We're back with the rest of Shamini and Raj's Indian wedding, Maharanis! Their glamorous reception was held at L.A. Banquets - Brandview Ballroom, where Deepti's Floral Designs & Mandaps filled the venue with elegant decorations. The dazzling wedding cake and dessert table were from Cake Korner, who created all the wonderful treats without any eggs! As for entertainment, Exclusive Productions DJ played the perfect high energy songs to keep everyone on the dancefloor all night, while Picture Me Perfect provided a photobooth for endless picture-taking fun! Aaroneye Photography, meanwhile, snapped spectacular photos of all the decorations and our Indian bride in her custom Desi Coutures gown! To see everything, visit the full gallery!
Maharani Shamini on her special first dance song:
"We actually did a remix of 3 different songs that represented us:
- 'You & I' by John Legend -- we both love John Legend as an artist, we were fortunate to attend one of his concerts together and this specific song spoke to us in a special way when it was performed.
- 'Apache' by The Sugarhill Gang -- we wanted to do something fun to break up the mood, we actually reenacted the dance moves to this song from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air! It was all in good fun and totally caught everyone off guard since we are so low-key.
- 'Love Never Felt So Good' by Justin Timberlake featuring Michael Jackson -- this is another one of our favorite songs, we both enjoy dancing and being goofy when were around each other.
We semi-choreographed and practiced our dance a couple days before our reception but everything turned out really well and helped set the mood for the rest of the evening."
On her hair and makeup:
"For hair and makeup, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do. I really liked the hair and makeup my specialist created for me during my engagement photo shoot and my lengha happened to be the same color as the dress I wore. Joey was able to create a slightly dramatic version of that look for the wedding, which I was very happy with. For the reception, I knew I wanted to go extra dramatic with my eye makeup and all up for my hair. Joey took one look at my outfit and knew exactly what to do- he urged me to step out of my comfort zone with a pop of pink lips and it perfected the look."
On how her friends and family helped:
"My family and friends played a huge role in helping the wedding and reception run smoothly.
In specific, my two uncles -- Viraj Patel and Rakesh Patel helped execute every detail for each of my four events. From countless pre-wedding meetings, ensuring vendors were on time & setting up, confirming that each caterer was ready for service, etc -- they really left me stress-free throughout each wedding event. My siblings and two best friends also played a huge role in helping me execute last minute details before the big day. I am also very grateful for both my parents, and my in-laws, for helping make our wedding one of the most special days in our life."
On all the other special details that made her wedding magical:
"Jewelry -- My reception set was extra special to me because it was actually my sisters when she got married. My mama (maternal uncle) had bought it for her when she got married in 2012 for her reception. When my reception gown arrived, I was so excited that it matched my outfit perfectly. It was extra special to me that I was starting a family tradition.
Mendhi -- I will admit, I love the way mendhi looks but I was never huge on having it done on me. I searched for hours online looking for styles with symmetry I liked and finally found something on Pinterest. When I showed my mendhi artist, Nisha Amin, the style I liked, she was able to replicate the design with perfection! Although it took hours of patience, I couldn't be happier with the amazing job she did.
Venue -- I knew I wanted to get married outside in front of the BAPS Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Chino Hills since we got engaged. I grew up going to the temple and for me it was something that was near and dear to my heart. I was so happy that the weather turned out great, slightly warmer than anyone was anticipating in November, but it did not affect the outdoor setup. For the reception venue, we knew we didn't really want a hotel venue. We wanted something a little more intimate and spent a number of days looking at quite a few venues. We knew we wanted to have our reception at the Brandview Ballroom in Glendale when we did our first site visit. It is located on the 2nd floor of a historic building in downtown Glendale with a beautiful grand staircase and large open concept banquet hall.
Cake -- Raj & I spent hours upon hours trying to figure out what we wanted to do for dessert at the reception. We initially started with no cake, possibly a dessert bar, a churro man, fresh mini donuts -- we had an endless amount of information and too many options. Raj LOVES sweets so we wanted to make sure we had all of our bases covered. Being that we were looking for something eggless, we chose Cake Korner to create a 3 layer wedding cake along with a dessert bar which included mousse cups, cream horns and mini tiramisu and strawberry shortcake desserts. The baker was able to recreate a style I picked from a picture on Pinterest with perfection.
DJ -- We picked Chirag Shah, from Exclusive Productions, I have known him for many years and have seen the energy he brings out from the crowd at other events he has DJ'd. He was very professional and the crowd just couldn't get enough of his music -- we actually had to ask him to shut down the dance floor at the end of the night because people just wanted to dance the night away."
Come back tomorrow for a stunning South Asian wedding!
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