Lakshya and Niharika, Amaara Farms Chattarpur, Delhi

Honoring a love that blossomed from a firm friendship, when a top wedding industry professional gets married, you can expect only the finest. Beautiful weather, top-notch hospitality and stunning décor made this couple’s wedding at Amaara Farms an absolute joy to attend. Founder of the renowned wedding photography company ShutterDown, Lakshya knew exactly what he wanted and ensured that his big day was captured fabulously. Niharika shares with us highlights of their wedding celebrations and pictures shot by the talented team of WeddingSutra Favorite – ShutterDown.

How We Met
“Lakshya and I were just very good friends and hung out a lot in college. Love was never on our mind. Instead we bonded over extremely nerdy things like CAT and GMAT. Somewhere between graduating and getting into our dream B-schools, we realized we meant a lot to each other. Honestly, Lakshya’s proposal was the worst on this planet! He BBM-ed me if I wanted to go out with him and guess what, I said yes!

We have literally seen each other grow up from awkward teenagers to not-so-awkward adults. We knew each other for 10 years before we got married and that’s a pretty long courtship.”

Proposal
“He made up for his not-so-great initial proposal when he asked me to marry him for real. It involved an empty auditorium, kidnapping me from the office, Lakshya singing (of course!) and a beautiful tanzanite rock from Africa!”

Wedding Venue
“We were super picky about the venue. Our guest list wasn’t as vast as one would find at a typical huge Delhi wedding and we wanted something non-commercial, cozy and intimate. Most of the popular venues in Delhi were rejected because they were too big or had multiple events the same day. On the other hand, Amaara Farms on Chattarpur Road has a very whimsical vibe to it with its lush greenery. It gave us lot to play around with in terms of decor without overdoing anything. The best thing about Amaara is the management. Amaara Farms owner Shivan Gupta & his team were a delight to work with. They not only helped us with decor ideas and food tastings but also with other venues for our smaller events. They were a very integral part of our wedding planning.”

Wedding Planning
“We met at least a dozen décor vendors but Wedding Duo and team had so many unique concepts and ideas we went ahead with them. They are very passionate about their work and love to get into the details. We had a lot of concepts in mind and they translated them into masterpieces. It was so much fun working with this young, fresh duo!

Saltt handled the catering at 3 out of 4 of our functions with their extensive, innovative menu. Mr. Manish Balani from Saltt sat with us a number of times to design the perfect menu for each occasion. He was able to create a fun menu for my mehndi with the same ease as the elaborate wedding feast.

I am not a very make-up person and probably I was the most clueless bride when it came to deciding my ‘look’ for each event. Jasmeet Kampany came with such high recommendations that I booked her without any trial. And she exceeded my expectations as she created very different looks for each event. Honestly, brides crib about sitting for makeup for hours but I really enjoyed this downtime with her-gossiping and binging on food.

My mom and I designed the invitations ourselves. We did not like the overly decorated and monogrammed invitation boxes that are trending nowadays. We wanted more of a keepsake so we bought ornate brass boxes and filled them with dried flowers, chocolates, cookies, and the invitation card. The invitation cards were designed by a freelance graphic designer.”

Wedding Functions
“We wanted a very intimate affair with our family and close friends. Also, we wanted them to truly enjoy and celebrate our momentous day with us. Hence, we got rid of a lot of outdated and unnecessary traditions to keep the functions light and fun.”

Mehndi
“We started our wedding weekend with a Mehndi at my place. I always dreamt of decorating the house and having friends and family staying with us. So we did! The vibe was very bohemian with multicolor tassels and papier maché with very little flowers. I wore a lehenga from Matsya for this day which perfectly matched the vibe of the function.”

Haldi
“This was one of the most fun functions. Our loved ones ensured they smeared haldi all over our limbs and faces and they had a blast doing that!”

Cocktail Party
“The cocktail was minimalistic. We mostly played with candles to give it that mystical look. Our venue (Fio) itself was so beautiful that it did not need much decor. Lakshya wore a velvet jacket with inlay work and I wore an embellished ensemble with a cape from Bani Batra.”

Wedding
“The wedding was both rustic and chic. We used twigs and foliage along with flowers. With the reception to follow the ceremony, we created lounge seating with sofas and vintage artifacts. The bar was my favorite part with an entire ceiling of twigs, flowers, and foliage.

The highlight of the wedding was Lakshya performing at each event. He was rarely without a mike in his hand. The best performance was when he sang during my bridal entry.

For the wedding, Lakshya wore a peach and mint embroidered sherwani. My wedding lehenga was from Om Prakash at Chandni Chowk. I found my outfit only on my third visit there as they have a massive collection of outfits and one needs to really hunt to find the one. They showed me swatches of lehengas and I fell in love with this ivory and pistachio green lehenga that I wore for the wedding.”

Advice for Couples
“Don’t get hung up on things and be open to taking advice and opinions. I think the only advice I would like to give anyone who’s planning a wedding is to enjoy the entire process. It entails a lot of madness, a lot of opinions, a lot of confusion but in the end, two families come together to plan the best for their kids. We had a lot of fun planning our wedding despite all the polls and fights over decor themes, menus and vendors. It was a really memorable time for us to put together our dream wedding with our families.”

The Wedding Makers
Venue: Amaara Farms Chattarpur, Delhi
Caterers: Saltt Catering
Bride’s Outfits: Matsya (Mehndi), Bani Batra (Cocktail), Om Prakash (Wedding)
Makeup Artist: Jasmeet Kampany

Photography: ShutterDown

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