Good morning, ladies! Get ready to dive into a visual journey through Tamanna & Jay's wedding celebration, thanks to the fantastic shots captured by Peter Nguyen Studio! We are sure you will love every bit of it! So, let's start this Wednesday by taking a look at a colorful and fun-loving Sangeet ceremony that opened the wedding festivities! And, oh boy, what a great way to do it! The bride chose colorful decor and traditional fabrics to wrap the room, creating a joyful backdrop for this celebration. Kumba Entertainment provided decor while the fabulous shots were captured by artsy eyes of Peter Nguyen Studio. For this night of bonding between families, Mantra Indian Cuisine created a menu that impressed and allowed to explore great flavors with an great array of dishes. Everything turned out to be amazing, to the point that we are lost of words to describe it all! There are so many delightful details surrounding this entire wedding that we decided to deliver them in a special double feature! We'll be unveiling highlights from this grand wedding celebration right here, in our full gallery, and also in our Video Blog, thanks to the blockbuster film by Peter Nguyen Studio! How amazing is that! Same day double features only happen once in a blue moon, so go check them out! It is worth the while!
![]()
How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I had met Jay casually in October 2016 at our friends' surprise engagement but never really struck up a conversation.
In late January 2018, his name came up again.
I was paired with him to walk down the aisle at my best friend Jesal's wedding. I couldn't put a face to the name because so much time had passed.
It wasn't until Friday, February 2nd, 2018, 3 days after re-meeting him, where I first actually noticed Jay. He was wearing my favorite color, purple, at the Garba of our respective best friends, Jesal and Ravi. My friends teased me about him because we were wearing the same color. I joked back about it because I thought he was cute and I was interested in getting to know him. I even prepared a joke to say to Jay if I could gather the nerve to talk to him.
On the day of the wedding, we lined up side by side outside the main doors. Even though he seemed annoyed with me because the bridesmaids were running late and missed the initial entry song... I took my chances to lighten the mood.
"Are you ready to be the first guy I walk down the aisle with?" (since I had never been a bridesmaid before)
We met again at the wedding after-party & Superbowl party the next day. He messaged me on Facebook Messenger when I left and thereafter we would talk constantly via Messenger / Video Chat. He was quick to know that he wanted this forever and a few months later I knew there was just something different about the connection we had.
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
On the Sunday, a year after we first met, he claimed we were celebrating our friends' 1-year anniversary at Pelican Hill Resort. He, our friends, and another close friend who "happened to be in the area" were there with us at brunch. After they "sneakily" scoped out a place to propose since it was pouring rain outside, he walked me outside, laid down a napkin on the wet floor for his knee and to my "surprise", he proposed.
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.
I was my own wedding planner. It was a good and bad experience. I think if you are clear on what you want and detailed enough to define it, being your own wedding planner saves on the cost of hoping someone else can achieve your vision. The bad part is that you have to trust vendors that you haven't worked with before. My mom was my assistant wedding planner and really helped me with a lot of the details and coordination. I couldn't have done it without her.
VENUES: The Ganesh Puja venue, my childhood home, was undoubtedly my favorite venue. We were able to do so much more because it was home and we were able to incorporate a lot of the personal elements into the decor. The meaning and significance behind the Ganesh Puja wouldn't have felt the same at any other venue. The sangeet venue, Fullerton Community Center, was a great choice for a pre-event due to affordability, ease of access and look and feel of the space. We did have to make some last minute fixes by buying chair covers because the standard chairs were of poor quality. The wedding/reception venue, Delta Hotels by Marriott, Anaheim/Garden Grove worked out well. I loved this venue because it was simple enough to feel like a family-hosted event and not a business event, and it had two ballrooms which worked out well to avoid any rushed transition time between the wedding and reception. Patty, my third coordinator at Delta Hotels, was great. She was personable, welcoming and great to work with. Though our wedding bags were not distributed by the check-in staff and other minor hiccups occurred, overall it was a great experience. It helped to have a clearly defined vision, details covered early-on and a lot of follow up.
HAIR & MAKEUP
Hair & Makeup for the pre-events were done by my hidden gem, Jewel Alonso. I loved every look of mine she was able to create. She was sweet and great to work with and I highly recommend her. Hair & Makeup for the wedding and reception were done by Drea Vlaovich. She was fun to work with and was definitely well-versed in Indian weddings. My favorite look of hers was my reception hair and makeup.
OUTFITS
I bought a lot of my pre-wedding outfits from Aishwarya Design Studio in Santa Cruz Market, Mumbai. I reluctantly share their name because they will increase prices or not have good outfits left for me if too many people go. However, I have bought over 35+ outfits from there over the years so I think I have my fair share that it is okay if others go there now. My wedding outfit and reception outfit were made by a custom designer. The wedding outfit came out closer to my vision than the reception outfit but both turned out well for photos.
