Venue: The Leela Palace, Jaipur
Two lovebirds who grew up, met and fell in love in London came to India to get married at their favourite place- Jaipur.
Sajni and Gaurav are healthcare professionals and met each other through mutual friends, the rest is history.
This wedding was absolutely intimate, mad, full of love, full of color and a whole lot of personalisations.
Sajni and Gaurav wanted all functions to be a little bit of sweet and a little bit of spice (Pun intended! See their events below and you'll know.) in all their events. They wanted the design to be super personal.
WELCOME LUNCH: LADDOO MEETS DHOKLA
What happens when a Punjabi groom meets a Gujrati bride or shall we say when Laddoo meets Dhokla, Bhangra meets Garba, Pulkaari meets Patola? They RAVE!
Who remembers the 'dabba tiffin' from our childhood, we filled those up with laddoos and dhoklas and farsaan! Bright florals in achaar ki barnis and cake tables full of fruits. The creatives talk about the couple, along with the english transcriptions of the text we wrote in Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati. Napkins were printed with fun punjabi and gujarati song lyrics like, 'Dil legayi kudi Gujarat di'.
We also set-up two bazaars- The Patola Bazaar and the Phulkari Bazaar.
THE PATOLA BAZAAAR: Gujarat apart from the Dhoklas and Farsaan is also known for their gorgeous Patola Fabrics, we set up a small corner called the Patola Bazaar- a shop from where the guests could pickup things like Patola Scarves and Dupattas, Dandiyaas, Potlis and lots of little little cute things.
THE PHULKARI BAZAAR: As the name says, we had phulkari dupattas to give away to the guests along with Paraandis and Jhaanjhars! Oh, also little mehendi cones. All swept away with the blink of an eye. Absolute cuteness.
SANGEET: DO NADAAN PARINDEY
The time we spent with Sajni and Gaurav made us feel we traveling with two lovebirds. Two birds who are crazy when together, so much fun, the laughters and the giggles were infectious, the smiles they always had on their faces, the way they would both express themselves. The best were their travel stories together from all these years.
From the design questionnaire they filled, we got to know that their favourite restaurant was in Jaipur- no other than The Bar Palladio!
That's when it struck us, these two are our 'Do Nadaan Parindey' and we had to bring Bar Palladio to them.
The bar was our favourite highlight: Do Nadaan Parindey means Two Innocent Birds- that's what we brought to life. Two life sized birds were hung from the bar ceiling right in the middle of the entire lawn.
The consoles had their photographs together.
The tables were decked with flowers and candles and special jaipur elements like hand block printed napkins, hand printed table mats, block printing blocks as giveaways and a personal message from the couple to the guests for being a part of their big day.
HALDI: LUV SHUV TE MIRCH MASALA
During one of the initial recces, Sajni and Gaurav's mothers (Oh, how much we love them both. You adorable moms! this one's for you) went and saw the spices in the local markets of Jaipur. In a conversation with them, we saw their face light up even talking about the local markets- we knew what we had to do. We had to create a Rajasthani spice market.
The bar was created to look like a wooden sandook with spices displayed at the back. The furniture was chosen to be in harmony with the wooden rural look. The umbrellas had gorgeous Mirchi prints on them. The cushions were in embroideries and bandej and leheriyas and bandhanis.
The table were full of interesting elements, some of which were masaladaani's (containers which store spices in indian homes), florals made in earthen pots, barnis full of 'khadhe masaale', stones on which spices are ground, strings of raw garlics and onions, and surmedanis filled with spices placed over the pantone shade of the same spice. We gave the indian masalas a little flair and style!
The couple stage was created with mirchi ladiyaan (strings of red chilli), paraandis, and fabrics of different colors and styles.
WEDDING
Minimal weddings are our favourite. Working on the Leela terrace is a bit of a challenge to create something new everytime. The space is gorgeous and has a character of it's own. To create something that doesn't completely move away from the existing place, as well as creating a new look is to strike the right kind of balance.
For Sajni and Gaurav, we look inspiration from the tikri work done on the Leela terrace, we created panels of Tikri, and embedded them in the existing arches of the Jharokha. We played with the ceiling instead of disrupting anyone at the eye level.
We worked with an evergreen ivory and gold palette. Ceiling was flooded with strings of Shola, and the backdrop was overloaded with strings of Rajnigandha.
The mandap was enhanced with white florals and green plants.
The most beautiful part of the mandap was the waterbody surrounding the mandap. With running fountains to create the sense of calmness. Our bride's favourite!!!
MOMENTS:
A few moments from their wedding.
"Thank you for making my dream wedding. My wedding had fountains!!! The sound of music and the water were just out of this world. You delivered more than we had ever dreamt of. We are just so happy! What you did was not normal, it was beyond something else, it's insane. I love you girls. I knew I could trust you, cos you're both geniuses. You're going far, and this is just the start!” - Sajni, Bride
Teams:
Design + Execution: Aroosi
Venue: The Leela Palace, Jaipur
Planners: SM Weddings
Photography + Cinematography: House on the Clouds
Decor Photography: Bhavya Jain