Dr Aalika Banerji
Aalika tells us her 'How we met' story, about the wedding celebrations in Mumbai and her bridal looks for the different functions.
Aalika, a doctor, met Chetas, a DJ, two years ago. I walked into a club where my future husband was playing and I don’t remember ever having danced so much! It’s a crazy combination of medicine and music but it worked like magic!”
Aalika takes us through her wedding and bridal looks, with pictures beautifully captured by Photosynthesis by Aditi Verma.
Wedding Venue and Planning
The wedding had to be in Mumbai. Chetas travels so much for work, I couldn’t possibly put him through the hassle of a destination wedding. We knew we wanted a stress free wedding from the start (like that was ever going to happen!) St. Regis seemed like the perfect venue; a terrace garden where I wanted the pheras to take place and a big ballroom for our after-party, where our sangeet and reception took place.
The couple held other functions across Mumbai; a cocktail party at Royalty, Bandra, a haldi ceremony at home and the mehndi at Sagarmatha, Colaba.
Bridal looks
Most of my trousseau was from Jaipur and Delhi, from designers like Saffron by Nidhi Tholia, Swati Ubroi, Abhinav Agarwal, Ridhima Bhasin and Riddhi Mehra.
In Mumbai, I visited multi designer outlets like Ensemble, Aza and Fuel, but I personally prefer single designer stores like Manish Malhotra, Jade and Sabyasachi. My final selection was:
A turquoise blue and peach gotta pati lehenga with an antique gold set for the mehndi. Chetas complemented me in a white bandi with a white kurta-pyjama by Manish Malhotra.
For the pheras, I wore a burnt orange and gold lehenga with delicate thread work from Asiana couture, which I accessorized with an uncut diamond set from Razwada Jewels. Chetas wore a white and gold sherwani by Manish Malhotra.
For the after party, I chose an ivory and gold gown by JADE, with shoes by Needledust (love them!), and a diamond choker set from Jaipur Gems. Chetas donned a black velvet jacket with bronze detailing, again by Manish Malhotra.
Makeup Artists
With the wedding in Mumbai, I had the luxury of choosing two make-up artists – Amrita Sanghavi and Bianca Louzado.
At the mehndi, I wanted a fresh look and Amrita did a fab job. Her hairstylist got the fishtail braid I asked for spot on.
I wanted a traditional look for the pheras; heavy gold eye make up and winged liner. Bianca added white orchids to my hair, the perfect touch.
For the after party, she gave me deep, smokey eyes and nude lips. My hair was left to cascade on one side.
The Wedding Makers
I planned and took care of everything myself and would be lying if I said all of this came together smoothly! It took months of research – mostly online on wedding blogs like WeddingSutra as well as hours on Pinterest and Instagram following designers and wedding posts. I was lucky to have a lot of help from family and friends in Mumbai and Delhi which made the process much easier and a lot more fun!
Photography and Video
We hired Aditi Verma from Photosynthesis. She was so warm to work with and she really became part of the family! We had The Wedding Filmer capture video footage and we can’t wait to get hold of their final product!
Wedding Invitation
The wedding invites were very unique and we loved working with Artsy design Co.
Wedding Favors
We gave out cake jars by Jar Designs.
Wedding Choreography & Entertainment
The performances were choreographed by Debanshi and Rohan (amazing work!) We also had Mika Singh and Armaan Malik who had everyone on the dance floor well into the wee hours! And let’s not forget my very own groom who did what he does best! Along with DJ Aqeel and DJ NYK, they made sure it was a party no one would forget!
Photos courtesy: Photosynthesis by Aditi
