Happy Monday, beautiful Maharanis! We are beginning a new week, and as always, we are here to bring you the best of Indian weddings to fulfill your day with inspiration. Today we have the honor to showcase the marvelous wedding celebration between Asma & Ayyad thanks to the enormous talent from Hakims Studio - Photography and Cinematography. They made sure to capture the best moments and emotions from this unforgettable gala and created a marvelous photo gallery that you can relive here. To begin this journey, let me take you to the exclusive Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. The ideal chosen venue by our lovebirds to tie the knot. As you scroll down, you will admire the beauty surrounding the wedding reception, a moment of joy where two different cultures gathered to celebrate the promise of eternal love between their favorite ones. It was a beautiful moment! Speaking of beauty, Asma, our gorgeous Maharani, left everyone speechless with her natural and royal beauty. She looked like a princess taken out from a fairy tale. You should be wondering who assisted her with her beauty needs. I have the right answer for you, as Erica Bogart Beauty's team created a flawless hairstyle and the perfect makeup art that made everyone sigh! Don't think twice and visit today's gallery. You will have a fantastic time being inspired by this magical celebration. Make sure to have a pen and some notes ready because lots of ideas are on your way! So enjoy!
How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
We met through friends. His roommate was my best friends boyfriend (now husband). All 4 of us went out one evening, and both (my husbands and mine) phones were stolen and that’s where our adventure began. We clicked instantly, but kept it pretty casual between us. What started as getting to know one another and becoming friends turned into the most beautiful companionship I could have ever imagined. My life is truly a roller coaster ride, and he’s been through everything with me. A little over a year after we met, something big had happened in my life, and not for the better... I remember calling him and telling him and he dropped everything he was doing to help me get through it. He focused hours and days on end with me, without him I would not have been where I am today. That’s when I knew— I knew he was the one and I wanted to put everything towards making us work.
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
I’ll let you see it all! It was all a surprise... we had spoken about getting married, involved our parents, but I never thought he would propose to me because it’s not his style. He blew me away with this.. he completely surprised me, and he actually got on one knee which i never thought would happen!
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.
Research research research! I planned the whole wedding in 4 months!
Outfit- my sister helped me. We knew I wanted a fusion outfit, something white and silver to look Arab like but also the desi touch. Republic woman’s wear was an easy yet perfect choice.
Venue: when you know your capacity will be at least 500, you easily narrow venues down! Also, do they allow outside catering ? If it was a no then those venues were out! I spoke to many venues, got lots of quotes and ultimately it was a no brained to go with grand Hyatt Atlanta! It’s absolutely gorgeous, the service was spectacular and the price was unbeatable!
Hair- I had no doubt in my mind that I wanted to go with sm hair couture. Never did a trial just went by her pictures.
Makeup: this was a tough one. I didn’t want to pay so much for trails so after narrowing it down to the top 3, I paid for one trial, fell in love and just finalized with Erica Bogart!
Decor/theme: I wanted it to be a fusion wedding! Arab + Pakistani! So I did everything to incorporate both cultures! 2 djs (Arab and desi) A dabke team, and two caterers (Arab and desi)!! Dancing was also very very important to me! We had a traditional dabke team bring us in — it was extremely grand—- we had our first dance in my 25 pound dress without tripping on my train— and we had nonstop 45 mins of choreography dances — truly an amazing outcome!
I did all the planning, however I do not recommend that again! On the day of it was very stressful for me and I should Have had someone help on the day of!
Dj- I had hired two different djs desi and arab.
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I had the perfect dress! I couldn’t have asked for anything more, I felt like a royal queen.
I wanted it to be fusion— a white dress with a Pakistani touch. My dress had a long train, it was silver and white, we customized it to clip up while I danced because I did not want to change midway through the wedding. My words can’t do justice to what the dress turned out to look like! You have to see it!
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The dances!!! I loved the practices, I loved practicing myself! I loved having all my friends, sisters and cousins over to practice! It was absolutely amazing!
The engagement photos was also very fun
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Everything!! They can’t stop talking about it! They thought it was the wedding of the century! It felt like a royal wedding to them! From the entrance to the dances they loved it all!
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
The entrance! That was spectacular! our first dance!
And most of all my dad! My dad was so ecstatic that he could not stop dancing! And he was dancing with me so much, twirling me around .. it was insane!
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Take a deep breath! I knew the day of things would not go perfect, and I was prepared for that. 20 minutes before the guest walked in the top 2 tiers of the cake fell. My sister called all scared and I said, don’t worry, it is what it is. Just go along with what’s there and we can make it work.
Our 45 minute dance medley was being put together by me while I was getting my hair done!
This will be happening the day of, things will not go as planned or things will be hectic, but the moment I saw my husband and took his hand that was it — it was him and I for the rest of our lives and that’s all that mattered— all my worries were left behind and it turned out even better than I could have imagined. I was thinking everything was going to be downhill from there — but no, it was a wedding beyond anything I’ve ever seen or been involved in.
Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
I planned the wedding in less than 4 months. Final Guest count on the day of was between ~550-600.
Honestly my wedding was amazing, beautiful, elegant . My wedding was a shendi: mehndhi + Shaadi
It was a fun filled event and I could not have asked for anything more! You have to check out the full video! It’s on my Facebook under videos! You’ll see all the amazing dances there— we incorporated Arab songs and desi songs! It was a lot of fun!
Come back tomorrow for more. We have prepared a new fantastic love story just for you!