Asian Designer Wear

Sharons Couture are specialists in Asian designer wear, bespoke bridal wear & tailoring dressmakers. Sharon’s Couture thrives on its attention to detail, providing the highest quality of designs & specialising with a inhouse design team that will help create your dream wedding outfit for your special day. They formed Sharons Couture a couple of years with introduction of Haré Dhami, whom re-invented the brand & brought into the 21st century as a luxury household name, formerly it was started by Sharon as a side line hobby but on a much smaller scale. Continue reading →

Natasha & Jatinder’s Wedding

A beautiful traditional Sikh wedding, how stunning do they both look together? Natasha wears a traditional indian bridal saree in red and gold - bridal colours. She also wears the traditional chura (21 red and white bangles) - all Sikh brides wear these bangles on their wedding day. This is a tradition originating from the Punjab (North India). Continue reading →

Gujarati Weddings Explained

Ever wondered what everything at Gujarati weddings mean? I asked Keshal Patel to explain the traditions of a Gujarati wedding based on her own wedding to Rahul Patel. Check out the explanation and photographs below!

Engagement (Chanlo Matli)

The chandlo (applying the vermilion mark on the forehead) announces the acceptance of the alliance between the two families. The bride’s father and four other male members from her family visit the groom carrying auspicious items and the bride’s father applies the chandlo on the groom’s forehead and gives him a shagun (a blessing symbolised by a token sum of money). Continue reading →

Indian Community on the Web

Weddingsonline India is the sister company of weddingsonline Ireland, which has been in the weddings business for over a decade. Weddingsonline India was launched in January 2013 and promises to be an online community apart from being a mere wedding ‘planning tool’ or a one stop shop for Indian brides and grooms looking to plan and organize their own weddings.

As a bride or groom-to-be, there are bound to be several questions on one’s mind. These may be related to one’s bridal trousseau, venue selection, catering, decoration, selection of makeup artists or hair stylists, invitation cards, mehendi application, and so on. There are literally thousand things to do when planning an Indian wedding irrespective of whether one is having an intimate ceremony or a big fat Indian wedding.

For this purpose, one needs a community or a forum that can help one address all of one’s doubts and concerns. Weddings online India promises such a forum. Brides- to- be can chat with like minded brides and get tips, suggestions, advice and recommendations on all aspects of the Indian wedding. They can also get answers to questions they are hesitant to ask their family members about.

The Blog section of the website has hundreds of articles on tips and expert opinions on makeup, skin care, trends in bridal attire, décor, trousseau selection, and cakes and so on. It is easy to lose oneself in the beautiful photographs as one browses through this vast collection.

Their real weddings section features real weddings covered by top Indian wedding photographers or sent in by real brides and grooms. This section can help other brides, grooms as well as their families get inspirational ideas for photographer selection, venue decorations, trousseau selection, as well as selection of the wedding or reception venues. One can even choose their wedding vendors in a particular city based on the recommendations offered by these real wedding stories.

The site also has a section on honeymoon destinations, in and around the country. This section can help couples pick a suitable destination for their honeymoon.

Weddingsonline also offers daily competitions and giveaways which one can avail of to get fabulous discounts and prizes. The site also plans to add several more tools and resources in the near future to ease the entire wedding planning process.

Nearly 30,000 couples tie the knot in India on a daily basis. Weddingsonline India offers free tools and resources for all these couples so that they can plan a stylish and an unforgettable wedding ceremony that is remembered for a long time to come!

Their website can be found at http://www.weddingsonline.in/

And you can find them on twitter and facebook

*featured image photography - Moments that matter( http://www.momentsthatmatter.in/)
Photo above - Sandeep Gupta Photography (http://www.sandeepguptaphotography.com/)

Memorable Indian Weddings

Indian Weddings are all about splurging and what a better way to do so by inviting your dear friends and relatives in a heritage hotel or a beach resort where everyone will have fun and enjoy the events. We had a talk with Sunaina Sharma from Memorable Indian Weddings who is expert at planning destination weddings anywhere in India and have clientele from India as well as USA, UK, Saudi Arab and Canada. (many non indian residents tie the knot in India).

Here is a quick Q and A round we had with her.

How did this idea of destination weddings and Memorable Indian Weddings happened ?

Oh, it’s a kind of a story. I was working with Cvent, an online event management software company and took a break from my job so that I can have more time for my kid. During this period I thought of going back to studies and did Post Graduate Diploma in PR and events. I was lucky to assist Amrish Pershad, a floral designer based in Delhi ( he is the one who designed the floral sets of the movie Monsoon Wedding) as my first job in weddings. From him I learnt a lot about wedding and that one should always work towards ones niche. Hence I focused myself towards Destination Weddings. And this is how Memorable Indian Weddings was born. We are two partners and each of us looks after client servicing and supplier management respectively.

What makes you unique amongst the plethora of other planners ?

We understand the difference between destination weddings and normal weddings and also how the requirements and desires of one couple differ from another. When it comes to designing, we believe in personalizing weddings down to the finest details to make it unique, memorable and fun.

We are young, creative, full of ideas, approachable and transparent. We work in client’s interest and of suppliers or hotel. E.g., we tell client everything about a hotel; it’s pro as well as con. We don’t just sell hotels for the sake of closing but advise what fits best.

So if you are the bride who wants to trust her planner completely, we are the ones!

Why do you love doing what you do?

Weddings are not just events, there lots of emotions running around at every moment in wedding events. You can actually feel the joy of guests, happiness and sometimes even uneasiness of bride, joy and so much more which can’t just be put in words. It is an honour for us that we share all these moments with our clients.

It feels amazing when you watch all the ideas unfolding and taking shape on the wedding day making it the most memorable day of the couple.

What’s the average size of the weddings you plan?

We have done weddings with just 10 guests to 100 guests. Apart from this, couple weddings are also quite common.

Though when we talk about destination weddings which involve guests traveling from all over the world; it is not always possible for every relative of yours to make it for wedding day and hence generally, we have a gathering of 100-150 guests on an average.

How many weddings do you handle each year?

Wedding planning need lots of ground work, co-ordination, planning and execution. Add to this that remote condition wherein you and your guests are at different location and even different time zones, it needs even more attention and promptness.

We commit ourselves to at-most 10-12 weddings an year.

Could you tell us a few destinations in India to get married?

India is vast in terms of culture and nature both; it is full of colors and rituals. One can get married in Regal way in Palaces of Rajasthan in north or have an intimate wedding on the backwaters of Kerala down the south. Even if you think of chic English wedding on beach, you have Goa beaches are famous for them.

The best part is whether you wish to have a 5 Star Luxury wedding or a moderate wedding, it has options for all. All you need is time in hand and a planner to make your dream come true.

What are your goals?

Might sound quite cliché but our goal is to help bride and grooms in planning their wedding in India and make their wedding day memorable one. We are very happy with the number of weddings we are doing.

As there are many people in India who wish to tie the knot abroad; now we have expanded and have strong supplier network in South East Asia, Italy and Greece as well.

What are your tips for the brides planning for a destination wedding?

Plan in time and hire a right wedding planner. I read it somewhere, there is a planner made for every bride. If you don’t hit with one, move on and find the one with whom you connect. As weddings are emotional events, connection with your planner is imperative.

And on your wedding day, let just things flow and not control them. It is your day and you should just enjoy, don’t worry about seating chart and fireworks timing and leave it for your planner.