Vishakha and Yash, The Gateway Hotel Ambad Nashik
With a Kanyadaan performed by the in-laws, this wedding was all about two families coming together seamlessly.
If anyone believed an introverted engineer and a filmy marketing manager would make a good match, it wasn’t Vishakha. But it only took that introverted engineer one video chat to change her mind. Vishakha’s wedding to Yash at The Gateway Hotel Ambad Nashik was planned by WeddingSutra Favorite Mpire Weddings and the bride tells us all about it.
How We Met
“He was in Michigan, US and I was in Mumbai and our parents asked us to connect via text. I didn’t want to get married and had a list of reasons to say no, ready. We spoke for a week and I was sure I’d friend-zoned him until I got my first glimpse of him on video call. I’d dressed shabbily hoping he’d just reject me but one look at him and I disconnected, and ran to the mirror to fix my hair. He texted saying, “You’d seen my pictures already and I know I’m not handsome but did you disconnect because you saw me on video?” Little did he know it was love at first sight!
Wedding Venue
“Our wedding was in December and many of our guests were coming in from out of Mumbai. We needed a venue with a large inventory and all the good locations were either booked or overpriced. Then we came across The Gateway Hotel Ambad Nashik. It was perfect! It had a huge lawn, proximity to Mumbai and the Taj’s trusted heritage of hospitality. The food too was finger lickin’ good!”
Wedding Planning
“Mpire Weddings was awesome. I wanted a Bollywood wedding and they gave us exactly that. Their team is full of young people with fresh ideas and realistic plans. While we planned the event, the team became a part of the family and every time they saw us or our guests at the functions, they would greet us and check to see that we were comfortable. It was so hospitable and sweet! We received calls from our guests for ages after our wedding telling us they’ve never witnessed a wedding like this one before!
Vaishnavi Kapadia took care of my makeup and hair. She single handedly got me ready for the wedding in just one hour and for the reception in 30 minutes! She has worked with some big television celebrities and knew how the makeup would look on camera for both, the indoor and outdoor functions.
Mousam Pattnaik and his team from Mousam Pictures are wonderful. Some of our married guests wanted to have a pre-wedding video after seeing ours! They also made us a video of all the functions in less than 12 hours so we could play it at the final event. We had tears in our eyes when we watched it! Everything about it was perfect.
Wedding Functions
Engagement
“We wanted to keep the setup simple for the first function which was held soon after the guests arrived. So we had understated floral and pastel décor. I wore a pink lehenga with flowers embroidered on it.”
Sangeet
“‘Bollywood’ was the theme for our sangeet and we created a red carpet vibe with lots of yellow bulbs and movie posters. Yash and I entered the venue to the song ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi’ and after the ring ceremony, we popped a bottle of champagne. The performances were followed by an after party and the dance floor was rocking till 2 a.m.”
Haldi
“Yash and I entered the venue dancing to the beats of the dhol as we made our way through bubbles. This was followed by the kaleera ceremony and a phoolon ki holi after which we had the traditional haldi ceremony.
My floral jewellery was by Flosaira in Delhi and it was a last minute order. I received the entire set the next day and it turned out to be the highlight of my look for this function.”
Wedding
“Yash arrived on a ghodi with his baaraat for the varmaala while I entered in a doli along with my family members and six dholwalas. Yash headed straight to the mandap while I came a little later walking to the tune of ‘Nachdi Phira’ under a phoolon ki chaadar held by my brothers.
One of the moments that really stood out to me was my entry. One of the people who walked me down the aisle is Yash’s brother, from the moment I met him to the day of the wedding, we had built such a deep bond, that he feels nothing less than my own. He even participated in the brother’s rites as part of the bride’s side during the pheras. And then, another unforgettable moment – my kanyadaan was performed by my parents as well as my in-laws. Yash’s father had dreamed of marrying off a daughter and our family decided to surprise them by inviting them to perform the ritual too!
For the ceremony I wore an ivory lehenga that was paired with jewellery from Raabta by Rahul Luthra. The label had designed the kaleeras that Deepika Padukone wore at her wedding and I was thrilled to be wearing their creation.”
Reception
“‘A Sky Full of Stars’ by Coldplay was the song to which Yash and I made our entry into the venue, with cold pyros lit on either side of the path. As we cut the cake, ‘Yellow’ by the same band began to play and after this, both of us walked around the lawn thanking everyone for coming to our wedding and making it special. We also played the video that summed up all that had happened in the last two days and it was brilliantly edited by Team Mousam Pictures.”
Advice For Couples
Spend time with the vendors so that it becomes easy for them to understand your taste and give you options accordingly. Mpire Weddings had meetings even on Sunday mornings so that they could sit with us, give us ideas, and share samples and references to make every little detail at the wedding look unique.
The Wedding Makers
Venue: The Gateway Hotel Ambad Nashik
Wedding Planner: Mpire Weddings
Bride’s Outfits: Amrut – The Fashion Icon, Surat (Engagement and Sangeet), Drishti and Zahabia (Haldi), Kamal Bhai Saree Sangam (Wedding), Lalit Dalmia (Reception)
Jewellery: Flosaira (Haldi), Raabta by Rahul Luthra (Wedding)
Makeup Artist and Hairstylist: Vaishnavi Kapadia
Photography and Videography: Mousam Pictures
