Yes we did. We went on an amazing trip to Cape town...was short but such an amazing experience especially since we are a married couple now.
I wanted my wedding look to be a bit of a modern day Telegu bride but not losing the essence of a traditional bridal look. I had my hair and make up done by Ansuya of bella sue bridal hair and make up studio. She did such an amazing job and really captured the look I was going for. Since I am Tamil and my husband is telegu, I had to use a long Plait which is basically the centre piece as many brides in hinduism are remembered by their beautiful long plait which is adorned my roses and jewels. My outfit is called a lengha which is what most brides use now for a hindu wedding because a sari is quite heavy. My outfit was bought at Veena creations....really amazing service. You basically get a royal treatment when choosing your outfit there. I had got my shoes an accessories from the Eastern bridal fair. My jewelley I had hired from our decor lady...she goes to india quite often and gets amazing costume jewelley. I also had a Gold Mangalsutra on which is a traditional chain, this was gifted to me by the grooms parents as its tradition for the grooms parents to get gold jewellery for the bride to be and the bride must use it on the wedding day.
My wedding took place in Durban in a place called Umhlatuzana Civic hall. Guests did not stay the night as it is only a 1 hour wedding but a whole day full of festivities.
I did not do much to prepare myself for the wedding. I did my nails at Rvd nails in Malvern...and they did a fantastic job. Also i had my mehndi done on my hands and feet. Mehndi is a paste that is applied on your hands and feet in different patterns, once it is dried it peels off and a beautiful red pattern is left on the hands and feet. Mehndi is a tradition that is part of the wedding celebrations. It is part of a tradional beauty regime were the bride must be adorned with this, there is also a saying with this...when the mehndi peels off and if the hue of the pattern gets darker as the wedding day approaches it means the groom to be really loves the bride a lot. It has been passed down for generations in hinduism.
My decor , stage and lighting was done by Nishi of Ask decor and catering. Since it was a telegu wedding we wanted the decor to be different from other weddings so we had a whole temple theme on stage. This temple pieces was made to look exactly like one of the temples in india. Together with our family deities Radha and krishna and ganesha, we brought together both family beliefs and made it into one. The lights were on the background of the stage on the dieties and the temple pillars to add a different dimension to it. There was also full fairy lights on the ceiling and draping of while cloth with it. The stage had gold draping to go with the gold temple peices. Our tables had white table cloths with gold overlays and red tie backs for the chairs, the centre pieces were gold deities(gods that we pray to). Flowers on stage was done by a local florist and a good friend of ours Nalini.
The groom wore a tradional outfit called a sherwani. It was matching my outfit...it was cream in color with gold and had red stones on it. This outfit was also purchased at Veena creations along with the shoes which was and cream and gold. The groom traditionally had to wear what we call a "money chain or coin chain". It is a chain made with gold coins. This is a symbol of a telegu groom. There are no groomsmen as it is a hindu wedding. However all the men that are immediate family of the groom including the groom has to use buttonholes(rose with a pin attached on the upper pocket of the outfit).
I had no bridesmaids, in hindu culture we have a sister to stand behind the bride on the wedding day to help assist the priest with rituals. I had my best friend stand behind me Bernadette. She bought her outfit..a lengha from the india fair in durban along with her shoes and accessories.
Mr Chinnapen was our marriage officer.
Our photographer was Lorenzo of Enzo photography. He was basically the most important person at the wedding as he captured every single part of the wedding. These are memories that will last a lifetime. He was also the videographer for the wedding. He did such a splendid job...we really had so much fun shooting our photos. We did not have a photo booth, after the wedding was over we went to botanical gardens to do our wedding shoot.
No we did not. We started planning a year a head so that we would have ample time to plan and sort everything out.
My wedding car was my aunts car...a red mercedes to match my outfit which was red and gold. The grooms wedding car was his friends white BMW. Both cars were decorated with ribbons.
In hindu weddings there are no cakes as such but after the wedding is over there is a reception at the grooms house and we had a cake there....my sister in laws friends made the cake. it was a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. The food was prepared by the decor lady. Since it is a telegu wedding we serve vegetable, so we served the guests vegetable breyani with dhall and for dessert we served soji and cream. Before the meals are served during the wedding we have platters on the table with savoury pastries for the guests which was also done by the decor lady nishi.
We( the groom and I) designed our wedding cards on our own. We bought a sheer gold board like paper from a craft store..we designed everything on the card and just got it printed out.
We had a reception at the grooms house that had a live band. Sound and lighting was done by the grooms people. We did not do much dancing as we left early to start off our honeymoon.
