Since times immemorial, Marriage has been considered a sacred portal. It is revered as the union of two souls not only on material dimension but on spiritual dimension also. However unlike the sacredness and the secrecy with which marital ceremony used to be withheld has now given way to flamboyance. In today’s world, a wedding ceremony without sound, lightning and dazzling show is not at all merriment, but a dull and drab ritual occasion. Moreover with new creative ideas bursting in young people’s minds, wedding has become a grand opportunity to show off to the world what you have got.
One such wedding occurred when Daniel proposed Sheetal to become his better-half. The youngsters gave a unique proof where cast and traditions moved beyond territorial boundaries, and what came out was a beautiful tapestry of colourfull lives filled with divine joy.
Sheetal belongs to India , is typically a traditional Indian girl and Daniel is a complete classic English man. Their true love made them cross all the boundaries of the man made restrictions and unite into one. The duo followed their rituals and celebrated Indian style as well as English/Kentish style wedding.
Let’s talk about how Sheetal carried out her heartfelt desire of becoming an Indian bride and doing “Vivaah Sanskar”.
The wedding ceremony took place on 13th July, 2013; the day was Saturday. Nearly 400 guests attended the wedding at Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, Embankment, London .
The color scheme in which the venue was decorated was ‘Ivory & Gold’. The venue gave away a very contemporary and beautiful view of the river Thames, big ben, parliament.
The bride chose to wear 2 Indian bridal outfits-one for the wedding ceremony and other for the evening reception party.
Wedding outfit was bought from an Indian boutique located in London , ‘Mongas’. Her evening reception party came from a specific Indian dress boutique in India , Mumbai, ‘Seasons’.
Both the dresses were very unique and never seen before nor worn by any bride. While the wedding ceremony dress was very traditional with all its embroidery done by hand, the evening reception dress was loud, colorful and well suited for the event; the colors were unusual for an Asian/Indian traditional bride.
Wedding dress is incomplete without jewelry. Bride’s jewelry mainly consisted of crystal stones and pearls to match with the dress. She wore an Indian diadem head piece to match the fairy tale look of her evening reception dress. Apart from this, shoes were also distinct; the beautiful pair was from ‘Dune’.
Groom was no less in case of wedding outfit. He wore an Indian ‘Sherwani’, that was from ‘Manyavar’ boutique in Mumbai, which is well known for its team of brilliant fashion designers and artisans. In the ceremony, there were 3 bridesmaids and 1 maid of honor for whom dresses were purchased from Seasons, Mumbai. They all wore pink to match the bride side theme.
A good and professional hair and beauty make up is essential to bring a majestic look on the bride. Sheetal being perfect in make-up did for herself, while she chose Dave Gill for doing her hair style. For wedding ceremony, her hair was swiped up in a loose curled bun and for evening wedding reception, the tresses were allowed to flow freely in form of big Hollywood curls.
The transportation was not overlooked even when the grand wedding was arranged so quickly. The entourage of bride and her maids arrived at the wedding venue by Rolls Royce Ghost. The luxury car was supplied by Kudos Cars.
The wedding Ceremony known as “Vivaah Sanskar” was celebrated in quite a Bollywood style. The wedding rings were from “Mappin & Webb”.
Bride’s brothers walked the bride down the aisle with the ‘Heer’ song from Indian movie ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ playing at the background.
The wedding with all its stages of rituals took place at around 4pm. Core of the Hindu wedding ceremony is “Vedic Yajna” ritual in which bride and groom take 7 rounds of fire with each round implying one vow/promise.
The hymns played at the ceremony are spoken in Sanskrit language.The evening reception ceremony was closed with the bride & groom’s first dance “Teri Jhuki Nazar’ – Indian film song.
It was the union of two hearts and souls with heavenly celebration all around.