Friday is here, loves! And just before you go on weekend mode, we have yet another inspiring love story to keep on watering the ideas to flourish into a beautiful bash in the future! Today, and ending the week big time, we have Karishma & Jay's union and it is just as you want your perfect day to be. Glamorous and incredible! Our well-known friends from House of Talent Studio were ready to capture, with their cameras and talented eye, the unique moments that make up for our feature today. Truly an amazing job from an amazing team! Our lovely couple tied the knot in two equally beautiful ceremonies. Maharani Karishma glowed in an orange sherbet lengha with details in gold that truly took my breath away, a dazzling copper princess! And, in a turquoise wonder with details in vivid blue, that unmistakably, displayed the Indian style in its full glory. The bridesmaids were also looking gorgeous thanks to the always mesmerizing work of StyleBySmita. She did an incredible job and just like our beautiful Maharani, they radiated beauty! Want to see more? Peruse through our exceptional picture collection in our full gallery to get your daily dose of inspiration. Don't miss it!
How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
We were actually introduced by our parents! At the time, I had lived in DC for several years and moved to NY for residency, and Jay was doing a residency in DC. We never really crossed paths but had mutual friends, and some of my friends knew him from the hospital. When my parents brought it up, I thought it was insane - it was a five-hour drive, I had one weekend off a month (at best) during my residency's intern year and it made no sense. But, I was about to visit DC to visit my best friends, and when I mentioned to a friend, she immediately vouched for Jay and said she thought we would get along really well. I had never gone on a blind date like this before, and Jay had experienced a couple of flops... Needless to say, neither of us was particularly enthusiastic but figured meeting each other couldn't hurt. Dinner was a blast, and that turned into going to an arcade across the street, to meeting up with my friends afterward to hang out since we knew it would be at least a month before we could see each other again. The funny thing about starting a long distance relationship when you're both residents is that your time off is so precious that you're not going to waste it... if you want to see someone who's 5 hours away on your only real weekend off in a month, it's automatically a huge commitment, so we never really had to have a "talk" about what we were doing. We just had amazing weekends together when we could, and kept planning the next one. About six months after we started seeing each other, I, a girl who is absolutely and completely allergic to sports who doesn't know a single rule of any game, ended up going to Ann Arbor to watch the Michigan Wolverines play... at that point, I think everyone who knew me knew I had met the one!
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
Jay proposed in December of 2017, almost two years after we had met. We were still making weekend trips to see each other, and it was around the time that I was finding out where I was going to match for my fellowship after residency. I had an idea that he was planning something (he kind of asked me if I was going to treat myself to a manicure after the match... a sure hint!) but I didn't really know what. After I found out where I matched, I wanted to have a great weekend to celebrate, so lucky for him, I was already planning on getting dolled up in a new outfit and dangerously high heels regardless of the snow. I thought we were starting off our day stopping by a friend's birthday, but instead, while I was sleeping after working a night call, Jay had arrived in NY and set up a proposal in DUMBO, by the Brooklyn Bridge in front of the carousel. It was such a sweet moment, and an even better way to celebrate an already happy weekend!
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.
I have a pretty good idea of what my taste is... I'm the low maintenance kind who doesn't shop often, but with particular tastes. So I knew I wasn't into pastels, wanted jewel tones for everything, and a very regal look without floral patterns. I love purple and red, so that was going to be a big part of what I looked for. My traditional engagement sari was a very rich ruby red, I found a gorgeous rich purple 9-yard sari for our extremely traditional ceremony, and I went with emerald green for a reception lehnga - the only lehnga I had for the day. I've been absolutely obsessed with mehndi since I was little; I always used to basically get a bridal mehndi done when we visited India, so literally, the first thing I did was spend a number of hours I'll never admit to poring over henna portfolios and booking an artist. Henna by Pallavi drew an absolutely gorgeous design, including both the NY and DC skylines to represent our relationship. We're a very urban couple, and we wanted a gorgeous view, which made it pretty simple to hone in on the Jersey City skyline for the backdrop and found a venue with a terrace that was just incredible. We used DJ Raj for a couple of other events in the past, and it was a no brainer to book him again. His playlist was incredible! I used pictures from Maharani Weddings to find most of our vendors when it came to hair and makeup, and a lot of googling to find specific things like photobooths. We knew we had a hundred moving parts and would never survive the day without a wedding planner, so we went with the online reviews, and Tum Hi Ho Events was a winner.
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
We heard people raving about the World Trade Center skyline backdrop we had for the ceremony. We were so lucky - it was the only day that week it wasn't raining! The decorations from Partyland were also just incredible. We wanted to have some variety and picked a theme for each ceremony. Our mehndi was Bollywood themed, with movie posters with our faces photoshopped into them that people loved, a rickshaw photo station surrounded by all kind of Bollywood paraphernalia, our ceremony was more traditional and formal, and our reception was a combination of our personalities and interests - travel theme, with paper airplane seating cards, tables named after places we've been to, and U of M football. We ran in under a Michigan themed banner held by our wedding party and had a cake with travel/football themed designs on each tier. Our cake picture is actually one of our favorite pictures because it has so much of what we love in one picture!
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Remember that everyone in your family has their own vision of the day and a different priority. Your parents likely care so much more about the religious aspects of the ceremony than the centerpieces, and you probably feel the opposite. It's hard to compromise on anything that anyone wants so badly, but you have to or it gets completely out of control. Use spreadsheets, google docs, make lists and checklists of EVERYTHING that needs to be done - every vendor, every task, every quote so you know the scope of what you're doing and can keep a handle on it.
Hang in there, ladies, more to come in a bit!
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