A Magical Wedding in Umaid Bhavan Palace

May 7, 2013 Celebrity Wedding Pictures

A month after her nephew Uraaz’s Bahl’s wedding in Jodhpur, Parmeshwar Godrej’s daughter Nisa (36) tied the knot in Mumbai. Nisa married Kalpesh Mehta, a Wharton graduate who runs a real estate venture in India, and the wedding was a discreet, family-only celebration at the Godrejs beach side mansion in Juhu. But Nisa’s cousin brother Uraaz Bahl’s wedding in Jodhpur was a grand and fun-filled affair. A Mumbai based Entrepreneur, Uraaz is the son of late Ishwar, Parmeshwar’s sister. He married his long-time girlfriend Shaana Levy who is half-Jew, half-Gujarati.

A Picture Perfect Moment

The Majestic Umaid Bhavan

Shaana and Uraaz’ celebrations commenced in Mumbai with Parmeshwar Godrej hosting a welcome party at her home, where the guests included a number of Bollywood A-listers like Aishwarya and Abhishek and Sussanne Khan. The scene then shifted to Jodhpur. The functions included a pre wedding puja & dinner at Raas Haveli, the wedding party at Umaid Bhavan and an after-party at the majestic Mehrangarh Fort. For all the wedding guests it was a weekend which will not be forgotten for a long time. “When are you renewing your vows? we want to come back” commented one of Shaana’s friend on her timeline. Here are some Photographs of the Jodhpur celebration shot by New York based Aranka of OneLight Studio.

The Groom’s Men

Bride Getting Ready

Safa tying

Shaana Levy in a Sabyasachi ensemble

Tags: Nisa Godrej, OneLight Studio, Parmeshwar Godrej, Shaana Levy, Umaid Bhavan, Uraaz Bahl, wedding

Daddy’s Big Day

Jun 20, 2010 Marriage & Wedding Trends, Wedding People & Planners

The most successful Wedding Planners in India, are those who understand the mind of the Big Daddy. And who have ample experience in organising Big Business conferences and events. Parthip Thyagarajan of WeddingSutra.com wrote this article for Times of India Crest

Mumbai’s la-di-dah circles still talk about the dream wedding Parmeshwar Godrej organised for her eldest child Tanya Godrej Dubash, over a decade ago. Parmeshwar, for the circle was the superwoman- super stylish and talented, highly enterprising and ambitious, and a supermom who organised an affair that oozed style and elegance. Today, supermoms don’t receive credit for hosting the Great Indian Wedding. Quite often it’s an event management agency and the super successful Dads who bask in the glory. Not surprisingly, agencies who have experience in organising large business and trade conferences are leaders in the wedding management space. They may not understand the mind of the mom, but they sure know what the bride’s daddy wants. The teams work round-the-clock over several months, to organise for him a world conference scale event, so his VIP guests experience magic in a fairy tale setting.

How can any article on the Great Indian Wedding be complete, without a reference to UK based Lakshmi Mittal who showcased the Great Indian Wedding to everyone around the globe. For his daughter Vanisha’s marriage to Amit Bhatia over 1,000 guests from all over the world were invited with 20-page-thick silver-cased invitation cards. Events over five days were staged in some of France’s most famous settings.

Many celebrities including Raveena Tandon have got married at one of the Palace Hotels in Rajasthan, but the celebration hosted by US Hotelier Sant Chatwal for his son Vikram’s marriage to Delhi businesswoman Priya Sachdev was most talked about. Chatwal and Delhi-based Wedding Planner Vandana Mohan gave hundreds of guests, a never-before wedding experience spread across three cities.

South Mumbai businessman Vinod Nayar was suddenly in the limelight, when news of his son Arun Nayar’s marriage to Liz Hurley was finalised. After the much-hyped wedding in Jodhpur, Nayar was scheduled to host a post-wedding party for the who’s who in Mumbai, but word went around about the huge misunderstanding between Nayar senior and junior in Jodhpur because of which the much-awaited party in Mumbai was cancelled.

‘Bawa Villa’ a home in Khandala received national media coverage all because Shilpa Shetty got married there. The villa owner, Hotelier GS Bawa, was not distantly related to Shilpa Shetty, but Shilpa was like a ‘daughter’ to him. Bawa’s daughter Kiran Bawa was soon recognised as the ‘best wedding planner’ who in typical desi style didn’t manage a  wedding as a profession, but as a gift for someone she and her family loves.

When Swatee Jayaswal’s wedding was fixed with Bangalore’s Lalit Tayal, Nagpur business magnate Manoj Jayaswal hired Ahmedabad-based Red Events which specialises in international destination weddings to organise for approximately 700 guests, a luxury wedding experience at the Grande Laguna and the Banyan Tree in Phuket. All the Jayaswal family members glittered in the most expensive, ornate and colourful lehengas and sherwanis—the picture perfect photographs showed that the Big Indian Family can afford to host a Big Fat Wedding anywhere in the world.

Tags: Arun Nayar, Bawa Villa, Big Fat Indian Wedding, GS Bawa, Kiran Bawa, Lakshmi Mittal, Manoj Jayaswal, Parmeshwar Godrej, Red Events, Sant Chatwal, Swatee Jayaswal, Tanya Godrej Dubash, Vandana Mohan

When ‘Up in the Air’ young women married Hi-Flying Businessmen

Feb 24, 2010 Marriage & Wedding Trends

For many years an Airhostess career was most aspirational for beautiful, confident young women in India; a glamorous profession that gave them the opportunity to travel around the world and meet their future life partners. In the 60s, Air hostesses’ Parmeshwar Godrej, Maureen Wadia and Sunita Garware married leading industrialists; Later, biscuit baron Rajan Pillai married Taj receptionist turned Airhostess Nina. Vijay Mallya met his first wife Sameera, an Airhostess on-board an Air India flight. Well-travelled, exposed to life in foreign shores, stylish and articulate, air hostesses fit into the “rich wife” role perfectly. And many young women aspired to work as an Air hostess with Air India. Fast forward to 2000 and later; the emergence of several airlines, affordable air travel and mushrooming of Air Hostess academies, has meant many more women are opting for a lucrative flying career to serve the increasing number of air travellers; except that it’s no more an aspirational choice.  Writer Vir Sanghvi commented in one of his columns: “I can’t really see any of today’s hostesses marrying into a Wadia or Godrej family. Let’s put it this way: It isn’t that we look down on Airhostesses. It’s more that we’ve stopped looking up to them.”

Tags: Maureen Wadia, Nina Pillai, Parmeshwar Godrej, Sunita Garware