I love that Poonam wore a beautiful vibrant blue coloured dress with loads of gorgeous embroidery including Phulkari. I love the riot of colour and the nod to the traditional embroidery technique from Punjab.
Special call out to the bridesmaids who wore punjabi style suits in beautiful purple and orange. I love the colours!
The reception screamed of elegance and style. The table setting featured a minimal and extremely chic setup. I love the crystal and floral on the table, which I think complemented the decor very nicely.
Poonam's outfit is one to love – especially the colour themes. The choice was chic and I think it suited her extremely well.
I love a lot of things about Sonia and Arjun's wedding, but the standout feature for me are the gorgeous colour co-ordinated outfits of the groomsmen and bridesmaids.
The bridesmaids opted for the same saree and the group look absolutely stunning. The contrast against the bride Sonia's outfit makes the group photo look absolutely stunning.
Not to be out-done, the groomsmen had similar style, if not the same colour of kurtas and the same colour of red dupatta. I like the muted tones for the kurtas because it looks so timeless and elegant.
I helped a friend plan her honeymoon in India and I thought it would make the perfect topic for a blog post. While I have helped plan honeymoons in the past, this experience is particular unusual because the couple want to go off the beaten path, on their honeymoon – go figure!
One could argue that a honeymoon is one of the most important holidays for a couple and so it deserves to be well planned. This post is meant to provide some tips on how I helped to plan this off beat honeymoon in India. I suggest you can take away the process or simply see the destinations I considered for my friends.
When I start to help a couple to plan their honeymoon, I take the time to get to know the couple individually and then together as a couple. This might sound obvious, you'll be surprised how many times I discover that couples do not always have a clear understanding of their partner's travel wishes.
In most cases because I am helping friends, I know at least one of the persons well. But all the same, I still meet for coffee with a very clear agenda around the honeymoon – trying to understand what they absolutely love and what they absolutely hate. The intention is to understand the type of things each of them would like to do or not. At this stage, I simply try to understand the types of activities or locations, rather than specific destinations. I also like to understand about previous holidays they have had which they really enjoyed or are particularly memorable.
Then I meet the couple together for a coffee to understand the things they enjoy together as a couple. Most of the times the individual preferences tend to get adapted as a couple. This stage is crucial to establish some basic understanding of what kind of places the couple is likely to enjoy together while respecting individual preferences.
With a clear understanding of the couple's preferences for places and a sense of the type of things they like to do, I then do some initial planning for the type of honeymoon for the couple.
This very broad brush classification is just that, a generalisation for me to start thinking (and tell them) about the locations and activities in each of these parts. I did this classification to structure the thinking for everyone rather than stereo-type any region.
Narrowed down my selection to South and East India for their honeymoon.
East India is fascinating because it is relatively un-explored compared to other parts of India. In particular, I was thinking of the state of Assam because of the off-beat things that they could do there – Rhino safari, boat rides, nature walks, etc.
My friends wanted off-beat but also wanted luxury. They wanted to enjoy hotels that they stayed in and indulge a little. This seemed to be a problem in some parts of East India as far as I could tell because luxury properties are not as extensive as they are in South India. It seemed to me that South India was ticking all the boxes for my friends, so I decided to focus on this region.
Now that I had a region in mind, I could focus on the fun stuff and make a plan. I usually start with standard tourist itineraries and then customise them for the specific couple.
I did very quick google searches for these places, and I usually tend to look at Images first as a quick way of getting a sense of the place. Not the most accurate, but very good for an initial shortlist.
It took me a good part of a week to do the research above. And now I was ready to make some travel plans!
Kabini – Munnar: Kabini is great for a safari and Munnar is perfect to relax. You can even stay in hotels that are part of a tea plantation!
In the end, I have suggested Wayanad as the ideal destination for them because I saw some very cool accommodation options in the region, and it gave my friends the flexibility of either chilling out at their hotel or heading out and exploring the area.
I liked 2 hotels in Wayanad – these seem like ideal honeymoon hotels to me because of their locations, service levels / reviews and generally good connectivity to the key attractions in the region.
My friends picked Wayanad CGH Earth and will be spending a week there this year. I am super excited for them and cannot wait to see pictures!
Have you been there or have any other suggestions for south Indian honeymoon destinations? Please do share in the comments!
Wedding invites are special and little memories that we can treasure long after the event. The invite is a first glimpse at what the wedding theme will look like and what the style of the wedding is likely to be – an opulent affair, a fun and quirky style or a destination theme and so on.
