Welcome to Maharani Weddings

Hello Maharanis! Get ready to enjoy Kristina & Shayam's wedding in today's Platinum Guide Blog!

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
Shayam and I actually met when we were 15 years old and over the years he became best friends with my brothers. Little did I know back then that I would end up marrying my brother's best friend, but fast forward a few years to adults and our friendship turned to romance. I knew he was the one because once we started dating he kept saying I am going to marry you!

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
We actually had just purchased our first home together and after weeks of renovations, he surprised me with a getaway trip to the Keys. We stayed on a beautiful private island at the Sunset Key Cottages resort.  I must say, I wasn't one for the fairytales and big surprises, but this man blew me away. He proposed on the beach just before sunset. Funny thing is I saw a woman hiding in the bushes before he proposed and come to find out it was a photographer waiting to take pictures of us.   

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.
Shortly after our engagement we got married legally and being that we just purchased a home, we decided to take a year and half to plan our official wedding ceremonies and reception. The religious aspects of our marriage was just as important to us as legally being married especially getting to share the moment with our loved ones. We had 3 venues and thankfully all went well. Our Hindu ceremony was held at the Coral Springs Center of the Arts in their courtyard. Our Nikah ceremony was held at Nur Ul Islam in Cooper City and our reception was held at The Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs.  A great photo and videographer was needed and Sugarfree Studio took good care of us capturing these wonderful moments! I did freelance makeup on the side, so it was only natural for me to do my own bridal makeup each day! A lot of work for a bride, but I was happy to do it.  My overall experience with the vendors went well and I am glad I had an amazing wedding coordinator Chire Harvey to help make it happen on the wedding weekend.

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
Our wedding was in the fall and I wanted to incorporate those jewel toned colors that we felt brought a classic touch with deep hues for my bridal outfits. I went with reds and gold for our Hindu ceremony and emerald green for our Nikah.  For my reception look I always wanted to wear a white Pronovias wedding dress for their beautiful delicate lace detail.

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
I would say the most enjoyable part of planning was preparing for our first dance. We took ballroom dancing classes at Fred Astaire in Delray Beach with the wonderful Vanessa Iurman.  This was something I always wanted to do, and we got to experience it in preparation for our first dance on our reception night.

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
They loved the dancing and entertainment!

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
There was a moment when my husband and I said with relief, we did 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.
Indian Dance Instructor: Jayadevi Arts helped us coordinate a dance routine after our hindu ceremony to surprise our guests.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Take everything one day at a time.  Wedding planning and preparing for the big day can be overwhelming, but it is so important to remember to enjoy it while in the moment because all you have left are those memories.

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Hello, ladies! Get ready to join us today while we unveil all the beauty surrounding Hajra & Bhargav's wedding in today's Platinum Guide Blog. Believe us, you will love every single detail of this wedding!

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Hello, ladies! Monica & Gopi's wedding overflows with fun, traditions, and rituals, and we are sure you are going to love it. So don't think twice and visit today's Platinum Guide Blog for a full reveal!

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
I met Gopi at a common friend's engagement party. He was sitting at a table with his friends when I walked in, and I noticed him immediately. I introduced myself to him and that night, we talked about anything and everything. I remember how easy it was to talk to him, and it honestly felt like I had known him forever. We hit it off from there, and the rest is history! When we reminisce about that night now, he tells me that he fell in love with me right then and there. And I completely believe it because I honestly fell for him that same night too.

When it comes to knowing that someone is the “one”, it can often seem difficult, but for me it always came down to the little things which he did which made me feel loved, cared for, and always left me feeling like I was the most important thing in his life. He would take time to hear me vent about my long day, even when he had a long day too. He would always be there for me on my toughest days, and would make me feel like a queen with everything he did for me. And most importantly, he became my best friend, the person I wanted to share everything with, and the person I depended on the most. As a long distance couple both in medical school we both have very demanding careers and don’t get to spend a lot of time together. But no matter what, we were there for each other. At a certain point, it became clear to me that I could not spend another second of my life without him by my side. Three years later we got married!

