Welcome to Maharani Weddings

Happy Friday, beautiful Maharanis! We are back to amaze you with a lovely and romantic story featuring Rathna & Ritesh's fusion wedding. For this installment, Rafael Serrano Photography will take us on a visual journey through all the mesmerizing details of these lovebirds' big day at the Dallas Palms. Since this wedding took place during COVID-19, it was an outdoor ceremony attended by intimate family & closest friends, making it even more special! Every guest loved the spectacular decor put together by the Dallas Palms decor team as it provided the perfect backdrop for this life-changing event. And talking about perfection, let's take a moment to admire the beautiful look of our gorgeous Maharani Rathna. Hands down, she made all the right choices when choosing her allies for her big day as the makeup and hairstyle by Anis Beauty, along with her fabulous attires from Shyamal & Bhumika, made her look drop-dead gorgeous! After the fusion wedding ceremony concluded, a fantastic reception started. All the guests danced the night away to the beats of DJ Shahid - Rose Events Entertainment, only stopping to have a bite at the delicious cake baked by The London Baker. Without any question, a sweet ending for a sweet and charming event. If you want to take a closer look at this wedding, don't miss today's full gallery. We are sure it will take your breath away!

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
It was summer 2019 when Rathna & Ritesh’s love story first began. Just 2 single people who happened to swipe right on Dil Mil (Indian dating app). Our first date felt like it was out of a movie. We went to 4-5 different restaurants at Shops of Legacy/Legacy West where we shared various meals and desserts. Ended up walking around and making each other laugh. Weeks went into months and we connected over various methods of communication and social media. Thru this, we discovered a mutual love of sports, food, and randomness. Soon enough, Rathna & Ritesh started meeting each other’s close friends.

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
As time progressed, Rathna & Ritesh enjoyed other’s company and grew fond of each other. Ritesh decided it was time for the families to meet over a Thanksgiving meal. Soon enough, Valentine’s Day approached and Ritesh popped the question and Rathna delightfully answered, “Maybe!” (Just kidding. The answer was a yes!).

As their families started talking more and more and things seemed right, COVID-19 pandemic put a kink into everyone’s lives. However, we decided that the time was right for us to officially tie the knot, and we couldn’t be more excited!

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.
Wedding planning came down to the fact that COVID-19 was very unpredictable and we wanted everyone to be safe and healthy. For those reasons, we wanted a venue that provided both outdoor and indoor options and be big and spacious even though our guest count was low. Hair and makeup wise I was already familiar with a lady that I worked with for a previous event. Outfits - I need to thank my cousin who was my stylist. I had no particulars about color schemes and really went with the flow on the outfits choosen. The venue made it a lot convenient for me by providing decor. Found my cake thru theknot.com. DJ and home decor was found thru recommendations and good ole Google.com.

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
My saree selections came from doing virtual shopping with my cousin in India. We had an absolute blast WhatsApp video calling and shopping together virtually while being at different parts of the world.
We didn't have a color scheme in mind rather knew what general colors looked good on me and proceeded from there. We ended up doing a lot more bonding.

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The most enjoyable part of the planning process was seeing my family and friends come together to help with this project. Though COVID-19 pandemic created chaos and changed our initial plans for a big wedding, it didn't deter from people coming together and bonding more so.

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
How intimate the wedding was. Usually, Desi weddings are big and it's hard to mingle and get to know one another. The intimacy made the event more special.

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
The really special moment in my wedding that constantly replays in my mind is the moment my mother and I hugged. We both became emotional, but neither one of us had to say anything as we have this special bond. My mother has been a major rock in my life and that was plenty for me.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Be flexible and go with the flow. There is no such as "a perfect day". In the end, it's about your families and the person you are marrying.

Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
Cake was unique as it came from the The London Baker. My closest girl friends and I bonded over cake tasting and thoroughly enjoyed the process together. Definitely a memorable event for

That is all for this week ladies. Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to join us on Monday for more!

Hello there, Maharanis! Head over to our Platinum Guide Blog to enjoy Bhavina & Roshan's wedding.

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
Roshan and I met in 2015 on a dating app called Dil Mil. We chatted on the app for a few weeks and then decided to meet in person. At the time Roshan was working in Birmingham, AL and I were working in Greenville, SC. We decided to meet in Greenville at a cupcake place called Chocolate Moose. Meeting someone from an app, I was a bit skeptical but once we finally were face to face it was like we couldn't stop talking. We hit it off the moment we saw each other. I knew at that moment that Roshan was "the one" for me!

