Wedding Bells for Director Shaad Ali

Dec 28, 2012 Celeb Weddings to Watch out for

Filmmaker Shaad Ali of ‘Saathiya’ and ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ fame is tying the knot. He is marrying Stylist Aarti Patkar and the celebrations are at different beautiful homes next week- a friends bungalow in Khandala, Aarti’s heritage home in Bandra and Shaad’s terrace apartment in Juhu.

Shaad’s mother Subhashni Ali is a well-known women’s activist and former MP. His father is the eminent filmmaker-designer Muzaffar Ali from Kotwara. Shaad was earlier married to his childhood sweetheart Shazmeen, their stylish wedding took place in Lucknow in 2006. Aarti has always lived in Mumbai, with her parents in the colonial style bungalow at Turner Road built by her great-grandfather in the late 1920s. The family is from a Goa village called Pat, hence the family name Patkar.

Restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani’s December Festivities

Dec 27, 2012 Celebrity Wedding Pictures

Well-known Restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani (of Mocha fame) hosted his Reception and Walima dinner at the Sun N Sand Hotel, Mumbai on Wednesday. He tied the knot with singer Kiran Chaudhry in her home town Lahore. The Reception in Mumbai started off with a Sundowner on the Beach for the couples families and close friends. Riyaaz wore a suit and Kiran a shimmering sequinned saree. The theme of the evening was white and gold, and the food was a traditional Awadhi spread. The evening came to an end with the bridal couple and their friends lighting lanterns that were released in air, to mark their eternal union.

The Newly Weds

All Smiles

Pearly Whites. Designer Narendra Kumar Ahmed and Former Model Arzoo Govitrikar

Arzoo Govitrikar and Actress Reema Sen. Mumbai Models Dazzle

The VIP Lounge at a Big, Fat Indian Wedding

Dec 26, 2012 Celebrity Wedding Pictures

“What is a VIP Lounge”, queried a colleague when we talked about today’s blog post. We weren’t aware of what a VIP Lounge is until some years ago when were invited to a high profile wedding reception with lots of VIP’s. The host set up a VIP Lounge, near the stage, so the powerful set after wishing the newly-weds, could sit in the lounge to interact with other VIP guests or enjoy dinner in a more private setting. Some like the Bhosale-Kadam wedding in Pune, had not only a VIP and General area, but a third area, where over one lakh invitees could only see the stage and the couple from a distance. So the wedding had three earmarked spaces- the VIP Lounge, one for Special Invitees who could stand in a line and wish the couple, and one for the General Invitees.

Anchal Arora of June8Events tells us about the VIP lounge she designed for Builder Avinash Bhosale whose daughter Swapnali wed Congressman Vishwajeet Kadam. The reception for over 1.4 lakh guests was at the Balewadi Stadium Grounds, and the VIP lounge set-up designed to accommodate 1500 VIP’s.

A Royal Gold & Maroon theme was the highlight of the VIP Lounge, the canopy was decorated with flowy gold-on-white brocade drapes and royal chandeliers. The décor was brought to life with attractive table centerpieces of red roses, and gold linen. The entrance to the lounge was enhanced with red & maroon roses and Brassicaceaes and beautifully crafted flower hangings of mokara orchids.

Anchal Arora 9867586362
www.june8events.in

Images from Prague

Dec 24, 2012 Wedding Photographers

Athene and Sayooj planned their Honeymoon to Europe to cover Vienna, Salsburg, Austria, Prague and Czech Republic. It was their first trip to Europe and they decided to get Photographer Saneesh to take their professional photos in Prague. These beautiful images were shot in the heart of Prague, Charles Bridge (the construction of this bridge started in 1357) and the Prague Castle. Even though it was freezing, Athene was brave enough to be in Saree do the shooting early morning.

The couple while sharing their experiences talk about how Prague along with its history has a magical touch to it. “Even though there was no sunlight, Saneesh made the best use of the weather with soft lighting from the clouds. I’m so happy we did this shoot while there, we love it and they are the best memories of our holiday.”

Location
Prague – Charles Bridge, Tram, Prague Castle
Photographs Courtesy
www.facebook.com/saneeshphoto
www.saneesh.com

Off-beat and Glam Celebrations in Lonavala

Dec 21, 2012 Destination Weddings

Lonavala has always been the perfect weekend getaway for Mumbaikars and in the last few years it has also become a Destination Wedding venue for the well-heeled. While Aamby Valley in Lonavala is a hot-spot for the big & fat weddings, the lush and green city has a new venue for wedding celebrations- the all-villa Hilton Shillim Retreat & Spa which is spread over 320 acres of pristine wilderness.