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
One day Gopi unexpectedly told me that we would be going on a hot air balloon ride over the Sonoran Arizona desert the following day. I love adventures and it was my first time on a hot air balloon, so I was super excited to spend the day with him overlooking the gorgeous landscape. I had no idea that he had planned for much more that day. When we got to the place where the hot air balloon would be taking off from, he surprised me with a beautiful heirloom emerald ring, and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him! It was one of the best moments of my life, but it was also the best surprise! I’ll never forget looking out at the clouds over the desert with the most beautiful ring in the world on my hand. I could truly not have imagined a more romantic proposal. It was perfect in every way! We got engaged on 11/27/19 and got married exactly one year later on 11/27/20.

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 both wanted more of a traditional style wedding but also wanted to celebrate our families and close friends. Family in Hyderabad helped us shop for all of my sarees and lenghas as well as Gopi’s sherwanis. Shopping for outfits was more special to me because everyone was involved! For my sarees I chose bold off-beat colors like pista green, baby blue and magenta. In addition, I opted for saree a with thick gold zari borders and mainly wore my mother and grandmother’s vintage jewelry. I wanted those unique jewelry pieces to shine!

I wanted to get married in a scenic open air location, so we chose a beautiful venue with mountains on all sides of the manadp. We decided on keeping the manado theme simple but traditional with gold and red. We wanted fresh florals everywhere - jasmine, marigold, orchids and roses were our favorites and each event had different flowers. For the evening events we wanted fairy lights everywhere as well as a canopy of lights and sparkler firework entry. Our venue was decorated beautifully for both the morning and evening events, and wedding planner Jo Ann from Apropros Creations was such a huge help and thought of fun ways to involve the guests in everything! During the ceremony we could all look out at the mountains surrounding the venue. The wedding was magical!

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
Growing up, I had always envisioned myself wearing a darker color lengha like a deep blue or red. I wanted to wear lenghas that would showcase my jewelry! I had selected green chandbali earrings for my haldi so I opted for a yellow lengha to let my earrings shine. I think it really suited the outdoor decor as well. For my mehendi I opted for a baby pink flowy lengha designed by Mishru, a Hyderabad based designer.

For my reception I chose a Mishru ink blue lengha paired with a diamond set, and I could not be happier with how the lehnga looked on me! I had actually seen the lengha in a bridal magazine when Gopi and I first met, and I loved wearing a lengha in the color I had imagined myself in for a long time! For our ceremony I wore a traditional madhuparkam plain white saree with a red and gold zari border. I paired each outfit with matching intricately decorated bangles and anklets. I focused on the small details of accessories and jewelry to make each outfit perfect!

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Our guests truly appreciated the effort we put into making events interactive and fun. Having a dance floor during the reception and allowing for flexible seating so individuals could sit next to other people they knew, and an open stage for singing and dancing performances allowed our guests to understand that they were an integral part of our very special day. Finally, having personalized gift baskets allowed for a personal touch that the guests greatly appreciated. The guests at our wedding were family and friends who greatly impacted us positively, and we both committed to showing them that as much as possible during our wedding events.

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.
The haldi and mehendi events took place in my backyard the day before the wedding. We had a stone grinder so people there could grind the turmeric into powder before applying it which made the haldi fun. Aunties sang songs that were sung at their own weddings. We decorated the trees with umbrellas and paper flowers that we had made the day before. We stacked decorative pots that guests could use to pour water. We also had a ton of white roses and jasmine! Our photographer Santiago was incredible and captured the emotions behind each event! I also got my bridal henna done by Purvi, and we decided a bride on one hand and a groom on the other. Gopi’s name was hidden on the grooms side and people had fun finding it during the wedding.

With everyone being busy around the world it was so wonderful to have our families and friends come out to support us and celebrate with us. We felt so loved! Friends and family worked together to make all the props for the events. Our families also put together the cutest dance montage for our reception. The theme was our love story and our cousins, uncles and aunts danced to different songs that depicted different stages of our relationship. Our DJ Issac was amazing and took requests to play songs everyone loved!

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Enjoy every single moment! It’s so easy to get caught up in all the planning, but don’t forget that this time is meant to be your time to celebrate your love with your significant other! These moments are priceless and the start of your new life together! It’s okay to step away from the planning to unwind and relax. Wedding planning can be really stressful, but every single detail doesn’t have to be perfect as long as the big picture is ❤️. The little love-filled moments of the planning and wedding are the ones I look back on the most!

