Good morning, Maharanis! TGIF! As you know, here at Maharani Weddings we make sure to bring you the best of the Indian Weddings and today is no exception. We are double featuring Shoheera & Mohammad's marvelous wedding celebration. First of all, we should thank heaven for the phenomenal talent of MNK Pro, who made sure to capture from beginning to the end, every detail and special moment, and created a marvelous photo gallery. And if this is not enough, on this installment, we have the visual masterpiece they produced, and I am sure that once you see it, your inspiration will increase! So let me take you right away to the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta, the ideal venue chosen by our lovebird's to celebrate their eternal union. The long-awaited day arrived, and everything was just as our lovebirds dreamed about. And we want to take a moment to admire the beauty of Shoheera, our gorgeous Maharani, who looked spectacular and stole everyone's attention. She made the right choice by trusting all of her beauty needs to Color Impressions by Saba. And to add the special touch to her already ravishing look, Beauty You Deserve created a phenomenal Mehndi Art for our beautiful bride. So don't think twice and hit the play icon below to start enjoy it!
How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I met Mohammad ("Mo") while I was doing my Master's program in Boston. He moved there for work. I was trying to be more social at the mosque, so I decided to go out with a group of people for bowling. Mo was working late that night, but one of his friends (who planned the bowling night) convinced Mo take a break and join us. That's the first night we met and hung out together.
When we met, it was an instant spark. As I got to know Mo as friends, I saw a lot of signs that pointed towards him being "the one". We got along really well, shared many of the same values and ideals in life, which for me was a rare find, and we supported each other with our goals and ambitions. There wasn't really one specific moment where I knew - I think there were lots of mini moments that confirmed that we were meant to be together through the course of our relationship.
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
We both come from a traditional family! So there was no proposal. We had a very traditional engagement ceremony with our family and friends, complete with the ring exchange, dinner, and dancing.
He did surprise me with the most amazing date night, with dinner at the same place as our very first date, a walk through our favorite neighborhood, and dropping down on one knee to ask me to marry him.....A MONTH BEFORE our wedding. I guess all the hints I dropped about wanting to be proposed to post-engagement really worked.
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.
Wedding planning was stressful because I was planning a 3 day wedding in Atlanta from Boston, but I started very early. I secured the venue, decorator, photo/videographer and caterer 10-11 months before the date. I relied mostly on word of mouth - vendors I knew have done an exceptional job in the past. I looked through Instagram and Facebook to see their work as well. I had a list of priorities where I knew I couldn't compromise on: food was a big one. At a desi wedding, the only thing that your guests care about is food. Photo/video was another priority because that's all that would be left to look at once the big day was over.
I will say, if I had to plan my wedding all over again, I would not change a single vendor. They were all so amazing to work with and they were truly amazing people that I got to know during that year of planning.
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
Most girls have a vision of how they want their dress to look like years and years in advance. I just knew I wanted my dress to be the traditional red. I had a few ideas (long top, skirt) but I was very open to other ideas. I traveled to Pakistan for my wedding shopping and relied on word of mouth about which designer would be the best one for me. The first (and only) place we went to was PLK (they're super well known in Pakistan), and that's where I got every single outfit designed (from scratch) for myself. Because I didn't have any specific idea or vision for the dress, I was able to mix and match designs, fabrics, shades of color, and styles for every inch of my wedding dress.
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
THE FOOD. To this day, we have family and friends talk about how AMAZING food was at our wedding. I'm so glad I went with Asma's Cuisine. They catered my engagement dinner and I knew that day that they would be the only ones that would cater my wedding.
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.
We had a very traditional 3 day desi wedding. The first day was mehndi, second was pithi/haldi + sangeet, and the third day was Nikkah in the morning with a reception in the evening.
I didn't have too many ideas for my decor, with the exception of the backdrop for sangeet and reception. Yasmin Khan of RoyalDekors really helped bring out my creative and visionary side and added her own experience and input to come up with decor that would look unique and beautiful for each event.
The dances at the sangeet were another favorite moment. Mo and my friends and our cousins did a 45 minute sequence of dances and a skit that portrayed our love story. We had a cousins/siblings dance for both sides, a girls dance, a guys dance, and a ShoMo dance followed by the skit.
Reception was quick because I really wanted to have a large amount of time dedicated to open dance floor. After our entrance, we had our first dance, cake cutting, speeches, and then we played the shoe game - you know, the one where we sit back to back holding one of each other's shoes as we get asked questions about each other - followed by dinner and dancing.
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Start planning early. Us girls have a very specific vision of how we want our wedding to be for years and years. And if that is the case with you, it is best to start planning well in advance to secure your vendors who can make your dream wedding a reality. Come up with a list of things that you do not want to compromise on (for me, it was food and photo/video) and set your budget accordingly. I also think it's so important to try and take your wedding day one moment at a time. The day really flies by fast so enjoy it as much as you can!
Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
My makeup and hair was done by Saba Jawed of Color Impressions by Saba. She was so great to work with. Because I didn't have a clear vision for each look, she really worked with me to figure out how to make each look for every event beautiful and unique. She made me look and feel like a Maharani bride.
My mehndi was done by Nikki Karimi from Beauty you Deserve and I LOVED her work. I really wanted mehndi that was very intricate and that's exactly what she did.
I also decided to get fresh flower gajray bracelets made for my sangeet night. Gardlands by Yasmin did that and I think she also did an amazing job. I showed her the color of my outfit and she made beautiful bracelets to match my outfit.
My cake was made by Nausheen Amir of Inspirations Unlimited. I asked her to incorporate my bridal lengha designs into the cake and she did just that. The cake looked spectacular and really complimented by bridal lengha.
We hope you enjoyed today's post, so make sure to visit us back on Monday! We have more for you.
