Hello there, darlings! We are excited to continue sharing Poorva & Zachary's wedding festivities with you! Right now, it is time to take a look at the traditional Indian wedding ceremony held at The Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village, so get ready to enjoy it! Our gorgeous Poorva stole all the looks as she walked down the aisle dressed in a trendy champagne lengha and rocking a fabulous nude makeup and a classy hairstyle, both done by DipBeauty.MUA. To add an extra touch of traditional flair to this already flawless look, she got a fantastic Mehndi design from the all-talented crew from Henna by Jinal. Without any question, this was a dream wedding that everyone loved! But there is no surprise here as Planories was the mastermind that designed this event, while Nirali Decor took care of the decor! And we know that when these two work together, there is nothing else but perfection that can be expected! And we want to make a big shoutout to Studio Nine Photography + Cinema for sharing the fantastic shots they captured during this lovely ceremony. Thanks to those shots, we've put together a breathtaking gallery that we are sure you are going to love. So go check it out!
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
Zach had mentioned that he was making a jewelry box for me which I was expecting as a Christmas gift. He told me that he finished it early and wanted me to take a look at it. I opened it up to take a look inside and noticed that there was a ring box inside. As I realized what was going on, Zach took the ring box out of the jewelry box and got down on one knee. He then prepared a five course meal for me with all my favorite foods!!
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.
Since we got engaged around the holidays, we were lucky enough to both have a week off around Christmas time. We spent this week looking at vendors and venues. We had a few rough patches with nailing down a venue that would work with the flow of events we had in mind and ultimately visited the Westin in Princeton. We both knew pretty soon that this venue would be perfect for our event. Westin's event manager and her wonderful team was happy to accommodate all of our needs. It was also extremely convenient having a wedding at a hotel since all the key players in our wedding day were at the hotel the night before the wedding. Because of the venue's size and event space options, we were able to host our events in the different exciting spaces of the venue throughout the day.
After finding the venue, we quickly started finalizing our vendors and are still extremely happy with the awesome professionals we had the opportunity to work with. I recommend all couples to meet their vendors in person if possible prior to finalizing contracts.
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I traveled to India for my wedding outfits. I went to Meeraj in Bangalore for my Hindu Ceremony and Reception outfit. I found both these dresses within an hour of visiting the store. I showed the clerk a picture of a couple of dresses I saw on Instagram that I liked and he was able to find me a few dresses from their collection that were similar. I had a fitting that day itself and the tailor had my dresses ready in five days and both dresses fit perfectly during the final fitting. My Sangeet dress is from Hind Collections in Pune and I was able to get the dress fitted there as well. My Christian ceremony dress was from David's Bridal. This was one of the only wedding dress stores that carried dresses that were more conservative.
I didn't have any specific colors in mind for any of my dresses. I just knew the overall style that I had wanted. I also had to specify to the clerks I worked with that the wedding was in the United States. They knew exactly what types of dresses were popular with their American customers.
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The best part of the planning process was by far the food tastings. Both Zach and I are huge foodies so having great food options was very important to us. Moghul and Westin worked very hard to get us the perfect fusion menu. So many people came up to us during our wedding and complimented us on how delicious all the meals were. They especially loved the cocktail hour menu, which honestly was our favorite as well. Since food is so important to us, our wedding coordinators made sure that we were fed throughout the wedding day. We had four meals that day and Westin especially arranged a full cocktail hour display for Zach and I in the bride and groom suite.
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Our guests loved a lot about our wedding since most of Zach's side had never attended an Indian wedding before and most of my family had never attended an American wedding. We were able to capture the best of both of our cultures in our wedding day.
They especially appreciated how organized and on time all of our events were. Full credit for this goes to our amazing wedding coordination team, Planories, and our amazing venue event coordinator, Ginger. So many of our Indian guests were pleasantly surprised at how well managed the flow of the day was and how every event had started exactly on time.
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
There are four specific moments that stand out to me during our wedding week. Each of them involved seeing our event space decorated for the first time as we had planned. Nirali decor did a phenomenal job with the event spaces. I specifically remember walking to the mandap as it was my first time seeing the wedding hall. I was trying my best to make sure I wouldn't trip and fall while also trying to absorb how beautiful the mandap was. The next most memorable moment was getting a sneak peek of our reception hall with all the reception decor and uplighting from our DJ.
For events other than your ceremony, please tell us as much as you would like about the decor, style, dances, and all the special details.
For our sangeet, we went with the standard sangeet style decor. Lots of bright colors and lots of dancing. Our families did a bunch of performances for us. Zach's cousins and my cousins surprised us with joined the organized dance. Zach and I performed to some Bollywood music as well. Seeing Zach dance for the first time shocked and impressed our families.
For our reception, we went with a theme that matched the outfits we wore. We tried to keep the speeches and dances to a minimum. We had a father-daughter dance, mother-son dance, and a first dance. We also had five speeches- our fathers' speeches, my brother's speech, Zach's best man's speech, and our speech. This allowed us to get our dinner buffet started a bit earlier and get the dancing started early as well. I know our guests enjoyed being able to hit the open bar and open the dance floor early in the night.
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Make sure to know what your priorities are for your wedding day. Communicate this with your wedding team and key players in your wedding. Also, make sure to hire vendors that you feel comfortable with because you will end up spending most of your day with this group of people. Planning is key in making sure you have a smooth wedding day. Things are inevitably going to go awry, but it's important to enjoy every moment and remember your guests won't be able to tell if things have gone wrong. Absorb the happiness and joy that your families, friends, and guests are experiencing with you. A happy bride is a beautiful bride!
There are still more beautiful and inspiring ideas right around the corner! So make sure to stay close if you don't want to miss it!
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