Because an invite says so much about you as a couple and about the wedding, it is important to give it proper thought and consideration. Selecting an invite which is quirky and fun, when you are a serious couple who wants a serious wedding would certainly confuse a lot of the guests. Staying true to the overall feel of your wedding is my top tip when thinking about the perfect wedding invite.
Writing down the final details really helps to maintain focus and get everyone to agree on the basics. This avoids so many issues after the designs have been finalised.
Back in the "old days", one would visit specialist vendors of invitation cards who stocked samples, and you selected a style from that and that was it. Things are so much better now, and the possibilities are virtually limited by your own imagination!
I do suggest that if possible see an actual example of the wedding invite before you make a final decision. Sometimes pictures can be quite different from the real thing!
Before I share some of the inspirations that I think could be interesting themes for 2019, I do suggest thinking about an online only invite. This is a super environmental friendly option and while it may not have a wow factor, it is perhaps what wedding invites of the future will look like.
These wedding invites are on the luxurious side and involve a wedding invitation card and some small gift that is neatly packaged in the same box. The options for colour and gifts are endless and there are numerous specialist stores online that you can turn to to help you create a box that is very personalised.
Sometimes the classics are just the right choice. They offer a familiar style that everyone is so used to (at least the ones above 50 years) and have a sense of nostalgia about them. When in doubt, I would suggest that you opt for this style as it might be the safest option. You will also find plenty of vendors for these styles, so logistics might be easier.
I like these rather off-beat and interesting styles because they can be quite cool and really bring out the couple's personality. These are not styles for everyone, but if you like this style then I think you can get very creative with the layout and content. My suggestion would be to find some budget friendly printing services like Vistaprint where you can customise the designs and the layouts.
If you have the budget and the inclination to create an invite that is unique and memorable, then this is the section for you. While some might argue that these invites are completely OTT, I say that if you can get something like this made, you should. A wedding is a memorable life event, and if you can make it that much more special for your guests by splurging on your invite then go for it!
Discussing your requirements with a specialists is the way to go for extravagant wedding invites. Specialists will first understand more about you, the event, the theme and then present you with ideas for the invite. These could range from how you first met to something that is very personal and unique about you like your family background or profession.
Nothing quite matches a beautifully composed poem that is unique and very specific for your wedding. While you might be able to spend a ton of cash on making a materially extravagant invite, for the truly inspiring and intellectual invite, I would be inclined to get a poem composed.
Check out a beautiful poem written by Rachel Hill for us. It'll be so cool to have a poem like this on a card that is personalised for the bride and groom! You can contact her (via email on rachel [at] startur [nospace] ntuition [dot] co [dot] uk) to ask for a poem written specially for you.
And you're going to have to party long into the night.
A day full of joyfulness, you'll be wanting a slice …!
I really enjoyed this post because there was so much to inspire me! I have to admit that I kept getting distracted by all the varieties of invites and the styles that are possible and it took me forever to finish this post. If you have details to share about your wedding invite or of an invite that you find particularly interesting then please do leave a comment!
Make sure you check out my previous post about Alternatives to Extravagant Indian Wedding Invitations for other styles I liked!
Let us face it, all of us have now seen the massive palace locations as backdrops for destination weddings. The recent Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas wedding took place at Umaid bhavan looked so amazing. But it has left me wanting to explore some more alternative destinations which are within reach of us normal folk.
This post is inspiration for everyone who is not considering a palace wedding 🙂 There are so many options to choose from – beaches, temples, outdoor settings – the sky is really the limit. With more and more couples opting for destination weddings, the options can get really confusing.
Use this post as a guide to what options might be possible for destination weddings.
Outdoor locations are perfect for a summer wedding. The couple and guests can be super relaxed and comfortable outdoors rather than being stuck indoors. Outdoor weddings also have their challenges because you are not close to facilities possibly and the seating arrangements might not be perfect, etc etc. But the pictures do look stunning.
An exotic beach location like Bali is what a lot of us dream about. But this is what a wedding at an exotic beach location might actually look like. I am SO jealous! Also, how cool is the picture in the field – i love it!
A destination wedding for me is one where you can have exotic locations and you are disconnected from everything, and spending time with family and friends. The feeling of being in the wedding for the entire duration is very special.
Did you get married at an alternative destination? or did you photograph one? Please do get in touch, I'd love to hear more!