In a world of apps and swipes, Neha met her groom, Darshak, the old-fashioned way—through a matchmaker. “It felt like talking to a trusted friend,” Neha says. “It made the whole experience feel safe, intentional, and exciting.” By their third date—an idyllic hike in New England complete with chutney sandwiches—she knew he was someone special. And after their first international trip together, exploring Hungary and Portugal, she was sure: this was it.
The proposal, true to their story, was thoughtful and surprising. On a rainy day in Boston, Darshak lured Neha out with a clever fake brunch “bet.” As they strolled through a park, he began reflecting on their favorite memories—despite the threat of frizz. Then she spotted the photographer, and the moment became unforgettable. “Right there, in the drizzle, he dropped to one knee,” she smiles. “It was perfect.”
For their wedding, the couple chose Cancun—a location that offered ocean views, rich colors, and strong support for South Asian celebrations. With the help of their planner, they handpicked vendors via Instagram, piecing together an unforgettable multi-day destination wedding. Their ceremony was held under a tropical mandap by the sea, with the ocean breeze and crashing waves creating a cinematic backdrop for their vows.
Neha wore a bridal lengha with deep family roots—first worn by her mother over 45 years ago and passed down to her sister. “It’s a piece of our family history,” she says. “It felt right to honor that.”
From Holi on the beach with all ages joyfully playing in color, to a pastel-themed reception that felt like “walking into heaven,” every detail reflected their personalities and cultures. The sangeet, designed with a sunrise color palette, featured energetic dances lovingly choreographed by friends and family. And thanks to DJ USA and DJ Shaarad, each event had its own musical heartbeat.
For Neha, the best part? “Realizing what a great team we make. Planning this together taught us so much about each other.”
Their advice: aim high, expect surprises, and smile through it all—you’ll want those pictures.
How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I met my groom, Darshak, through a matchmaker! How classic/traditional?! She met with us both individually, interviewed us (and many others) and decided to set us up over email. In the world of endless options and noisy apps, being able to talk to an actual person like a friend or relative that has your best interest at heart was a total unlock for both of us! It made me feel safe and comfortable and turned up the level of commitment and accountability when we were meeting. I knew Darshak was going to be a very special person in my life on our third date when he somehow (by listening carefully) manifested all the things I love into one date: taking me to explore beautiful scenery in New England on a hike and packing a cooler with homemade chutney sandwiches and all the drinks and snacks I love! I knew he was the one when we took our first trip together to Hungary and Portugal and had so much fun building our itinerary day by day and exploring the cities in many different ways (food tours, biking, public transportation, holiday festivals etc.). I could see we had a similar zest for life and truly enjoyed each other's company for long periods of time in all different activities/settings.
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
In early 2024, we knew we were a perfect match and ready to spend the rest of our lives together. After finding the perfect ring and getting the blessing from all of the parents, Darshak orchestrated the ultimate surprise proposal in downtown Boston. To get me to the proposal location, he “lost a bet” and had to take me out to my favorite Boston brunch spot – a clever cover!
On a drizzly Saturday, as we walked toward brunch, Darshak slowed down and began reminiscing about all our favorite memories together. I was surprised and confused because he knows what the rain would do to my straightened hair. But then I spotted the photographer and suddenly I couldn’t stop smiling. Right there in the park, Darshak dropped to one knee, and just like that, my boyfriend became my fiancé!
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 with the location that we thought would be practical and beautiful and would photograph well (my husband loves photography). Between that and my desire to have a wedding by the ocean, we decided Cancun would be a perfect location for our wedding. Not only was it readily accessible for most of our guests, there was also a whole system in place to support desi weddings there. Our planner helped us pick the venue that met all of our criteria. From there, we picked the date and all the vendors as they were available. We found a lot of our vendors on Instagram by honing in on social media content in Cancun and we were able to see different styles and what we liked very quickly from mendhi to themes and even backdrops and dance floors. The destination wedding posed a lot of logistical challenges, but the end result was extremely beautiful and made for an enjoyable/memorable guest experience!
