absolute blast! We also had 9 performances in the Sangeet with all our family and friends, and it was a complete Bollywood-style Sangeet. Chintan and I have loved Bollywood since we were kids, and we knew we had to incorporate it in our wedding, so we chose a whole Bollywood theme with a red carpet and all the decor being posters of Bollywood movies as well. The Sangeet truly was a Bollywood dream come true! For my haldi, I decided to do something a little different, I decided to do an entry song with all the uncles and aunties that I’ve grown up with and chose to dance with each couple for a few seconds as I entered the hall. Choreographing this and all 15 of us dancing together was such a memorable memory that I’ll never forget!
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
I think the biggest thing I would say to all future brides is to have a clear vision of what you want and work towards fulfilling that. Because there are so many options, so many vendors, and so many small details to get overwhelmed and confused over, the sooner you can make firm decisions quickly, the sooner you can get to planning all the fun stuff and not be overwhelmed! I also advise you to prioritize what you and your partner want, from decision-making to incorporating small details in the wedding, like writing your own vows or giving gifts to each other before the wedding. At the end of the day, it’s the wedding of you two, and you should be perfectly content and happy with everything you choose to do. On the day of the wedding, if something goes wrong or doesn’t go according to plan, the best thing to do is to just move on and not let it affect your mood/smile because the camera captures everything! The photographers are always going to be with you, and everything gets captured, so if you let one thing affect you, everything will fall apart, including your pictures!
Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
The first thing we locked down for our wedding was our venue! We absolutely loved The Legacy Castle and just knew that’s where we wanted to get married! Our hashtag comes from that venue as well! It’s AC which stands for Astha and Chintan, and ki Legacy means “their legacy,” which was a word play on the venue and also the beginning of our legacy! #ACkiLegacy. We even decided to do an outdoor jai maala on the legacy castle terrace, which had never been done before! We tried to do something unique and make the most of our venue, which turned out to be a beautiful ceremony with the drones above us capturing every moment! Our planner Urvashi Mishra was amazing from the beginning of our whole process! She was with us since before Chintan even proposed and helped him out with those details, along with our engagement party, bridal shower, and wedding! She took care of everything during those events over 2 years, and it made wedding planning a breeze! Our amazing photo video team, Memories Studios, has been with us since our engagement party, our engagement photo shoot, and the wedding! They brought their whole team and went all out! They showed off their amazing skills with the same-day edit in the reception, and everyone was left stunned! Our caterer, Moghul Caterers, knocked every meal out of the park! Food is something that is so important in every wedding, and we managed to incorporate almost every cuisine during the whole weekend, and they pulled it off beautifully! For our decor, we had Ravi from wedding design and decor, who took all of my visions and brought them to life! I drew out every single decor setup from the mehendi to the Sangeet to the haldi and wedding and reception, and he did it exactly as I had imagined! Having a vision of what I wanted for all the setups was extremely helpful because all he had to do was just explain to me how it was going to work and then just do it. For my makeup and hair, I had the amazing Pauline, who was my partner in crime for 4 days! Waking up and keeping me awake and excited at 4 am is no easy task, and she did it so effortlessly, along with also working and giving me 4 beautiful looks! Anuja, for my mehendi, was amazing! She also took my vision of what I showed her from a photo and made it come to life. She was so calm, and we had the best time together ordering our pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks at 3 am! Sheraton Parsippany was a great venue to host all of our guests and to have all of our pre-wedding events! It was the best idea to have everyone stay in one place for 4 days, and all the events be in the ballrooms of the same hotel. Super convenient and stress-free because traveling was completely eliminated!
This lovely wedding was such a pleasure to see. I enjoyed every minute of it! See you tomorrow.
