In this wedding film by RIMAS FILMS, beautiful bride Soorya descended the aisle in a shower of bubbles, which was indicative of the couple’s playful energy. Soorya and Ankit personify the notion of marrying your best friend, and this clip contains the perfect balance of romantic elegance and cute moments between the lovebirds! For instance, we were tickled when the couple’s emotional first look ended with the duo playing a round of mini golf. Their outdoor ceremony at Lansdowne Resort and Spa was breezy chicness at its finest, while the reception was a dazzling, black tie extravaganza. Kudos to the planning and design aficionados from Preeti Exclusive Creations and the floral and decor team from Sarah Khan Event Styling for pulling off so much prettiness! As the weekend progressed, Maharani Soorya amped up the glamour, beginning in a classic red lehenga and ending the celebrations in a sultry burgundy gown. Jaws dropped as the loved up duo performed their first dance, which was followed by an entertaining array of performances from loved ones. Deliciously fragrant food from Bollywood Bistro and dessert from Classic Bakery only added to the exciting buzz inside the reception ballroom. The festivities then escalated to new heights during a dance off led by the talents at Deejay Rish. Witness all the fun in the video by RIMAS FILMS!
How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I met Ankit through my Brother-in-Law, Prabu. Prabu and my sister threw a bachelor party together for their friends in Atlantic City and Ankit and I immediately hit it off. Unfortunately, I moved 3,000 miles away to Los Angeles for Medical School a short time later, but Ankit stuck through it with me. With him, there wasn't one moment that I knew he was "the one". It was the little things, that built up to being big things that made me sure he had already become "the one."
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.
Planning our wedding was no easy feat. Not only were we planning on having the "Big Fat Indian Wedding," on a holiday weekend, but I was also away for rotations and school for most of the time. This meant, lots of planning, with lots of time zone differences. As a result, we started planning early--I mean very early. Our venue was booked a year and a half before the event, and we had all of our core vendors nearly a year before the event. As we got closer to the wedding, Ankit and I were both able to be a bit more available as we were both on the East coast, but it took a lot of juggling. Our wedding planner, Preeti, made so much of this easier for us. For example, I was pretty heart set on donating leftover food from our Reception to a local homeless shelter, and despite the odds, Preeti was able to make it happen! In terms of Decor, I left a lot of the details in the hands of our decorator, Sarah. We trusted her vision, and once we gave her a sense of what we wanted, she was able to use her creative license to create a weekend we could have never dreamed up on our own. Hair and makeup was something I was more particular about (as I love Makeup myself!) but my makeup artist, Ana Buitrago, was one of the most flexible people I could have ever worked with. She rose to each challenge I put in front of her, and the result was stunning. Outfits were from Frontier Raas Boutique in Chandigarh, Punjab. They made it so easy for me to choose from their wide array of beautiful gowns!
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
For my Bridal Lengha, I was looking for a circular construction modified mermaid skirt. For colors, I wanted a pop of bright red with gold accents. I was particular about a veil that had lots of embroidery to help highlight my hairstyle, and add to the jewelry I was going to wear.
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The most enjoyable part of the planning process was seeing how my now husband rose to the occasion. I had helped to plan a lot of my sister's wedding four years ago, and thought that most of the responsibility for planning this wedding would understandably fall onto my shoulders. Instead, Ankit took on a lot of the responsibility of communicating with Vendors and finalizing Contracts which took a lot of stress off of my plate. The way we were able to work together as a team was so wonderful to experience, and it makes me feel really good about us tackling any challenge in the future.
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
I think what my guests really enjoyed was the attention to detail. From our personal touches to the wedding like itineraries for each guest and "Soorya and Ankit's favorite things" goodie bags, to our vendors personal touches like complimentary champagne on check in and unique floral arrangements, I think it was the little things that made the biggest difference at our wedding.