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
As a child I always envisioned myself wearing a traditional red and gold color bridal lengha. Once I actually got to India and started shopping I realized there are tons of “traditional red and gold” colored lenghas. Going into bridal lengha shopping I knew I didn’t want anything with velvet material. I tried on over 25 bridal lenghas before I was able to find “the one”. At first, I was hesitant to try on anything velvet or with heavy embroidery. But I gave it a shot anyway. As I was trying on the outfit knew it was “the one”.

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The most enjoyable part of our wedding process was the resort site visits in Cancun, Mexico. We had an idea of the type of resort we wanted but actually visiting them was great. Getting to experience the different themes in the resorts, foods, hospitality, amenities, and venues really helped us put things into perspective for our events. Lastly, we really enjoyed watching a years worth of planning come together as planned and got to enjoy it with family and friends.

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
The moment that plays in my head constantly is when my parents and grandmother (ba) walked me down the aisle the day of my wedding. Having my family walk me down the aisle was something I had always wanted during my wedding. Being able to finally embrace it and live it was amazing.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
For all of the brides-to-be, I would say enjoy the wedding process. Planning an Indian wedding can be stressful, time-consuming and at times frustrating but enjoy all of the emotions. For myself, I was planning my wedding the day after I got proposed to. I enjoyed having my husband alongside of me the entire way. He was really involved and reminded me to embrace the moments. Lastly, I would say to be patient on the day of your wedding and just know that things may go unplanned but it’ll all work out at the end!

Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
I am a very simple person so dressing up more than casual for my wedding events was a little outside of my comfort zone. My jewelry I picked was antique bronze with a hit of maroon for my wedding day. I love tikas so I made sure to wear one at almost every event. My wedding bouquet was all hydrangeas which were my best friends favorite flowers. My outfits didn't have a particular theme to them I just wanted to make sure they were all different styles, colors, and embroideries. Lastly, I ended up finding my reception gown two nights before my flight back home from Bombay. I had a particular vision of how I wanted it to look and it had to be emerald in color (my favorite color). So finally I was able to find it and I was beyond happy!

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Good Morning, Maharanis! It is Friday again, and we can't think of a better way to get to the weekend than sharing Disha & Jigar's lovely wedding celebration with all of you. If you are up for this adventure, let's jump right into it! We are starting this story by taking a glance at the beautiful scenes captured by Dreamline Productions LLC in a romantic first look photoshoot leading to the memorable wedding ceremony celebrated at the Shree Umiya Dham. Anywhere you looked, there were beauty and flair all over the place, but there is no surprise here as Taj Mandaps took care of the floral and decor. The final result: beauty and radiance at its best! Both our lovebirds looked ravishing. Still, it was our gorgeous Maharani Disha who stole the show. She donned a dual-tone lengha very well complemented with discreet makeup and a classy hairstyle that made her look like a princess. Meanwhile, Jigar embraced a traditional and elegant style wearing a sleek Sherwani that made her inner Raja come out. And we cannot stress how much we love seeing these two together! If you want to continue enjoying this enchanting celebration, you can head into our full gallery for more. We are sure that it will take your breath away, and you will take tons of inspiring ideas to plan your wedding!

That is all for this week, ladies! See you on Monday for more.

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Hello Ladies! We are still celebrating the new year with the classy and delightful wedding of Neha & Prateek. What a great way to start a new week and the new year! The photography genius team of Canvas Studios brings the best moments of these beautiful newlyweds. The photographers captured all the portraits, moments, and details of this lovely couple’s most sentimental event, and luckily you can check out every picture here. This love story's scenario was The Legacy Castle. The creative House of Dipali designed the newlywed's vision on this legendary venue and created the most splendid aesthetic and floral arch for the ceremony that combined perfectly with the night sky! If you were looking for a little bridal hair and makeup inspiration, look no further, Maharanis, because the talented Beauty by Tamanna created a memorable look for Neha that wowed the crowd! All the understated elegance, timeless memories, and genuine moments were captured on film by the fantastic Unique Visions Studio whose final deliverable was a unique visual work of art. Enjoy watching Neha and Prateek surrounded by a beautiful bridal party, family, and friends on this momentous day by going to the gallery. I guarantee you ladies will love every snap!

Maharanis! Let me know your must-have shots for your big day in the comments below! See you tomorrow with more wedding magic.

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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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