A Look Back: A Magnificent Indian Wedding

I can hardly believe that it has been a whole year since my amazing experience in Bangalore, India planning and designing Rushmi and Vikram's wedding. It was a project that was exciting and challenging in so many ways, from the solo international travel to learning the religious and cultural customs of a South Indian wedding to deciphering the services and talents of wedding vendors who had never pushed their own limits in the ways I was requiring. I know for certain that this whole project could have fallen flat had I not had the unwavering trust of the bride and groom and both of their amazing families. They took a risk by hiring a White, American, Jewish New Yorker who had never even been to Southeast Asia to plan a traditional Hindu wedding with a little Western flare, and I will forever be grateful. It was an experience that made me a better designer, a better planner and a better person. I eagerly await the next opportunity to explore a new part of the world and a new part of myself. You can read my original posts here(1), here(2), here(3) and here(4).

Take a look at this beautiful couple and enjoy...


This is the traditional entrance gate at the front of the property. Notice that in between the two doorways we hung a large mirror to ward off evil.

The venue is called The Tamarind Tree, aptly named for this magnificent tree just inside the entrance gates. We enhanced its beauty with strands of lights and hand-strung flowers.

This is the view of the front of the property from the entrance. The pond was home to hundreds of floating lotus flowers on lily pads and the steps were lined with varying sizes of pillar candles. The large structure was set for cocktails upon guests' entrance, but was later transformed into the dancing area.

The groom was escorted on the patterned petal aisle by the bride's brother and followed by her family. In the background, you can see the mandap created with gold, red and amethyst fabric and adorned with strands of jasmine.

During the traditional Hindu ceremony, the bride is showered with rice under the mandap.


This is the interior property at a glance. Because of the rain that followed soon after this photo was taken, we don't have any pictures of how this looked when the sun went down and the candles and the lights started to glow. The head of my Indian production team, upon first seeing it all illuminated, said it looked just like heaven. That was just one of many times that the amazing, talented, and earth-shatteringly hard working Geethanjali Santosh melted my heart. The structure on the right with the flower strands on the poles housed the dinner buffets. The rotunda in the center was where the band played and the structure on the left was the bulk of the dinner seating.



The long tables were adorned with a landscape of pieces... tall branch arrangements with hand-strung orchids and hanging candles, low vases with red mokara orchids, small glass with submerged orchids and floating candles and low pave'd collections of vibrant flowers.

Bangalore's first ever 6-tiered wedding cake was decorated with chocolate by Henna artists to create the authentically Indian motif.

The bride and groom's fathers embraced under a sky illuminated by fireworks. This was my first time ever facilitating fireworks at a wedding - and it was amazing!

Amidst 500 guests and a lot of excitement, this wedding was warm, intimate and full of love. Strangely enough, I found that to be true of my entire experience in India. Certainly, it is busy and crowded and a tad chaotic, but I cannot remember ever being embraced as warmly and openly as in my time in Bangalore. Now, it will forever hold a special place in my heart.

All photos by Sudhir Ramachandran

Happy anniversary, Rushmi and Vikram! And a very happy and healthy New Year to all of you!

Bangalore Wedding Adventure: Part 4 (The Wedding!)

Well.... we did it! The wedding is over and despite some of the worst rain in the history of Decembers in Bangalore, the bride and groom and their friends and family had an amazing evening. I only wish I had time to take photos of the finished site before the rain began, but as is the problem with being both the planner and a designer on the job, there was no time to step away and indulge. So.... here's what I have... I hope to get photos from the professional photographer very soon and will then, of course, post a full recap.

This is the petal pattern for the aisle being created. If you look just beyond where the women are working, you can see the wooden bridge that we built for a little extra drama and to get everyone over the firepit that was built into the ground on this spot.

This is the view of the center of the property from the lower entrance gates. These tables in front of the gazebo are the ones that couldn't be used due to the rain. Such a shame... but when the candles were lit and the sun went down, they twinkled beautifully.

In this shot, you can see a little bit of the structures on either side. To the left was an open-sided pavilion where we had 6 long tables beautifully set in the same style as those on the lawn, but with full place settings. Thank goodness for these because that was the area where most guests ate their dinner in a slow rotation as the staff set and re-set each seat. On the right was the structure that housed the dinner stations (or food counters as they are called in India). That building had a long porch with a bar and became an impromptu dining area. Can you see the amazing flower curtains that framed each "doorway" - in person they were stunning!

Here you have a glimpse of the covered dining area while it was being set up. Guest walked through this dining pavilion to reach the ceremony. When the sun went down, the orange, red and gold lighting cast an amazing glow in and around the pavilion.

One of my favorite elements of the design were the beautiful 6 foot elephants made of flowers. This is one of two which flanked the entryway into the main part of the property.

I didn't have a chance to photograph any of the entrance gate or pond area which was where cocktails and dancing took place, but I am going to try to scrounge some up from the other vendors and then I can post them because that area was spectacular - even in the rain!

What I find the most amazing about this wedding is that while I was having an internal panic attack about the rain and the wet chair covers and snuffed out candles (100s of them!), the family and guests were relaxed and lauding mother nature on her timing as rain at a wedding is considered to be the most auspicious blessing on a wedding day. Most guests continued to sit, stand and walk through the property in the rain and no one complained about there being fewer seats available because of it (I lost 72 seats on the outdoor tables!).

So, after years and years of telling my brides not to stress about rain because there is nothing they can do to change it, I, too, was reminded that a perfect wedding comes in many forms. This day was not how I imagined it, but it was what was intended - a memorable, beautiful, poignant and emotional day for a couple and their families that will be forever remembered.

I can only hope to have many more opportunities like this that challenge me in every way - as a designer, planner and person. It is an experience I will keep with me for my whole life and will always be amazed at how my perspective on the world was forever altered by one wedding.