It took me virtually a year to gain clarity on my vision for my wedding. What I wish I had realized earlier is that my struggles with deciding on everything – from overall aesthetics to minute details – laid in the fact that I myself am caught between two cultures. I hope this post helps anyone that’s struggling on how not to have things be “too Indian/Western” or “not Indian/Western enough.” See my separate post on just outfits, which is a whole other beast!!!
My dear cousin at Shilpa Patel from SPatel Events coordinated my whole wedding…I can’t thank her and her team enough for organizing what we have been told was the best, most organized wedding that some of our guests have been to. I can’t take credit for a majority of that reported outcome but I can share my amazing vendors and my personal touches that I did work very hard for months to add!
Vendors
Venue: Pacific Palms Resort | Hotel in The City of Industry
Hair & Makeup: Beauty By Lishma
Photography: Lin and Jirsa
Videography: Avec Lumiere Productions
DJ: 3d Sounds
Decorator: TipTopEventDesigns
Virtual Invitations: Etsy
Signage and programs (all created by me using a mix of pre-existing and self-created templates): www.canva.com (DM me for my templates!)
Grah Shanti
We opted for a more homey feel and had our family friends’ backyard decorated with colorful trinkets and boards for the events. The morning was simple and laid back with a light lunch served, the evening was fun with song and dance, an amazing Dosa Bar, and a tableful of sweets.
Mehndi
Our dear brother and sister-in-law Ankur Bhai and Nupur had a really neat idea of displaying a mehndi sign that people could leave their thumbprint on using different colored stamp pads. This added a very personal, fun touch for the guests.
Pre-wedding events decorations: Event or Party Decorations – Rippu Event and Decors
Live dosa bar: Pista House
Favors: Various shops in India
Sangeet/Garba
We wanted to go as traditional Gujarati as possible with the aesthetics, and our decorator wowed with vibrant umbrellas, street food-style stalls, and, mehndi and gift stations. I made the signs myself by tweaking existing colorful Canva templates and having them printed on foam boards. We even had one that said “Patel-Shukla Dukaan” (“Patel-Shukla Shop”) for the gift table.
Favors for the Dukaan: Various shops in India
Food stall dinner: Jay Bharat
Wedding Ceremony
I have spent my whole life avoiding the color green, but am just now appreciating how beautiful and versatile it can be. We decided on soft peach and green with white and gold accents for the overall theme of the ceremony. We had a peach rather than white canopy to incorporate our palette in a unique way. My dad surprised me by okaying in advance the rather pricey but jaw droppingly beautiful Ganesh in the background of the mandap that looked like it was floating in midair, I didn’t notice it until midway through the ceremony! I designed the programs on Canva and wrote a blend of descriptions provided by the priest and a cousin’s previous wedding program.
Ceremony favors: Personalized mints
Cassata Slice Ice Cream: Novelties Ice Creams by Vadilal
LA Rickshaw: L.A. RICKSHAW
Priest: DHARMASETU DASA
Ceremony lunch: Jay Bharat
Reception
I wanted the reception to be Tangled-inspired, just like Ronak’s proposal. There were subtle themes of Tangled – lanterns, lights, the single gold sun on the cake; then there was the obvious homage which I personally I am proud of – the Tangled scene drink menus. Our cousin Hemali walked down the aisle to a piano version of “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana which inspired me to look for a version of “I See the Light” for my own; I couldn’t believe there was such a beautiful Hindi version! We played this version while cutting the cake. A few fun dance performances and speeches in, the party began with the hug LED screen and sparklers (Amazon glow sticks and sparklers are a must for bringing the party!). The LED screen had endless displays including photos of the ceremony earlier in the day.
Reception chopstick favors (for our love of ramen):
Reception favors were such a point of contention; at the end we ended up picking something so non-Indian but we felt reflected a part of us very well! I don’t have many great ideas but with enough scrolling through Pinterest or Etsy I’m sure anyone can find the perfect favor for themselves!
Wedding guestbook with metallic pens
I absolutely love how the guestbook turned out, however I am pretty sure we will ever crack it open again. I love out friends’ TM & Don’s idea to make it a coffee table photobook that people sign instead so that the relivability factor will always be there!
Gold cardbox (it was absolutely impossible to find a nice but cheap or secondhand cardbox)
Gold frames for table numbers (created table number design on Canva and printed them out in 4×6 photos)
Mango wedding cake and assortment of desserts: Cake Korner
Photobooth: Jenny Smith & Co.
I had so many regrets not thinking about going with the cool new 360 photobooth concept instead of conventional photobooth, but I’ll admit I have been so happy to see our friends’ and families’ display of their photobooth photos when we visit them!
Reception dinner: Mantra Indian Cuisine
Check out our video highlights!
Shreya’s Wedding TikToks:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRsUuYFb/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRsUmUgP/
My mood boards, created on PowerPoint. I’m actually impressed how similar to the mood boards our looks turned out. Mood boards work!!!:
#indianwedding #gujaratiwedding #hinduwedding #fusionindianwedding #wedding #indian