After locking in the venue, we did our site visit to start thinking about themes, decors, and more. The venue was largely fine, though we learned there that compared to other resorts in Cancun, they seemed to have less experience with hosting Indian weddings, but they were able to work with us to achieve much of our vision. We also did H&MU trials which was really helpful so that we knew what to expect during our wedding week.
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
My bridal lengha was especially precious to me. It is the lengha my mom wore at her wedding in India 45+ years ago. My sister also wore the same lengha at her wedding about 10 years ago and it just feel like a piece of and the women in my family. It's light, comfortable, has flecks of real gold, was designed by my mom, and is a style that is truly not available anywhere today.
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
I think the most enjoyable part of the planning process was working together on a rather big "project" as a team for the first time and learning that we work surprisingly well together! I loved learning about Darshak's tastes and opinions and how our priorities differed. We also had different strengths that complemented each other and made the wedding planning process more manageable. I feel like between wedding planning, working, being healthy, and working out, we found a new level of discipline and were able to be our best selves firing on all cylinders!
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
A lot of the planning and choices we made were around the guest experience. Afterall, we asked them to travel hundreds of miles and across international borders to celebrate our love! So, it was incredible to hear our guests describe our wedding as being on vacation together where they got an extended amount of time to reunite with old friends and make new ones. We planned it out to have just one high-energy event each day so that the guests had time to relax, enjoy the all-inclusive resort, and meet up with friends. There was something for everyone, from our older relatives and family friends riding in a limo for the first time in their lives to onsite dance practices for the big group dance to nightly events held by the resort to entertain all of the guests.
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
One of the more memorable events and "scenes" if you will at our wedding was Holi on the beach. We asked everyone to bring a white outfit and brought holi colors. We were able to play holi on the beach with all ages, young kids to older relatives, and everyone had loads of fun getting messy and then jumping into the turquoise blue ocean. This was one of the easiest events to plan and highest impact as people loved feeling like kids again and just hanging out in the informal setting.
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 tried for a sunrise theme that focused on all the bright colors. I wanted the focal point to be my outfit with many different bright colors, but we had a similar motif on the stage with a circle lotus pattern that worked very well for the garba (which was danced in the circle). In general, a theme with bright colors works really well for any Indian event because it looks like everyone goes with the theme. For the reception, we tried to plan the family outfits and decor to be pastel themes with a starry night backdrop. Truthfully, I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it ended up looking incredible with the light colors against the dark backdrop, my mother in law said she felt like she “walked right into heaven." The dances were SPECIAL, everyone getting taking time to learn them, getting over their fears to perform publicly, and the friends choreographing and wrangling the troops to get them ready for the stage. This is an Indian traditional that will never get old and something that feels like a gift, an act of love for the bride and groom that is beyond any material gift you will receive!
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Try to carve out time for one thing you really want to do during the wedding week and bake it into the schedule. For me, that was spending a couple hours with just my girls, which I did in my hotel room after the mendhi, and it was precious! Also, strive for perfection at your wedding, but know that things will come up and you’ll have to be flexible! Lastly, in the moment, having cameras in your face and stopping to take pictures may feel stressful, but you will be grateful to yourself later, so try to smile at all times (especially on the mandap) and direct photographers to grab photos with all the people you want pics with!
Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
Mendhi was really fun, I thought of a few secret designs to get that Darshak would love such as the Iron Man symbol (one of his favorite Marvel characters) and the New York skyline (his favorite city). These small touches were a fun little detail in the moment and also for the pictures. We also got customized and matching sneakers that had our names and the wedding date, we changed into them at the reception, and used that as an excuse to dance really hard for the last night of events - no excuses!
Additionally, we met the Jhankarlo during our site visit. We made an instant connection with him and knew that he would be the one to capture our wedding. We shared our ideas for the events, the types of shots we wanted (including drone footage), and some concepts for the reception and he was able to manifest all of our ideas and more. In particular, having his content creator team there was perfect to capture the incredible moments and share them online in almost real-time for our friends and family who were unable to come.
Last but not least, we knew the music had to be epic! Darshak knew DJUSA from his time in NYC and they have been incredible. We wanted to work with DJ Shaarad in particular because of his blend of styles and how he connects with the audience to deliver an incredible performance that was unique for each event.