One of the more unique favors we had for each of our guests were white Parasols during the wedding. Since our wedding was an outdoor wedding, our biggest concern was that the May sun would make our guests really hot. We ended up having the opposite, challenge—it began to drizzle during the wedding! The parasols ended up coming in handy for our guests, and were a beautiful accent to a blessed wedding ceremony!
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
My favorite part about the wedding was our first look. I was initially against doing a first look, as I thought it would take away from the moment I would walk down the aisle. My planner, my sister Arya and Ankit all convinced me that we should do it anyways. However, in my mind, if I was going to do this, then I would do it in my own way. I decided to surprise Ankit by re-enacting the scene in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge as Simran leaves Raj on the bridge, but in reverse. As I walked toward him for the first look, I said, "Agar yeh tujhe pyar karta hai...toh palat ke dekhega! Palat! Palat! Palat!" Safe to say, I didn't have to wait long for him to turn and face his new Bride.
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.
For the Reception we were trying to make it as tailored to our guests as possible. Details like a longer cocktail hour, a shorter program, our first dance inviting all couples to the dance floor helped to make our guests feel more engaged and to have more fun at this event. The decor was to be classic whites and ivories with gold and blush accents. We had a gorgeous floral wall constructed for our backdrop, which was accented by our beautiful gold cake on top of a bed of roses.
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
As a self-proclaimed Type A personality, the biggest piece of advice I can give Brides-To-Be is that a "stress-free" wedding does not exist! People would constantly tell me to "not stress" and "don't worry about it so much," and while that came from a really good place, it definitely wasn't the reality. Accepting the fact that this process is stressful in and of itself made the planning more manageable. As a result, plan a stress-free, relaxing Honeymoon (without much traveling or to-dos) straight after the wedding if you can take the time off. Going away to Greece the day after our wedding was probably the best decision we could have made!
Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
All of my jewelry was heirloom from my Mother and my Mother-in-law. This was something that was so special and really made both of them feel so happy on my wedding day. My parents originally hail from Kerala, India, and since I did not wear the traditional marriage attire, wearing traditional jewelry from our home was really important for me. Additionally, I was able to incorporate traditional Jasmine flowers in my hairstyle for the wedding. A few of the pieces also belong to my Mother-in-Law. These pieces were the same ones she wore for her own wedding. I think incorporating these sentimental aspects to my wedding attire made it really special for both families.
Mehndi was done by Rehma Khan of HennaInk. Though she was given complete creative license for the design, I was pretty particular about the mehndi being heavy and above the elbows. She was such a sport during the 4 hour appointment! The venue was Lansdowne Resort and Spa and our wedding coordinator was Leslie Eyster. She was such a pleasure to work with and I loved her attention to detail! She probably received hundreds (if not thousands!) of emails from me over the past two years and did not miss a beat! Our cake was done by Classic Bakery and was coordinated by Areen Movessian. He took all of our jumbled up ideas and turned it into a breath-taking creation.
Just wanted to add a few more things— Our DJ was Rishabh Luthra or DJ Rish from the NJ/NY area. We had heard him play at one of our friend’s Sangeets and (being music aficionados as we are) we were dead set on having him at our wedding! Our guests absolutely loved his awesome mixing as well as how easily he understood the crowd and what they wanted. At the end of the night, him and his team compiled a beautiful album of all of our guests Photo Booth pictures and a message inside. This was such a wonderful personal touch and something we will never forget. Our videographer was Rimas Vasiulus of Rimas Films. He was our first choice of wedding videographers and though we almost lost him to another couple who booked earlier, we eventually got him! Kismat! He did a phenomenal job capturing the day for us and made a truly memorable product. Our catering was by Pankaj Sharma of Bollywood Bistro. We garnered a relationship with Mr. Sharma 4 years ago for my sister’s wedding, and using him was a no-brainer for our wedding. For our wedding lunch, we catered food from Mr. Suku Nair of Turmeric Restaurant in McLean, Virginia to give a Kerala touch to the wedding. The food was a traditional Kerala spread which gave our event a unique flair.
Thank you Soorya! Have a fantastic Father's Day weekend Maharanis. See you Monday!
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