Hey, Maharanis! There is nothing we love more than to receive super gorgeous wedding images and videos from our amazing vendors and beloved readers. We seriously wish we could showcase every glorious event that lands in our inbox. But we receive hundreds of wedding albums every month and it is simply impossible to put every one of them in the spotlight.

So, what’s the trick to ensuring that your very special submission gets featured on our site? We are here to lay out the top five best things you can do to boost your Indian wedding submission to the front page!

1. Use our submission links: At the very bottom of our blog, you will see links you can use to submit a wedding, an engagement shoot, or a Filmy Friday video. All great options! The links will direct you to a form that will allow you to list your vendors and some other key information about your special event. It is an incredible help to us if ALL of this information is filled out COMPLETELY. This is also where you will include the URL for your video or photo dropbox. Using these links is the number one best thing you can do to streamline your submission to the right place!

2. Fill out all the boxes: At Maharani Weddings, we are devoted to not only our beautiful readers, but also to the incredible vendors who bring wedding dreams to life. That is why we want to give credit everywhere it is due! From your floral and decor planner to the artist who handled your mehndi to the DJ who kept your reception floor hopping, we want to include every person and business that contributed to your fairytale event. So please be sure to fill out every instance where we ask for a vendor (where possible) and include their website. It’s our goal to connect other Maharanis to those vendors who are totally amazing! Also, if you are submitting the wedding but aren’t totally sure how your photographer wants their watermark to look, feel free to leave that blank so we know to contact them directly. That is a big help too!

3. Include sensational pictures: In order to create a super fabulous post, we would ideally like to have a minimum of forty to one hundred (no more than one hundred and twenty, please) fantastic images that show your spectacular event from start to finish. Our photography editors choose pictures that tell the story of your special event, so the more amazing options you can offer, the better your chances of being featured! It’s very helpful if you send us a fun mix of both vertical and horizontal images all between one to two megabites in size. Also, name your file of images like this: Photographer_bride_groom_date. We get a zillion called “Maharani” and they get lost!

In addition, there a are few types of images to avoid:

• large groups of people with no clear focal point
• large, distracting, blurry objects in the foreground
• duplicates or images that are almost identical in subject matter and composition

4. Think Maharani: You will breeze your way through this process if you know your event fits the Maharani Weddings style. Read the blog, get familiar with what gets featured (check out the Hall of Fame for top-notch submission examples), and then be sure to choose images that reflect our love for all things pretty, colorful, and unique to the Indian bride! We love clear, vibrant, professional photography that captures the spirit of an event, and we love pictures of all the details: jewelry, decor, ceremony traditions, and all the special touches that make up this most wonderful of all days!

5. Show us your creativity: We know our Maharanis are always on the lookout for the most inspired and exciting new Indian wedding ideas, so if your video or event includes something brand new, it is sure to stand out! What is new? It could be a style of lengha, a location, the look of your wedding party, or an original baraat. It’s whatever we haven’t seen before but can’t wait to lay our eyes on! It could be like this Maharani who found a perfectly unique way to bring her Japanese heritage into her Hawaiian Indian fusion wedding by decorating the mandap with hundreds of origami paper cranes!

And of course, dear Maharanis, if you simply want to ask us why your submission didn’t reach all the way to the top, feel free to drop us a line. We are always here to answer questions! We’ll be back super soon with more inspiration and wedding wonder!

Is your dream wedding venue a chic Art Deco space in the heart of the city? Maybe it’s a little-known outdoor square with rustic charm. Or perhaps, when you sit and imagine the happiest of all days, you picture walking down the aisle in a towering stone chapel somewhere on a hill. Well, today is a day of dreams, Maharanis! We would like to introduce you to the remarkable touring and vendor-connection services of Beyond Blu Bungalow!

During your day-long tour of multiple secret locations, you will be treated to refreshments, luxury shuttle transportation, a swag bag, a complete meal, and tons of insider insights into each venue!

And how about design concepts? Yes! The knowledgeable experts from Beyond Blu Bungalow will help you perfect the style you want at the location you want.

Connecting brides with caterers is only one aspect of the expert assistance Beyond Blu Bungalow offers. Let these professionals walk you through beautiful food options with a focus on what you are dreaming of for your special day. And you can dream BIG, Maharanis!

The goal of Beyond Blu Bungalow is to give brides a convenient, fun opportunity to see a huge variety of inspired ideas in one VIP-style tour. Experienced vendors work together with Beyond Blu Bungalow to put together an unforgettable event!

Check out décor ideas, reception sites, and get connected with experts who can help you create the day of your dreams!

There are only twenty attendees per tour, Maharanis, so reserve your spot today!

Sunday, February 17^th – San Francisco

Sunday, February 24^th – Peninsula and the South Bay

Seats are $50 each

Register at http://beyondblubungalow.eventbrite.com

Aside from sharing Indian wedding inspiration, we are always on the look out for innovative services that can make an Indian bride’s life easier. For instance: invitations. Designing the perfect invitation may be fun; however, the average Indian wedding has 450 guests — that is a lot of mailing addresses!

And that’s why I fell in love with Postable the second I heard of it.

Postable makes collecting and organizing mailing addresses a breeze, which is why every Indian bride needs this nifty tool at her disposal! Check out how easy it is:

Step 1. Sign up for a FREE account with Postable.

Step 2. Postable creates a custom link for you (postable.com/YourName) that you send to family & friends.

Step 3. Everyone spends 10 seconds filling out the short form, and VOILA! Your address book is now current and up-to-date!

The best part is you can easily export addresses to Excel, print labels or even send the info to your calligrapher. Actually no, sorry — the best part is that it will save your Maharani hair from going grey before you get to the mandap!

