Welcome back, Maharanis! March is almost over, and as always, we are here to bring you your daily dose of inspiration. Today, we are unveiling the beauty surrounding Janki & Bhavik's wedding festivities. To begin this journey, let me take you to the exclusive Hyatt Regency Princeton, the perfect venue that hosted all the amazing festivities. We are presenting the visual masterpiece created by the talented team at Rare Air Films, who captured all details from the wedding and transformed them into a magnificent film. You will love every single detail from this magical celebration, but what will take your breath away is how Janki, our gorgeous Maharani, displayed her natural beauty during the entire events. We can tell that she made the right decision by choosing Arfana Jasar for her beauty needs. Everyone enjoyed the delicious food from Moghul, the decoration from Nirali Decor, and of course, the phenomenal beats from D&S Event Solutions, who turned this gala into a real party. To relive this marvelous wedding celebration go ahead and click on the play icon below and get ready to enjoy it. And if this visual masterpiece is not enough, you might want to visit Pandya Photography's website to take a look at the shots they captured during this lovely celebration!
How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I met him about 5 years ago when I was in my second year of optometry school with no time to date. He was working just around the corner, but since I never checked my dating apps, he decided to connect with me on Facebook instead and requested me on a whim. After playing it safe and telling me he added me by "accident", we started messaging for hours and instantly clicked. Our first date was actually very random, but almost destined in a way. Bhavik was getting a falafel at his favorite cart in all of New York, which just happened to be up the block from where I lived at the time and he decided to FaceTime me as he was waiting in line. When I realized he was in my neighborhood, I excitedly blurted out that I was craving some falafel too and Bhavik instantly changed his order to two. We finally met and had a nice unexpected first date. We were talking for about a month when he surprised me with Broadway tickets to Aladdin. While watching the show, I just knew he was the one. :)
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
It was my day off from residency and I had plans to meet my friend who was visiting me from California. It was actually one of the coldest days of December 2017 and I didn't plan to dress up at all, but my friend said to straighten my hair so we can "take selfies on the rooftop". I was really confused why we would be on a rooftop in the middle of winter, but I just went with it. Before I left, I saw an email from my doorman that a package was picked up by Bhavik this morning. He actually picked up proposal props from my roommates and they were all extremely nervous the surprise was ruined. Luckily, I was so convinced he was in NJ that I completely dismissed it. I went to the rooftop and kept looking around for my friend, until I turned the corner, and saw Bhavik standing in a suit with the most beautiful set up behind him along with NYC's skyline at sunset. Then as I walked towards him, my favorite country song started to play. It turns out my friend was never in town and I was completely surprised.
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 planned our wedding throughout a year slowly booking one vendor at a time. We saw about 12 venues over a weekend and instantly loved Hyatt Regency Princeton for it's open lobby & cocktail area. It fits over 400+ guests and has excellent service. Shoutout to Kristy! As for DJ/MC, we were looking for a specific musical ambiance for our ceremony and knowing DNS Event Solutions' team personally, we completely trusted them to carry it out as we dreamt. We spoke regularly all year to create our vision and later added lighting effects, a Video Wall, and a Floor wrap with their help. I went to India for outfit shopping (Bombay, Ahmedabad, and Baroda) and got my wedding and reception outfits in Bombay. As for Hair and Makeup, I went through about 20 vendors and was looking for the perfect fit. I knew I wanted to connect personally since I would be spending most of my day with this person and wanted my look to be true to me. I also wanted to find someone who could help with all my bridesmaids and mom's needs and came across Arfana Jasar, who was more than perfect. As for my Mehndi artist, I used Anuja for my engagement and booked her instantly for my wedding. She is amazing and her work is perfection. I wanted Aladdin themed henna because it told a part of our story and she was able to draw Aladdin and Jasmine on one arm and Agrabah on my other. For decor, we loved Nirali Decors for being extremely flexible with us through the process. I knew as I got my outfits and as our day got closer, I would want to change things.She made a dream come true with it that day. Photo/Video were extremely important to us. We went with separate vendors who specialized in each. Our photographer, Abhi, gave us extremely practical and genuine advice. We initially wanted to do our photoshoot in a random pretty location, but he recommended to pick a place that meant a lot to us. For him, photos tell a story, and he wanted us to look back at our engagement shoot, and be able to share and remember a story with each picture and looking back at them now, we couldn't be more grateful for the memories that came to life. Our videographer, was Rare Air Films, and this was our wedding gift to ourselves. We had the best time making an entrance video which told the story of how we met, and working with TJ and his team was absolutely amazing. The actual filming of it was an experience related to wedding planning we will never forget. Lastly, our event coordinator was Events by Ridhi P. Ridhi was amazing to work with and helped us with anything and everything all year to make sure we felt comfortable and stress-free. Her team did an excellent job!
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I knew I wanted traditional red and white, but mostly a white skirt. I went to a couple of stores in Bombay and was luckily able to custom design several parts of my outfit. I designed the blouse and duppata over my head. I had them change my skirt to Ivory, which was initially all red. I actually didn't get to see it for months until it was shipped here, but it was perfect.
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The most enjoyable part was being able to be creative together and adding all of our personal touches. We tried to add unique things for our quests to enjoy such as fresh coconuts, a sugar-cane juice stand at garba, and a video wall during our reception as well as a bunch of meaningful aspects for us such as our entrance video that told our story, cookie shooter shots, mother/son and father/daughter slideshows to play during the dances, and the floor wrap. The Floor Wrap was my favorite part, it was made by Rob at GoToShout, and I used the monogram from my Kankotri and custom-designed the floral wrap to match the whole theme. They also made our seating charts for us! Making it completely geared to our personalities and story made it a process we will always remember.
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Everyone loved the coconuts, that's for sure. Also, our entrance video was a hit! Link: https://vimeo.com/360920650
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
Honestly, the ceremony itself was so special to us. Sitting at the mandap felt so serene and peaceful. We had worked a lot with our DJ/MC and priest to make it more meaningful to us. Our DJ, Smith, went above and beyond to make the ceremony atmosphere very zen-like with special lighting effects and tranquil music. Our MC, Vig, coordinated with our priest and translated the Sanskrit versus and meaning of each step of the wedding along with appropriate throwback songs that we loved! It really was SO fun.
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.
We used Rohit Gijare Choreography for our garba dance, first dance, and entrance dance.He was excellent, taught us so well and so quick toot! My husband had no idea how to dance, and now dancing is his favorite hobby. Also, I used ABPD Photography for my pre-wedding events. Anand was amazing to work with!
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Yes, enjoy planning together and make the wedding day your own as much as you can. People say wedding planning can be boring or stressful, but there's so many ways to add a personal and creative touch to the day that will keep fueling your excitement. Bhavik loves cookies and milk, so we had the bakery make us custom cookie shooters with milk in them & the excitement of sharing this as well as other little touches with our guests added to the overall experience of planning. Also, my advice is not to stress or worry if a vendor is taken. There are so many others and it happens for the best!For more awe-inspiring films, visit us tomorrow.
I bet you will love what we have for you!