Henna by Purvi, Apropos Creations and Santiago Almada Photography are members of the Platinum Guide. Love what you see? Explore their portfolios.

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Good morning, Maharanis! Don't miss Rohini & Krishna's wedding in today's Platinum Guide Blog.

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
Our marriage was arranged. We found each other's profiles on WhatsApp and requested for additional details. Once our horescopes matched and we knew we could proceed talking, we exchanged numbers. We started talking in Feb, saw each other for the first time on Valentine's Day and quickly after got engaged. We were supposed to get married in May in India, but due to the pandemic, we pushed our wedding to November and got married in the US. Just by talking to each other, we fell in love and after seeing each other, we felt the spark!

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
No proposal story as our wedding was arranged :)

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.
Initally we planned on having the wedding in India, so when we suddenly decided to have it in the US, I had to use Google as my best friend to look up different venues. My older brother suggested we look at the Marigold and after doing so, we fell in love with the venue. For the remaining, we took help from our venue for preferred vendors and finished the search on Instagram!

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I knew that I always wanted to be traditional, not just in the outfit, but also in the colors. My wedding saree was maroon and gold.

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
Our original wedding was supposed to happen in India, but because of COVID, we decided to get married in the U.S. My father-in-law and mother-in-law and grandparents flew from India to attend the wedding and because we were performing most of the ceremonies at my house, both families spent a lot of time planning the event together and executing it in the same place. We are probably one of the few people who can say we attended each other's pre-wedding ceremonies!

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
After the wedding, our guests came back to us to tell us that they enjoyed the Indian food, social distancing (welcome to COVID weddings!), the live video (all our family who could not make the wedding in India due to COVID), and how traditional our wedding was especially because we were performing the ceremony in the U.S.

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
In the Hindu culture, the bride and groom do not see each other on the day of the wedding until the Muhurtham time, ours was at 9:09 AM. At that time the thera between the bride and groom comes down for us to look at each other for the first time. The moment that constantly plays in my mind is when the thera comes down, I could not help but smile and almost tear up imagining that at that moment, I was going to spend the rest of my life with the man in front of me.

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 had a five-day South Indian Hindu ceremony. Day one consisted of me getting my Mehandi done. Day two consisted of getting both Krishna and I ready to become the groom and bride by getting us dressed in wedding clothes after the Mangala Snaanam. Day three consisted of the Krishna performing the Snathakam ceremony and I performing the Ankurarpana ceremony. That evening, we both the families sat across from each other for our Vara Pooja. At last, day four was our wedding! Following our wedding, day five, we ended the happy occasion by performing the Satyanarayana Pooja. All events, aside from our wedding, were done at home due to the COVID situation. We celebrated our wedding with a small intimate gathering of our closest friends and family.

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
All the small details will fall into place by the time of the wedding. Relax and enjoy the wedding day.

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Happy Monday, beautiful Maharanis! We are beginning a new week, and as always, we are here to bring you the best of Indian weddings to fulfill your day with inspiration. Today we have the honor to showcase the marvelous wedding celebration between Asma & Ayyad thanks to the enormous talent from Hakims Studio - Photography and Cinematography. They made sure to capture the best moments and emotions from this unforgettable gala and created a marvelous photo gallery that you can relive here. To begin this journey, let me take you to the exclusive Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. The ideal chosen venue by our lovebirds to tie the knot. As you scroll down, you will admire the beauty surrounding the wedding reception, a moment of joy where two different cultures gathered to celebrate the promise of eternal love between their favorite ones. It was a beautiful moment! Speaking of beauty, Asma, our gorgeous Maharani, left everyone speechless with her natural and royal beauty. She looked like a princess taken out from a fairy tale. You should be wondering who assisted her with her beauty needs. I have the right answer for you, as Erica Bogart Beauty's team created a flawless hairstyle and the perfect makeup art that made everyone sigh! Don't think twice and visit today's gallery. You will have a fantastic time being inspired by this magical celebration. Make sure to have a pen and some notes ready because lots of ideas are on your way! So enjoy!

