The Wedding Planner
FROM COFFEE TABLE WEDDING BOOKS AND ORCHIDS FROM BANGKOK TO RECREATING VENICE AND CUSTOMISED BRIDE-AND-GROOM MARGARITAS, PUNE COUPLES ARE LEAVING NO STONE UNTURNED TO TIE THE KNOT IN STYLE. SIMPLY PUNE BRINGS YOU EXPERTS ADVICE ON HOWTO PLAN ONE OFTHE MOS
SIMPLY PUNE brings you experts advice on how to plan one of the most important day of your life.
CROSSING THE TS
It was earlier the forte of excited relatives to plan every detail of the wedding, but with the nuptials getting larger and fancier, there’s professional help at hand to ensure your D-day and the accompanying festivities go absolutely glitch-free. Rajesh Mehta of Event Tailor usually takes over a few months before the wedding to understand the requirements and depute his team to take care of every aspect—from de-stress yoga sessions and beauty routines to trousseau shopping and setting up the décor. If you need assistance
with only a few specific tasks, then Mehta will customise his professional advice for you. Many star hotels in the city like Hyatt Regency have in-house wedding planners who help with everything from designing the menu to setting up the ballroom for the celebrations. These bespoke packages come with decorations, floral arrangements, complimentary facilities at the Arogya Spa and champagne and cake for the just-mar- ried couple. Those who want a DIY wedding, help is just a click away at shaadimagic.com. Founder Manish Grover has put together a list of over 1.75 lakh wedding vendors, right from venues, caterers, mehndi artists to bands. So, whether you want a band, baaja or a mare for the baraat, the site directs you to the right people. EVENT TAILOR: 9373332349 HYATT REGENCY: 66451234
BY INVITATION ONLY
They are the messengers of the big day so they have to be worthy keepsakes. From elaborate invitation gift sets to save-the-date calendars, it’s all about making the wedding invitation stand out. Nidhi Goel of Karali says that when it’s a big traditional wedding, gift sets with dry fruit jars and goodies top the list but when couples send out invites, they opt for contemporary save-the-date diaries, calendars. At a recent city wedding, a couple invited guests with a yellow-and-white message on doilies to go with the summery look of their May wedding. At Either Or, you can shop for customised invitation sets that make for quirky messengers of the celebrations. The traditional fruit basket can be stuffed with goodies and the invitation, and decorated with miniature dolls, pictures of the couple and even double up as a pretty accessory in your living room. Karali 9819454940 EITHER OR: 2605 7225
ALL THAT GLITTERS
Heirlooms rule the wedding trousseau but brides are also stocking up their jewel cases with innovative jewellery, from coral reef to sets that can be broken down into smaller more contemporary pieces. Sonal Sahrawat of Sonal’s Bijoux says that with prices of jewels and gold skyrocketing, rose cuts and uncut diamonds are gaining popularity. They are used to reduce the price and give a bigger richer look to a statement piece. Pink corals, too, compliment traditional gemstones to keep up the ‘Indian look’ while adding a touch of innovation. Kapil Hetamsaria of jewellery portal velvetcase.com states that white gold, coloured diamonds and gems like emerald, topaz, rubies, sapphire have
become the latest trend setters. Wedding favourites polki and jadau continue to be on every bride’s wishlist but are going chic with hints of floral, architecture or Mughal-era inspired designs. At Roque and Caesar, it’s all about giving traditional jewellery a modern, contemporary twist and creating designs that can be broken down into multiple functional pieces after the wedding. Large earrings that look like sparkling chandeliers, oversized cocktail rings, rings that can double up as a pendant, a Mughal era-inspired chunky rani haar which can be broken down into bracelets and earrings. ROQUE AND CAESAR: 26340482 SONAL’S BIJOUX: 022 66957918
CLOTHES THAT MAKE A COUPLE
A dream trousseau is something that every bride wants on her special day and while there is no one design that fits all, Pune’s brides-to-be are experimenting with silhouettes, colours and fabrics as designers are dishing out the traditional and unconventional to dress up the girls. From neon and 3 D embroideries to a fusion of ethnic-with-western cuts, trousseau trends are varied this season. Nivedita Saboo, who dresses up the city’s brides and grooms, recommends an IndoWestern fusion look with anarkalis teamed with palazzo pants or lehengas and gowns matched with jackets for the bride. At Vismaya Couture, designer Jhelum Rele is going all out with neons, which she says, are topping the bride’s wishlist this season. However, she advises to go neon for the pre-wedding functions, and stick to the rich traditional raw silk lehengas for the ceremony and net ghagras for the reception. Instead of sticking to the tried-and-tested, brides are opting for a play of colours, fabrics and embellishments. If diamante, Swarovski and gold work are one of the must-haves in most trousseaus, a few are ready to go quirky by bringing digital prints onto their wedding wear. NIVEDITA SABOO COUTURE: 26650181 VISMAYA COUTURE: 41318989
HEENA TALES