The all-villa Hilton Shillim Retreat & Spa

While a prominent Mumbai businessman hosts his daughter’s wedding at Hilton Shillim next week, corporate denizen and man of many parts Jaithirth Rao (Jerry Rao) will host his son’s wedding in Lonavala this weekend. The venue is not a Hotel or Wedding City Aamby, but the former Citibank head honcho’s magnificent weekend home, located in Lonavala’s most tony corner- near Fariyas Hotel.

Aamby Valley, the hot-spot for Big, Fat Indian Weddings
Photograph Courtesy – Avani and Abhinav (PhotoKhichega.com)

Meet Vidya Balan’s Wedding Planners

Dec 21, 2012 Celebrity Wedding Pictures

Erina DeAbreu and Natasha Katgara Gocal who run Divinity Weddings have planned & managed many weddings but this assignment was truly special. “Not because it was a celebrity wedding but the bond we shared with the family which made it special. At no point did we feel we were working with a celebrity bride, and her family was so humble and supportive, that it made the planning process a no-stress project.”

A lot of clients of Divinity Weddings are Marwaris, Gujaratis and Sindhis and this was their first South Indian Wedding. “Though the ceremony was a South Indian style wedding- the food, decor & ceremony, we brought in the Punjabi traditions with elements like the Dhol, Milni & Kaliras in the decor, so it was quite a fusion of both cultures. The client’s brief was simple- keep it simple, private and not take away the true essence of the ceremony.”

Erina has a background in Hotel Management, and Natasha in Events, and there were a lot of new experiences for the duo here. “This was intimate & private celebration, with less than 100 guests, usually most weddings we’ve managed have atleast 500 to 2000 guests. And a wedding with so many press reporters and photographers at the venue, was something we have never encountered or experienced earlier, so it was all not just a fun experience, but a good learning too.”

Photograph courtesy – Harpreet Bachher

Passport to Jaipur

Dec 19, 2012 Destination Weddings

Creative Box, a design studio from Dubai specialize in customized stationery design for weddings and other events. The creative force behind Creative Box brand is designer and founder Ritu Patel. She says: Offering unique and different designs have been our forte, and a lot of our designs represent the cultural blend of Dubai.” She tells us more about her recent work ‘Passport to Jaipur’

“Our client was having a Destination Wedding in Jaipur and the brief was to use lots of bright colors. Instead of depicting the Fortresses of Jaipur, we thought of Elephants, and the famous block prints which resonate with the city Jaipur. And of course pinks since the wedding was taking place in the pink city. A passport portrayed the concept of a destination wedding; we created a monogram with the first alphabets of the bride and the groom, but with a twist. The grooms first name starts with the alphabet A- we featured it with the Hindi alphabet equivalent of A, the bride’s name starts with E- we featured it at as E, and the fusion of the two alphabets looked very interesting indeed!

CreativeBox
http://www.facebook.com/creativeboxdubai

Hello Hyderabad

Dec 17, 2012 Destination Weddings

We blogged about our stay at Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad two months ago. We were back in Hyderabad for a shaadi at Ramoji Film City, on an invitation from bride and groom Akruthi and Nikhil and their Wedding Planner Pritie Jain of Bling Mushrooms. As soon as we stepped out of Hyderabad airport, we noticed so many placards welcoming wedding guests. The Taj Falaknuma Palace services team were there, and we recalled an earlier conversation with Girish Sehgal, the affable General Manager of the Hotel who spoke about ‘Destination Hyderabad’. While we waited for our car to arrive, we figured that the newer uber-luxury Taj property and the sprawling Ramoji Film City are the new and the old hot-spots for Destination Weddings in South India.

Akruthi and Nikhil’s pre-wedding shoot at Ramoji Film City. Locations Mughal Gardens and Hawa Mahal, an intricate miniature Golconda Fort, on a hilltop from which one can have a bird’s-eye view of the whole studio.

Ramoji Film City, spread over 2,000 acres has a host of spaces for film shoots as well as events; every day they attract hundreds of local tourists too. It was fascinating to speak to the top management to understand the sheer numbers there, and how over the years the integrated film studio complex has grown popular among business families, primarily Marwaris for a home town or destination wedding. Their five-star hotel is Sitara, we’d rate it pretty average on the food and service scale, but its famous for being the temporary home to many Bollywood super-stars who come there for a shoot. Ajay Devgan was staying there, at the top floor reserved for bollywood super-stars only. While the hotel’s manager took us on a tour of the VIP floor we noticed a group of children from the shaadi party quietly sneak in there, only to be politely told by the security that the person they were looking for, is not there.

Akruthi and Nikhil’s shaadi was super-fun; the families went out of the way to make all guests comfortable, while the Bling Mushrooms team worked round the clock to co-ordinate between the Hotels (Sitara and Tara), venues and vendors. What we loved most was the enthusiasm with which Akruthi and Nikhil greeted us, “I’ve been logging onto WeddingSutra every single day since the last few months, and I’m so happy to meet the persons who run it”, said the beaming bride. Nikhil looked at Akruthi lovingly, happier to see her happy. We’ll be sharing lots of photos of their wedding on our ‘Real Destination Weddings’ section soon.