How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?
We met through friends. His roommate was my best friends boyfriend (now husband). All 4 of us went out one evening, and both (my husbands and mine) phones were stolen and that’s where our adventure began. We clicked instantly, but kept it pretty casual between us. What started as getting to know one another and becoming friends turned into the most beautiful companionship I could have ever imagined. My life is truly a roller coaster ride, and he’s been through everything with me. A little over a year after we met, something big had happened in my life, and not for the better... I remember calling him and telling him and he dropped everything he was doing to help me get through it. He focused hours and days on end with me, without him I would not have been where I am today. That’s when I knew— I knew he was the one and I wanted to put everything towards making us work.

Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!
I’ll let you see it all! It was all a surprise... we had spoken about getting married, involved our parents, but I never thought he would propose to me because it’s not his style. He blew me away with this.. he completely surprised me, and he actually got on one knee which i never thought would happen!

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.
Research research research! I planned the whole wedding in 4 months!

Outfit- my sister helped me. We knew I wanted a fusion outfit, something white and silver to look Arab like but also the desi touch. Republic woman’s wear was an easy yet perfect choice.

Venue: when you know your capacity will be at least 500, you easily narrow venues down! Also, do they allow outside catering ? If it was a no then those venues were out! I spoke to many venues, got lots of quotes and ultimately it was a no brained to go with grand Hyatt Atlanta! It’s absolutely gorgeous, the service was spectacular and the price was unbeatable!

Hair- I had no doubt in my mind that I wanted to go with sm hair couture. Never did a trial just went by her pictures.

Makeup: this was a tough one. I didn’t want to pay so much for trails so after narrowing it down to the top 3, I paid for one trial, fell in love and just finalized with Erica Bogart!

Decor/theme: I wanted it to be a fusion wedding! Arab + Pakistani! So I did everything to incorporate both cultures! 2 djs (Arab and desi) A dabke team, and two caterers (Arab and desi)!! Dancing was also very very important to me! We had a traditional dabke team bring us in — it was extremely grand—- we had our first dance in my 25 pound dress without tripping on my train— and we had nonstop 45 mins of choreography dances — truly an amazing outcome!

I did all the planning, however I do not recommend that again! On the day of it was very stressful for me and I should Have had someone help on the day of!

Dj- I had hired two different djs desi and arab.

How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?
I had the perfect dress! I couldn’t have asked for anything more, I felt like a royal queen.

I wanted it to be fusion— a white dress with a Pakistani touch. My dress had a long train, it was silver and white, we customized it to clip up while I danced because I did not want to change midway through the wedding. My words can’t do justice to what the dress turned out to look like! You have to see it!

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?
The dances!!! I loved the practices, I loved practicing myself! I loved having all my friends, sisters and cousins over to practice! It was absolutely amazing!

The engagement photos was also very fun

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?
Everything!! They can’t stop talking about it! They thought it was the wedding of the century! It felt like a royal wedding to them! From the entrance to the dances they loved it all!

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?
The entrance! That was spectacular! our first dance!

And most of all my dad! My dad was so ecstatic that he could not stop dancing! And he was dancing with me so much, twirling me around .. it was insane!

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?
Take a deep breath! I knew the day of things would not go perfect, and I was prepared for that. 20 minutes before the guest walked in the top 2 tiers of the cake fell. My sister called all scared and I said, don’t worry, it is what it is. Just go along with what’s there and we can make it work.

Our 45 minute dance medley was being put together by me while I was getting my hair done!

This will be happening the day of, things will not go as planned or things will be hectic, but the moment I saw my husband and took his hand that was it — it was him and I for the rest of our lives and that’s all that mattered— all my worries were left behind and it turned out even better than I could have imagined. I was thinking everything was going to be downhill from there — but no, it was a wedding beyond anything I’ve ever seen or been involved in.

Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)
I planned the wedding in less than 4 months. Final Guest count on the day of was between ~550-600.

Honestly my wedding was amazing, beautiful, elegant . My wedding was a shendi: mehndhi + Shaadi

It was a fun filled event and I could not have asked for anything more! You have to check out the full video! It’s on my Facebook under videos! You’ll see all the amazing dances there— we incorporated Arab songs and desi songs! It was a lot of fun!

Come back tomorrow for more. We have prepared a new fantastic love story just for you! 

Erica Bogart Beauty, Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead and Hakim's Studio are members of the Platinum Guide. Love what you see? Explore their portfolios.

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