It’s a must-have at every wedding and even as brides are willing to experiment with net and neons in their dress, the traditional mehndi remains untouched with brides opting for intricate designs that embellish the arm and feet. Farida Ghouse Shaikh, who has been adorning brides with henna for over two decades says that popular designs are the bride and groom figures, palanquin and auspicious symbols such as the kalash and shehnai. Peacock feathers and floral patterns are other popular variations for those who don’t want symbols. “Some brides even want an entire baraat design to be drawn on their arms,” she says. Another popular trend is using glitter and tiny stones on the henna patterns for a touch of shimmer. FARIDA GHOUSE SHAIKH: 9850669501
GET PAMPERED
Every bride wants to look her very best on the wedding day. But with the hectic shopping and pre-wedding partying leaving the bride and groom tired, the spa is the bridal couple’s best buddy. The spa at Hyatt Pune has the very welcoming sounding Couples Connect, an experience for two with rose and sandalwood oils and Vetiver that promise to de-stress and refresh almost instantly. They even have a bridal package at the salon, which includes bridal hair, make up and help in draping the saree. The Island Spa
has a Ginger and Spice Love Fest, a mélange of spices and ginger that exfoliates and polishes the skin. To make a bride feel like a queen, the O Hotel Spa has caviar facials, Moroccan Rassoul wraps and volcanic ash treatment. HYATT PUNE: 41411234 O HOTEL: 40011000 ISLAND SPA: 9665692269 O2 SPA: 9561821566
FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD
Wedding feasts are embarking on global gastronomical journeys with chefs being flown in from Malaysia for Asian fare and restaurants dishing out Persian, European and Egyptian delicacies. At a recent summer eco-friendly themed wedding, a large spread of salads was laid out; for a sangeet with an Arabian Nights décor, kibbeh and shawarma on common platters were served. With people travelling extensively and city restaurants bringing international cuisines to the Pune plate, Halawa, Dukkah, Guacamole dips and tarts are sharing space with Jalebis and Srikhand in the wedding buffets. At Cocoparra, Amar Jog can customise meals of any region; at a recent engagement, his chefs cooked up authentic Bengali and Mangalorean meals before moving on to live counters offering modern European fare. Customised cocktails are also a hit for the pre-wedding parties. But even as world cuisine whets the city’s appetite, traditional caterers continue to be the first choice for those who want to stick to authentic Indian regional fare for the ceremonies. With the wedding feast being the most talked about part of the celebrations, next only to the trousseau, caterers and hotels are going all out to lay out an innovative spread. COCOPARRA: 8149059362 MADHURUCHI: 65113745
SPOT ON
A backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, a hydraulic stage or a rotating dais— wedding décor is moving from the opulent to technology-driven
contemporary set-ups or innovative decorations that reflect the personality of the couple. Ornate garlands, flower-bedecked stages and shimmering drapes are making way for 3D mapping that can transport you to any corner of the world from Las Vegas casinos to the Venetian gondolas right in the middle of a city lawn. At a recent wedding, Event Tailor, a wedding planning firm, created a 3D backdrop of the Seven Wonders, changing the location and the colours every few minutes. Others like to keep it simple. Giving the glittering five star banquet halls a miss, a young couple chose Cocoparra, a restaurant complex on three acres of woods, as the venue for their white and green wedding, choosing white flowers to offset the trees on the property. At a monsoon wedding, flowers and LEDs were replaced with thousands of hand painted umbrellas that added a dash of quirk and lots of colour to the décor. From suspending a few hundred pictures of the couple from the mandap to flashing a specially made movie on the newly weds, wedding décor is getting generous doses of creativity and quirk. COCOPARRA: 08149059362 J W MARRIOTT: 66833333
SHOOT TO REMEMBER
Wedding albums with beaming relatives in a row are passé; it’s all about coffee table books that tell the story of the just-married couple through beautifully composed candid clicks. The photographer doesn’t ask you to stop and smile; the pictures, taken non-intrusively, capture myriad emotions that come with a wedding. Medhavi and Dhaval Kotecha of DKreate Photography reveal that some of the high-on-emotion moments that they look out for are the first glimpse of the bride by her parents, the moment the couple meets in the mandap and the bidaai. To get the “wedding story right”, city photographer Sumit Patil of Jeet Photography spends time with the to-be couple, understanding their personalities and their story before the wedding functions begin. For the self-confessed storyteller, wedding photos could be of just the décor, the bride’s mehndi laden hands or the jewellery. For him, it’s all about the way the frame is composed that makes the wedding book appealing. “Unlike an album, it gives you the freedom to choose your layouts and give captions,” he says. With couples putting emphasis on capturing their special moments, pre-wedding getaways and save-the-date shoots are also fast catching up to satisfy the urge to preserve memories. SUMIT PATIL: 9822648122 DKREATE: dkreatephotography.com