We're really excited to be able to bring you something totally new for One Fab Day, a real exotic gem, we think you're going to love. Today we present our first ever Hindu wedding celebration - a fascinating insight into the amazing traditions and fabulous sparkle of Indian wedding ceremonies. Anisha and Sundip met in university in Liverpool and celebrated in style with over 400 guests. There to capture all the colour was Sara Dalzell...
How fantastic is all that sparkly bling? Anisha is one lucky bride!
Before seeing how this colour-filled Love Story is celebrated we need to know how Anisha and Sundip got together....We met at University in Liverpool. When we were both in our second years, during a night out to our regular place Vodbul at RSVP, we finally had a drunken chat while waiting for taxis outside the club. He asked my friend for my number and then he called me the following day. We went on a couple of dates around Liverpool...and the rest is history! We have been together ever since.
Don't you just love the amazing detailed henna and all the rich colours?
And what about the proposal? I had a feeling something was going on because he kept asking if I was coming to visit him at the weekend, wanting to know exact timings etc… I found this suspicious as he is normally very laid back! It was Saturday morning and he made me breakfast — toasted crumpets, I went to tuck in and sitting there under one crumpet was a gorgeous sparkly ring! He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes straight away, no hesitation. He had the whole day planned out in and around London, ending in a romantic restaurant.
I called my mum first thing to let her know, but turns out she knew already because Sunny had been to see my Dad a little while before to ask for my hand in marriage! It seems old fashioned but I thought it was very sweet. My Dad’s reaction was... ‘Finally!’
It's no coincidence that India produces more Miss Worlds than any other country - Anisha looks as stunning as any of them. Oh to be an exotic beauty...
The venue was an obvious choice for us because my sister got married there 5 years before and it is the closest venue to Milton Keynes that had enough capacity for our 400 seated guests at the reception! The room and setting of the venue is stunning with great views so it ticked all the boxes.
Hindu wedding ceremonies include many traditions and games. For example, the bride’s family has to steal the groom’s shoes after he removes them to enter the Mandap (the canopy, which we were married under). The idea is that without his shoes he cannot take away their beloved sister, so at the end of the ceremony the groom’s family has to pay to get them back!
My favourite moment had to be just after the wedding waiting for the ‘breaking of the coconut ceremony’ to take place (sorry I don’t know the official name for it!). Normally before the bride and groom drive away in the wedding car, a coconut is placed under the wheel and cracked open and the milk is sprinkled on the road. This ceremony is carried out to bless the couples’ journey ahead, in life together.
However, we didn’t have an official wedding car because we were coming back for the reception, so we ended up performing it in a golf buggy! It was one of my most memorable moments because I felt so happy and relieved, all the stress had lifted, after months of planning we had actually done it! The weather was beautiful and all my closest family and friends were gathered around laughing and joking to wave me off (even though I would see them again in a few hours for the reception).
The evening reception was on the same day in the same venue. The theme was dark purple and gold to match my outfit. The flowers on the tables were deep purple with sprayed gold grass and the cake was purple and white.
Knowing when to be stubborn and when to give in is an important skill to have. We had to put our foot down on several occasions with family so that the day would go how we wanted it to go. But it is very easy to then become too obstinate, ignoring what are actually very good suggestions and ideas. I think the main advice is to take time over each decision, discuss it with your partner before reacting to people’s suggestions and demands, so that you can tackle them together and support each other through it.
Get people involved in activities that are actually helpful, let them have control over a small self-contained part of the wedding (having properly briefed them first!).
Anisha and Sundip have some amazing family and friends who lent a hand for the big day...We had to make the table favours ourselves. My sister, some cousins (all the way from the US) and friends (all the way from Australia) and I spent a couple of evenings the week before the wedding making up each individual flat pack box (x400) and tying purple ribbons and bows on each lid. It took hours but it was great a bonding exercise, especially over a glass of wine or 2!
My sister and her husband had made the contents for these boxes a week or so before hand. They made trays and trays of lemon slices and with the help of many of my cousins they painstakingly wrapped each 2-squared inch in tissue paper and put them into the individual boxes… yes I have an amazing family!
So any final words of advice... "It is really worth spending time finding the right photographer. The day goes by so quickly and having spent so much time and money on the planning, it is great to have your beautiful details and precious moments captured timelessly on film. And a good photographer will also capture the moments you missed, so you can relive them again and again."
Huge congratulations to Anisha and Sundip — here’s to a great new chapter in your life together.
And to Sara Dalzell we say a big Thank You for sharing these beautiful images with us!
- Wedding Venue: Atrium - Northamptonshire
- Wedding Dress: Indian skirt, top and scarf both wedding and reception outfits from Friendship - Mumbai, India
- Shoes: Unze - London
- Flowers: Frosts Landscape Construction Ltd, Buckinghamshire
- Groom(smen)’s suits: Burton
- Wedding Jewellery: Sia Art Jewellery - Mumbai, India.
- Reception Jewellery: Kyles Collection - London
- Cake: By Krishna Chauhan of ‘Posh Posh Cakes’ 07723 036570
- Make Up & Hair: Roopa Chudasama - Milton Keynes 07956 590062
- Ceremony music, reception music, band / DJ : Subz Patel www.DJ-SUBZ.COM
