Ladies, let's say goodbye to 2020 by taking a look at Janaki & Pratik's wedding in today's Platinum Guide Blog. It'll take your breath away, and you'll get tons of inspiring ideas from it. Check it out now!
How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I met Pratik through an online dating app. At first, our schedules didn't match up to meet and our conversations died. But Pratik randomly messaged me again weeks after we first connected and we finally made plans to meet over brunch. We talked for SO many hours on our first date, and neither of us wanted to leave. After the first 3 or 4 dates, I knew he was the one!
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
I planned a residency graduation party with my close friends and family. My parents rented a beach house in Rhode Island and catered food from a local Indian restaurant for the party. Pratik was in charge of getting a cake, and on the cake he secretly had written "now say yes." He brought the cake out with sparklers and fanfare, and after he placed the cake in front of me on the table, he kneeled down on one knee and proposed! He surprised all of us, including our parents and siblings because he told not a soul about the proposal until literally moments before he was about to do it! It felt so wonderful being surrounded by my family and best friends when Pratik proposed!
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.
We started to plan the wedding soon after we got engaged. We debated between a destination wedding or doing it locally in my home town in Albany, NY. We finally decided to have the wedding in Albany at a beautiful convention center and hired most of our vendors from New Jersey. We were able to make a very quick but amazing trip to India with my mom to get all of our wedding outfits, which turned out amazing! We were super excited to have all of our friends and family from all over the world (literally) come celebrate with us...but then COVID happened. After months of agonizing over whether we should postpone, cancel or down-scale our wedding, we decided to down-scale our wedding to a single event in my parent's back yard in Albany, NY on our originally planned wedding date. We changed to all local vendors due to travel restrictions during COVID, but were so grateful that we were able to keep our originally planned caterer (Sukhadia) and photo/video team (Fabula photography) for the event. Our theme for our micro, outdoor, COVID wedding became "rustic with pops of color" and safety! Total Events (decor and rentals) and Surroundings Floral studio (florist) did an AMAZING job making our vision for the open-concept, floral mandap and the dining tent come true. The way they used fabrics and florals to compliment the elements of nature in my parent's backyard was just perfect! My hair, make up, and mehndi came out incredible and we all looked great on the big day! Most importantly, everyone stayed safe and healthy!
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
The only thing I really thought of before I started wedding dress shopping was the color of the dress--I wanted a bright, cherry red! Going to India for my shopping was the best decision I made because I was able to see and try on SO many different dresses in such a short period of time. Pratik was actually the one who literally found my wedding dress. As I was trying on dress after dress that the employees at Aso Palav showed me, Pratik went around the show room himself and found the dress hanging in the corner. The color was spot on! When I tried on the dress on, I instantly knew it was "the one" by the way Pratik and my mother looked at me in it. Aso Palav was amazing and was able to make alterations and modifications to the dress for me in just a few days, and the dress was absolutely perfect in the end. My favorite aspects of my overall dress and look on the wedding day was the color of my dress, the scalloping at the bottom of my lengha, and my bridal jewelry, especially that necklace!
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
After having to down-scale and re-design our wedding due to COVID, we ended up really enjoying being able to focus on small details, like getting personalized name carvings and custom masks made for our guests. We also wanted to try to include as many of our friends and family who weren't able to be there for our big day, and had fun planning a "Vidai parade" around my neighborhood where we assigned socially-distant "gathering points" along a route where our friends could wait. Then we drove along the route in our car during the Vidai, saying hi to everyone who was there waiting for us. It was awesome seeing so many of our friends there congratulating us and cheering us on as we drove around the neighborhood!
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
They loved how intimate and well planned-out the wedding was, considering the limitations we had during COVID. They loved the personalized details and the fact that they felt safe attending our wedding. We really tried to go above and beyond to ensure that tables were placed 6 feet apart, that everyone was given cleans masks to wear, that everyone had more than enough hand sanitizer, and that food was served by professional staff. Our guests also LOVED our first dance! Pratik and I love garba raas and we were really sad that we didn't have a garba raas event for our wedding. So for our first dance, we did a garba-esque themed dance to Chogada! Lastly, our "virtual guests" loved the live-steam production conducted by Fabula photography. They felt like they were there with front-row seats the entire time, and it made us feel very happy that everyone could feel included.
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
Our first dance! Though it was not a very traditional bride and groom first dance, it was totally the first dance that made sense for Pratik and me! We love garba and just had to do a garba-esque dance on our wedding day. The song Chogada was perfect and so fun to dance to. All of our guests loved it and Pratik and I will never forget it!
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.
Due to COVID we significantly reduced the number of events for our wedding.
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
If things don't go originally as planned, don't stress and try to find the silver lining! In the end, some things will go "wrong" but all the happy and positive moments will totally outweigh those minor blunders.
Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
I loved my wedding Jewelry! I had it custom made with 9rock in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. I brought my blouse to the initial appointment and we tried on different necklaces and earrings with it. Then the jeweler modified and pieced together elements of different necklaces and earrings I tried on, and matched the beads and gems to the exact green color I wanted. At first I thought the necklace would be too big, but in the end, I absolutely loved how it covered my entire neck and how the green elements in the jewelry complimented the green border on my head-dress.
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