We had a little time in the evening, so we couldn’t resist visiting the Taj Falaknuma Palace again where preparations were on for an evening shaadi. Girish Sehgal introduced us to the to-be-Groom, a Delhi-based businessman who spoke about his experience as a guest at destination weddings in the most exotic locales. When it was time to plan his own wedding, he visited Falaknuma Palace for a recee; he made up his mind in a few minutes, because he couldn’t think of a place which could be better than this.

Girish Sehgal, General Manager of Taj Falaknuma Palace

Mumbai’s popular Wedding Planner Candice Pereira was there at Taj Falaknuma too, busy with putting together the last-minute details of the wedding of a US-based couple whose destination wedding would be taking place in two days. After a walk around the mansion-like home nestled in a quiet corner of Hyderabad, we were back to Limelight, the huge open space at Ramoji Film City for Akruthi and Nikhil’s wedding reception. Band, Baaja, Baraat and what an awesome Buffet. Now you know why we love our job!

Candice Pereira of Marry Me- the Wedding Planners at Taj Falaknuma Place and Pritie Jain of Bling Mushrooms at Ramoji Film City

Photographs courtesy- Manogna Reddy

Vidya Balan marries UTV CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur

Dec 14, 2012 Celebrity Wedding Pictures

Vidya Balan got married to Siddharth Roy Kapur at a simple ceremony at their friends bungalow ‘Green Mile’ in Turner Road, Bandra. The venue was a ‘top secret’ and the wedding was managed by a Bandra-based Wedding Planner duo. The Tamilian wedding had some Punjabi elements and after the traditional South Indian lunch, the newly-weds stepped out for a photo-op.

Celebrities congratulate newly-weds on Twitter
Many Bollywood celebrities took to Twitter to congratulate the newlyweds
- Priyanka Chopra @priyankachopra Congratulations to my friends Siddharth Roy Kapoor and Vidya Balan! They make such a beautiful couple. Here’s wishing them happiness forever!
- Madhur Bhandarkar @mbhandarkar268 My heart filled wishes to buddy Siddharth Roy Kapoor & Vidya Balan for the new phase of their lives together.
- Ashoke Pandit @ashokepandit Congratulations to my friend Vidya Balan and Siddharth Roy Kapoor on their wedding. God bless you with Health, Wealth & Peace.

Bloggers congratulated Vidya for choosing to have a simple wedding. A blogger on Firstpost.com said: “You could have had as lavish a wedding as you wanted, but sometimes less is more.”

Temple Wedding for Vidya Balan

Dec 13, 2012 Celebrity Wedding Pictures

Vidya Balan and Siddharth Roy Kapur’s wedding celebrations started on December 11, 2012 with a very intimate sangeet at La Mode banquet hall in Juhu. It was a family-only affair and the only celebrity present was veteran actress Rekha who looked gorgeous in a green saree. Vidya wore a burgundy red Kanjeevaram saree and Siddharth wore a white embroidered kurta. Vidya’s cousins and Siddharth’s actor brothers Aditya and Kunal performed to hit songs; Vidya danced to her super-hit dance track ‘Ooh La La’ from ‘Dirty Picture’.

Vidya and Siddharth at the pre-wedding function at La Mode Banquet Hall

Vidya’s Mehendi, at her residence was also a very private affair. According to reports, the actress didn’t invite a professional Mehendi artist or Bollywood’s favorite artists like Veena Nagda or Usha Shah to do her mehendi. Friends of the bride had fun applying Mehendi on each others hands. Vidya looked very happy and relaxed and wore a saree, Bengali style by her favorite designer- Sabyasachi, accessorised with floral ornaments. Later, Vidya obliged the waiting cameramen by stepping out with her family members for a photo-op.

Vidya’s mother, sister and guests at the family-only affair. Everyone wore traditional Kanjeevarams

The Mehendi function, at her Khar residence. With parents, sister Priya and brother-in-law Kedar.

The very private couple have kept their celebration venues a secret. Earlier it was reported that the traditional nuptials will be held on December 14th, at Siddharth’s parents home in Jolly Maker Towers, Cuffe Parade. Now it is reported that the ceremony will be solemnized at the Subramania Samaj Temple in Chedha Nagar, Chembur. Coincidentally, December 14th also happens to be the wedding anniversary of Priya, Vidya’s older sister, an ex advertising executive who is married to Kedar, a Marketing Manager with Unilever India.

The venue for the post wedding Reception is also not confirmed, though speculation is rife that it is in Chennai.