Priyanka Mehra
NRI bride Priyanka’s wedding wardrobe was elegantly eclectic with splashes of pastel aqua, vibrant yellow and hot pink – and standout accessories
How we met
She had just moved to Florida for graduate studies, and he was about to finish his undergraduate education in Michigan. Their brief online chats turned into long, soulful conversations, drawing Priyanka Mehra and Atishay Sinha closer. They met during a family vacation in New Delhi in the summer of 2009 and that’s when their love story started, culminating in matrimony. Priyanka recollects, “Atishay surprised me with a wonderful proposal on Nov 15, 2014 in Washington.” Here, she shares how she put together her different wedding looks in her own words…
Wedding Venue and Functions
My wedding was held at the Le Meridien Hotel in New Delhi, while the sangeet and sagan ceremonies took place at ITC Maurya, also in the capital. However, we hosted the reception at The Henry hotel, in Dearborn, Michigan.
Mehndi: I put together a ‘green garden’ theme for the mehndi ceremony. My cousin Ishita Ladha did a splendid job in designing all of the men’s outfits with coordinating jackets and kurtas. The ladies also wore green outfits with matching gota patti rings and maang tikkas from ‘Titli by Aayushi’. I was keen to include my adorable niece and nephew in the event, as well as add my own personal touch. So I designed a ‘Here Come The Bride’ board for them to hold when I entered the venue. It was super cute!
Wedding Outfits
I wanted a very vibrant and colourful look for my mehndi ceremony. So I picked a beautiful deep yellow Banarsi silk lehnga by Bhumika Grover, which was paired with a floral blouse and deep green dupatta. Bhumika was a delight to work with and designed outfits for the rest of my family too. The entire look really came together with gorgeous gota patti jewellery by ‘Fooljhadi’ who was a wonderful find on Instagram.
Sangeet Ceremony: I didn’t have any specific look in my mind for my sangeet ceremony but I knew I wanted the look to be a little understated in terms of colour. The décor at the venue included traditional lanterns as centrepieces and ethnic umbrellas as a backdrop (which was great for photos!). I had been a fan of ‘Peppermint Diva by Deepali Shah’ for some time and chanced upon one of her outfits at Ogaan, in Hauz Khas, New Delhi. When I saw the elegant aqua and gold lehnga with a stunning embroidered panel at the bottom of the skirt, I knew it was perfect for my sangeet. I teamed it with a hair wreath for a retro look, and diamond jewellery from Hazoorilal Jewellers.
<Wedding Ceremony: I visited a lot of designer stores in New Delhi such as Aza, Ensemble and Ogaan just to make sure I don’t miss anything. However, in my heart, I always knew I wanted to don a Sabyasachi ensemble for my wedding. When I spied a beautiful dual-tone hot pink lehnga with intricate gold thread work, it was love at first sight! It looked breathtaking with uncut diamond jewellery (polki) from RN Jewellers. I paired it with a stunning matha patti from ‘Purab Paschim’ by noted accessory designer Ankit Khullar. Atishay complemented me wonderfully in his classy off-white quilted sherwani by Rohit Bal.
Makeup
My make-up for the mehndi ceremony was done by Jasmeet Kapany, while Rishab Khanna did my bridal and sangeet make-up. I have known Rishab for a couple of years now and was confident he would deliver his best. He was very versatile and gave me two different looks for the two events. Jasmeet was a pleasure to work with and ensured that my mehndi make-up stayed streak free and flawless throughout the afternoon ceremony.
Photography by Dotdusk
We were happy to see the creative shots of our wedding by the Dotdusk team. Everyone was quite impressed with the quality of the images, and I’ve even had friends contact me after seeing the pictures I posted on Facebook. Having the Dotdusk team around actually felt like we had good friends at the wedding – the comfort level was so high!
Advice/Recommendations for brides-to-be
It is very hard to plan a wedding in India especially if you are an NRI bride. Even the little details take a lot of time to pan out. Thankfully, I had my family in New Delhi to help out. So my advice for other NRI brides is to seek help from trusted family members and friends who are based in India. I also kept in touch with a lot of vendors to ensure that they delivered everything on time. I would definitely suggest that future brides use social media like Facebook and Instagram to suss out new trends and designers, read customer reviews and also follow different blogs to keep track of what is cool in the world of bridal fashion.
Photos Courtesy- Dotdusk Studios