CHOREOGRAPHER
When I went to India for two weeks, we would call a choreographer, Nikita Pawar over each morning to choreograph for us. She was so sweet and fun to work with though it was her first experience working on something like this.
DECOR THEME
My Ganesh Puja was done by a little known gem, Araceli. She was passionate about what she did, committed to every element, engrossed in all the details and was affordable. Guests loved her work on the backdrop. Honestly, she was too good for what she charged. On the other hand, I worked with Kumba Events for all other wedding events. I had heard good things, he gave good promises with his vast years of experience, and I regrettably bought into the whole thing. From an outsider's perspective, the wedding and reception looked fine but if you saw the Idea Boards, detailed designs and written out logistics that I walked him through months in advance, you would see why I was greatly disappointed. The Sangeet was a disaster in terms of decor. We paid more to have elements that were not even achieved. Simple things like cut-out mango designs were promised and delivered in the wrong color and then changed to a very poor quality (not cut out). For the wedding and reception, the florist we worked with for samples delivered a far inferior quality for the actual day of or was not the florist he went with. Her work on Instagram far surpassed the work provided to us via Kumba Events. No matter how clear of details I provided, how much follow up, the only elements that seemed to have worked were the ones we achieved by my family decor team.
FOOD
I cannot say enough positive words about Mantra Catering and specifically Sumit Sharma. Sumit is like family and he truly delivered on an amazing spread of food and desserts for the Sangeet and Reception. My work family loved him so much that they invited him back for my Farewell Lunch at work and he received even more praise. I cannot recommend a better food vendor but make sure you get to him fast. He, for good reason, books up fast.
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEOGRAPHY
Peter Nguyen Studio's photography came out beautiful. Ayesha and Bao were great during the Ganesh Puja and I couldn't imagine videography done by anyone but Bao. He's so great at it. The colors and quality, details captured and family photos were remarkable. The Same Day Edit created to play during the Reception was amazing. I had provided the songs and information I wanted to include before hand which helped a lot but it was the great video and editing that really made it come together. I'm really looking forward to the full-feature video and highlight video.
DJ & LIGHTING
Saved the best for last. Fusion Sounds, specifically Sandeep, is great work with. He was by far my most organized vendor. I gave him detailed timelines and song requests and he was truly able to deliver. He was very responsive and answered any and all questions whenever I had them.
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I knew I wanted maroon velvet because I felt like it worked better with my skin tone compared to the traditional red. I wanted the gold and traditional maroon combination and to keep elements of the traditional mango design in the outfit. The pink was a designer added surprise. He wanted to create more contrast to the outfit and convinced my mom and consulting aunts to agree. I added personalized elements into the design including my grandfather's initials, my husband's name and my teddy bear's head. It was my once-in-a-lifetime outfit that I wanted to personalize where possible. I do wish it fanned out more so the design would be more visible.
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
Working so closely with family and friends. I really wanted to ensure that the event felt family-planned and family-coordinated. My family definitely came through and helped immensely with the execution of my vision. I couldn't have done it without them.
Additionally, the coordination of dances with family and friends was the best way to get everyone together and to make people feel part of the big day as well. A lot of family members and friends have mentioned how much fun they had rehearsing.
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Guests loved the details - personalized elements, food and entertainment. They knew it was my wedding in terms of how planned the personalized details were. The food and desserts by Mantra did not disappoint and was truly a guest favorite. We were blessed with many family and friends from both sides willing or wanting to perform so we had two full nights of entertainment that worked out great. Guests have mentioned to me how much they enjoyed the dances and speeches at both events.
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
Before the wedding one of my close friends at work, Mario, told me to make sure I take a moment to soak it in. A moment to look out into the crowd and just appreciate all that this day was. Despite the number of things my perfectionist mindset called out, the really special moment was during the wedding, looking at Jay smiling and then panning the crowd and appreciating each and every person in the crowd that had taken the time, traveled from far, delayed vacation plans..etc. to be there for us. It was emotional and overwhelming but you truly felt the love and support in the room. I will definitely recommend this for every bride-to-be.
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
- Be smart about who you put in charge of what. Sometimes your closest family or closest friends won't come with the best attitude to support you and some surprising family and friends will step forward. Put willing people in charge to be you when you need to be the bride.
- Know your vendors and read their reviews. Know what matters to you and what doesn't. Know what you want before you meet with vendors otherwise your wedding will become someone else's.
- Enjoy every moment of the day and remember to look back at your significant other a ton. Honestly, all I remember from most of the day's events is his smile throughout each of the events, how happy I was to see it, and how excited I was to see that smile forever. Everything else is just a blur.
Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
JEWELRY
A lot of my jewelry was designed by Suram Jewels in Mumbai. As family, there was no one else I could trust with this and it meant so much to have jewelry done by Swati (masi). She was able to combine what I liked with the styles of my outfit and delivered great custom designs. I truly recommend her!
Don't go too far because there is still much more coming your way!