So head over to Postable right now, and make sure you bookmark their Website. It’s also a great tool for when you have to send thank you notes…or even birth announcements! (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)

Maharani Weddings is thrilled to partner with some fantastic Indian wedding vendors that will make your special day even more wonderful! From memorable Indian wedding cakes to luxury yachts. we are excited to introduce them you.

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When it comes to making your Indian wedding dreams come true, it’s Electric Karma International to the rescue. This Houston, Texas based team is one of the world’s premiere Indian wedding planners. With out of the box thinking and an eye towards combining the traditional with the modern, Electric Karma International are the perfect consultants to any Maharani. President Therese Cole-Hubbs and her team have more than 27 years of experience, and have planned more than 600 weddings. Their success comes from  realizing that the most important factor in planning an Indian wedding is hospitality.

And Electric Karma International can even help you plan the perfect mehndi party or sangeet! Here are some exclusive tips from these Indian wedding experts, including how to make the most of your pre-wedding ceremonies:

• Before you plan anything, determine what the emotion of the event is going to be!
• Use your location as inspiration! For example: if you’re planning a event in Texas, why not throw a cowboys and Indians themed event? Embrace funny stereotypes by having everyone get to a barn on horse drawn carriages and hay rides! Why not have a bull riding competition? Use the obvious to create something out of this world!
• Create interactive events such as cooking class parties, after hour boutique parties and make-up parties.
• Remember mehndi nights are typically for women and can become pseudo bridal parties.
• Many times after months of planning for her Indian wedding, an auntie or uncle that believes they know exactly how the event should go tries to alter decisions “because its the way its always done.” It is important for brides to have a wedding planner who can make sure her vision is carried throughout her entire wedding.
• For fusion Indian weddings, remember that a person’s culture and customs are extremely important to them — if not them, then their family. Make sure you make every effort to incorporate as much of both cultures as you can, including through food, decor and clothing!
• In Indian culture, it is important to make sure your guests feel like royalty. The only way you can accomplish this is by creating environments that lend guest to relax and enjoy their time spent with you. Remember you don’t have to go crazy with this: even a small personalized thank you after every event will suffice! 

With a firm understanding of Indian culture and values, these Indian wedding planners can create an Indian wedding experience that is rich with tradition, but also uniquely you. Make sure to ask about the company’s various Indian wedding packages, include their most popular offer “The Designer.” This package pairs Indian brides with a senior designer at an amazing deal! (And don’t all Maharanis love a good deal?)

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Growing up in California, there’s nothing more calming and majestic than drifting in the beautiful ocean.  And Yacht Connections Int’l makes the experience even more luxurious  by providing the most elegant private yachts available for charter.  If you’re  looking to host a memorable Indian wedding, imagine your closest girlfriends  on one of these fabulous yachts, sipping champagne in one hand while your mehndi dries in another! These beautiful boats are also fabulous venues for an Indian engagement party or sangeet.

For an intimate gathering of 12 or less, I love the look of Yacht Connections Int’l‘s “Yacht Lady” — the 80-foot fiberglass vessel offers modern, sleek comfort with a beautiful salon and an outside deck.

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As a wedding guest, there’s nothing I look forward to more than seeing the newlywed’s wedding cake! Just like your choice of decor, venue or florals, your Indian wedding cake says a lot about you and your Raja. Are you a traditionalist, a modern Maharani or a couple with a wicked sense of humor? The Cake Designer of Central New Jersey can help create the perfect custom wedding cake to impress your guests. Aside from looking beautiful, I love that these cake professionals can whip up healthy alternatives. Want something dairy-free, sugar-free and organic? No problem.

With  The Cake Designer, the design is only limited to your creativity! These beauties make the perfect dessert for Indian engagement parties, sangeets, mehndi parties and more. Make sure you ask about their henna cakes, which are inspired by mehndi art!

We are so happy to work with these great Indian wedding vendors, and know that you’ll love working with them too!

After soaking in all of the featured weddings from our recently released Maharani Weddings Destination E-magazine, I am sure a few of you are more than interested in planning your own! But working out the logistics of a destination wedding can be pretty darn daunting. That’s why we thank the heavens for wedding planners like Stephanie Deneuve of Maile Weddings and Events. With more than two decades of experience planning weddings on the Hawaiian islands, Ms. Denueve knows all the secrets of the where, the when and the how to turn your dream island wedding into reality! She sits down with Maharani Weddings to share some of her destination wedding expertise…here are our favorite tips.

1) Utilize technology: create your own personal online wedding site where guests can RSVP for your multi-day Indian wedding. Visit www.mywedding.com, which has the tools to help you get started. Your guests and your sanity will thank you in the long run!

2) The perfect meeting place: did you know that O’ahu means “the gathering place”? Hawaii makes the perfect destination wedding because it serves as the mid-point between many continents. If you have wedding guests abroad, you can actually cut down their costs by meeting them halfway in Hawaii – not a bad compromise!

3) Aim for an October or May Indian wedding. The Hawaiian islands are certainly beautiful all year round; however, the best weather is in October and May. Coincidentally, these are also off-peak travel times so you also score great deals on just about everything. Remember: the fuller the planes, the fuller the hotels, the higher all the prices will be.

4) Embrace local florals. Keep in mind that your favorite mainland blooms are probably not available on the Hawaiian islands. To avoid outrageous shipping costs, embrace the local native plants. Want a fragrant bouquet? Check out yummy-smelling white flowers like tuberose. For something colorful, look into birds of paradise or ginger flowers.

For more juicy tips and photos from Maile Weddings and Events, check out the all new Maharani Weddings Destination E-magazine. And make sure you come back tomorrow for our weekly dose of Indian wedding cinematography!