Greetings, dolls! Photo Sutras & Vishal Solanki bring us a wondrous Indian affair that takes place in northern California. Here is Maharani Rubina getting all dolled up for her big day by Laenka by Myrium after already enjoying her sangeet celebration at the Embassy Suites - Milpitas. I hear the bride gave her hair & makeup artist complete freedom and control to do as she pleases. Talk about trust, right ladies?! Well, the bride turns out stunning in her red & gold lengha sari, which she says took months to find. Now that's a Maharani that knows what she wants! And I love a bride that is dripping in jewels; her mehndi design by Neeta's Mehendi looks sensational with her gold & red-orange bangles. The baraat leads the couple to be wed at the Sikh Gurdwara Sahib - San Jose for their traditional ceremony. What an adorable couple! There's more to come including the reception in which the mesmerizing Joya Kazi Unlimited performs and the amazing Milan Catering provides the delicious Indian cuisine. Until then, check out more from the ceremony in the gallery!
From the bride, on how they met:
"I first saw Shekhar in April 2013 at a concert that he produced. My friend was the bass player and I went to support him. We connected over Facebook after that and started talking with a collaboration in mind. We first met at the annual ASHA Holi at Stanford and hit it off from there. Before Stanford, Shekhar had probably only seen my pictures on Facebook. Yet in a crowd of thousands, he recognized me with color on my face. I still don't know how he did it. Shekhar has always been more sure about us than me. He knew before me. We started dating in April and I knew around August."
On the proposal:
"Shekhar started training me for my first half Marathon. In December, he took me to Point Lobos for my longest 9 mile run. It was also the only weekend we had together for a while. So I guess he decided if it wasn't then it would have to wait for another three months. After the run I was ready to get into my PJ's and call it a day. But he insisted on getting dolled up and going for dinner. After dinner we went to the pier. It was very intimate, very him. No one but us, surrounded by the ocean and the moon that lit the sky. The next thing i knew he was on his knees and me standing with cotton candy in one hand and chocolate in the other. I always thought he would write me a poem when he proposes. But he says he can't write for me. Shekhar is very spontaneous and whatever he does is from his heart."
On hair & makeup:
"I did not give any directions to Myrium. I knew she was the best and I left it completely to her. She would come, see my hair accessories and clothes and decide what she wanted to do. I left it completely to her. The only thing I did tell her was to give me different looks for every occasion."
On the lenghas:
"Oh my god, I spent months on the Internet and roaming around the streets of Delhi / Bombay and the San Franciso Bay area. My best friend and I spent hours looking at all the ones I had printed. We even started a scrapbook, Pintrest board and God knows what not. As I said, I always knew I wanted a traditional red and gold sabhya piece. It took me months to find the sabhya lehenga saree i went with."
On fam & friends helping:
"Everyone helped. We got my family to bring a lot of things, that are not easily available here, from India. We would Facetime with them at random hours at night to make quick decisions."
On the wedding style:
" Shekhar and I are both very rooted to India. I always knew I wanted to go all traditional. However, I also wanted to skip the standing on stage for hours at the reception. So we did exactly that. All our events were traditional except for the reception. It was the only occasion that followed the formal Western style. I always knew that the wedding would be traditional red and gold sabhya piece or I wanted the sangeet to have rajasthani elements. our family and friends from here and India helped us source everything we needed. We got the kitch Rajasthani umbrellas, puppets, and diwali rangolis. Our decorator also made sure she stuck to our colors and theme."
On what she enjoyed most in regards to planning:
"I enjoyed the entire process. Shekhar, myself and my mom did everything. My mom lives in LA so she had her share of things she handled. Shekhar and I were local and we did everything else together. From running around to see venues, to meeting decorators, to food tasting we did it all. I would have not been able to do it without him. the only time Shekhar was not with me was when I was getting my wedding outfit selected. The one thing i really enjoyed was designing the invites and stationary. My best friend designed the characters and we enjoyed the process. We wanted everything to be personalized and tell everyone who we are. The next best might be the food tasting :P :P. Its probably the only time we enjoyed the menu. during the wedding you hardly get to eat anything. Our caterer was amazing to work with. He made it his family affair and enjoyed the process with us."
Reception shots are still ahead!
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