The "who?" behind the "yay!"
It's already been three months since our backyard wedding, and today I find myself relaxing on a beautiful beach in Thailand reliving the fun in my mind and wandering out loud if we can do it all over again (ok, full disclosure: I have this daydream daily).
Thank you so much to these brilliant people whose magical work allowed this to happen:
Stretch tent for our back garden: Stretch & Tents
Will and Alex are great on email, phone and in person. They're a busy company due to their quality and pride, but never let us feel the effects of their packed schedules. We drafted out multiple layouts ideas / options the first time we met, which was great as they're innovative and open to anything - everything we thought of, they found a way to make work. The tent, poles and lights were great quality and aesthetically attractive, and it was also fun watching them put it up to mark the start of wedding week - it's hard work! We also ordered the generator through S&T. The third party generator company came over to drop, collect and show us how it worked separately and seamlessly.
Pritesh is a legend and I really recommend this company. He gave us his professional opinion and then went all-in to produce exactly what we wanted, perfectly. We didn't have travel to Leicester as we communicated efficiently through FaceTime and WhatsApp. It took approx. a week from initial contact, to receiving the recorded delivery of the final product. Happy days!
We had previously met Hemangbhai and loved how he conducted our friends and family's ceremonies - capturing everyone's attention while performing an interactive and encompassing ceremony, in both English and Hindi.
Wedding music: Vivah Events
Vivah played a mixture of fun and traditional songs, as well as choosing fitting songs to play during precious moments of the ceremony (they chose on our behalf, because we couldn't make up our minds!)
Decor supplier: Wed In Style
Bijal and Priya are really helpful. Their communication is fast, clear and concise. They understood our motifs and where able to bring our colourful thoughts to life for our Masti night, as well as keep our wedding day decor simplistic and natural.
Photographer: Arunn G Photography
Arunn is a great friend and passionate photographer; I'm so thankful that he was able to capture our wedding. Our family were referring to him as bhai (brother) and our friends were shouting over for him from other sides of the room on day 1, and that says it all really!
Firstly, a massive thank you to Chris for his professional and genuine guidance when we were discussing which ceremonies to film, when to start, what music to use etc. His honesty and patience was so valuable. The highlights video he has perfectly created already captures some of our peaks so well. Chris and Faye have now filmed weddings of 5 couples that we know, and we are so glad that our friend Meha introduced us to them!
Book the beard! It's no secret that we both respect Manny so much, as do our family. For a reception party that was scheduled to finish at 2am, it's not surprising that Manny still had the dance floor pumping at 4am... He played all our favourite songs and genres, at all the right times, catering for all our guests tastes, all night!
Imagine that scene from Matilda. You know which one. This was me! Natasha created a perfect forest of chocolate gateau cakes with our favourite toppings, bringing to life exactly what I had sketched out as my ideal surprise idea for Minesh (chocolate gateau is his favourite). Given the high energy around our cake cutting, I know it can't have been easy to keep the gateau stable, but she made it look like a piece of cake...
Bar: VIP bar
Come rain or shine, Renata, David and their team really don't hold back! Perfect cocktails, endless shots and the most incredible personalities were really the cherries on top of a super professional bar. I am truly thankful for the recommendation from our friend Andrew.
My Wedding Lengha: Neetika's Couture
I loved the different colours, design and materials of this outfit from the moment I saw it exhibited in London. After getting engaged, it was the first wedding lengha that I tried on. The unique yellow dupatta stole my heart and I felt very honoured to be able to wear it - I hope I did it justice!
Our masti night was a larger celebration with all of our friends and family; extended and close. Considering we had a few different elements during the evening, Amit and Kajal quickly confirmed that the size and layout of the downstairs halls were perfect for us as together it had capacity for ~700 people, a good sound system, large kitchen space, a projector, chair/chair covers, and on site / extended parking with attendants.
Flowers: Priti Shah
My motamummy (aunt) did all of our floral decorations including button holes, bouquets, and haar as well as a million other things during the wedding :-) She is the best and has been excelling in this profession for years, so gets a special shout out!
Mehndi: Bhakti Mehta
Similar to the above, my Bhabhu (aunt) did mines and my mum's mehndi the night before our masti night. This was really emotional for me, as she also did my mum's mehndi before my parents' wedding 30 years ago. Bhabhu recommended doing it the night before so that I could enjoy our masti night the next day and be myself, without having to spend any of it sitting still and feeling secluded, which was definitely the right decision.
My hair and make up: Fatin Hasido MUA
Fatin and I have known each other for years, I love her work and I am so glad she was available for the wedding. I wanted to look as natural as possible while still looking like the bride on our wedding day, and Fatin achieved this while ensuring we had a laugh and got in time to relax and soak in the moment every morning that week! I absolutely couldn't have asked for more.
Food: Swagat Catering Ltd
Jayaben and her family - especially her granddaughter Kinari - are great. Swagat oozes with traditional values and this is clear in how they operate. The food is priceless; I'm still craving that midnight chilli pizza and all of my favourite Bombay street foods (yes, that's right, I ate everything - I even got given my own plate of canapés to enjoy while getting ready upstairs and finished it with some bubbles before walking down the aisle)
Catering: JK catering
JK catering was recommended to us by Swagat. Kunal and his family work together with Swagat well, and are also very traditional in their methods. We also ordered palm plates and cutlery from them which was helpful!
Humanist Celebrant: Marian Hill and Demelza Mai
Demelza is so full of life and made the experience of planning a humanist ceremony very very very exciting and fun during the few months leading up to our wedding. Marian performed the ceremony; she lives near us and both of us refer to her as our saviour because she really is! Our humanist ceremony was so personal and so "us"; there is nothing I would change about any of it!
Legal registry signing: The Barn Hotel, Hillingdon
The Barn is a beautiful hotel with so much character, and is luckily close enough to home for us to complete the legal signing of our registry after our Indian wedding ceremony. It was a surprise gift to have this peaceful time in the sun to get ready and sneak in a walk through the gardens with Minesh before our evening party.
Masti night music band: The Mehfillers
Masti night music band: The Mehfillers
Jay Dabhi and I were in the same year at school (and briefly went to Shishikunj together!). The band have great voices, they are down to earth, well presented and energetic - especially Shri on the dhol/decks, who also played dhol for the Jaan arrival on our wedding day. Jay summed it up perfectly at the end of the night when he closed the evening by saying how personal it felt to have the Dabhi, Mehta and Parmar siblings all celebrating together after knowing each other for so long.
That's all! (A short list isn't it ;-))
Hope this helps anyone else considering a backyard wedding / similar approach...
P.s. Minesh and I didn't go to India for pre-wedding shopping/planning (because I love India and couldn't bring myself to have a stressful and rushed trip). We were convinced we could get everything we needed close to home.
PPS. Rather than favours, we donated to GOSH and Alzheimer's International, two charities very close to our heart. We donated to GOSH online by purchasing pin badges for our friends and family, and Alzheimer's International through Demelza, our humanist.
Any other questions, let me know!
Priya x
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