Band Baaja Baraat in Monte Carlo

Mar 23, 2011 Destination Weddings

Finally, it was the images of the decked-up elephant, and the groom on a white horse which excited Monaco and the world media most. Even before the wedding, the celebration was in-the-news, Indian newspapers talked about Kajal Fabiani and Gaurav Assomull’s exotic wedding destination, Monaco’s media referred to it as Biggest Destination Wedding in their principality, and members of the Sindhi community exchanged notes on the fairy-tale extravagaza which Billionnaire Kamal Fabiani was organising for his daughter. The four-day celebration ended on March 21st with a finale by singing sensation Akon. Here are some pictures of the Big Fat Marriage, managed by Aditya Motwane and Nemish Sanghvi of Percept D’Mark and Frank Damgaard, head of Monte-Carlo Weddings.

Gaurav Assomull on a white horse on his way to the wedding ceremony at the Opera of Monaco

‘Baby’, a 21 year old female elephant walks in front of the Monte Carlo Casino as part of the festivities

Gaurav and Kajal, in an ensemble by JJ Valaya, with her father

The decor and the venues for the Mehendi and the Shaadi

Tags: Aditya Motwane, Akon, Destination wedding, Exotic, Frank Damgaard, Gaurav Assomull, Kajal Fabiani, Kamal Fabiani, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo Weddings, Percept, Photographs, Pictures

Who is The Wedding Planner to Bollywood Superstars?

Nov 22, 2009 Celebrity Wedding Pictures, Wedding People & Planners

Delhi’s top wedding planners Geeta Samuel, Meher Sarid, Vandana Mohan are more in the news vis-a-vis the prominent wedding planners of Mumbai– Aditya Motwane of Percept, Gurlein Manchanda Puri and Martin Da Costa of Seventy. The reason is obvious—while loads of money is spent in Mumbai, Delhiites truly enjoy themselves at the big, fat wedding and their city designers set the trend for bridal wear and wedding décor.

Talking of Mumbai, if we asked you to name one or a few Wedding Planners who cater to Bollywood— can you name even one planner? In all probability your answer is ‘don’t know’. Interesting na, considering that Bollywood weddings get talked about for long. So you’ll remember the designer who did the clothes, the bride’s makeup artist or the mehendiwallih but you won’t know the name of the Wedding Planner. Abhi-Ash, Sanjay-Manyata, Aamir-Kiran, Fardeen-Natasha, Hrithik-Suzanne, Kajol-Devgan, Twinkle-Akshay, Madhuri-Nene— perhaps, none of them even hired the services of a professional wedding planner. They took the help of their friends to put together everything and being networked with event management walas they had plenty of resources on hand.

We don’t know if Shilpa Shetty-Raj Kundra have hired a professional event management agency to manage the affair at Khandala and Grand Hyatt—but the woman who has emerged as Shilpa Shetty’s unofficial Wedding Planner is the hugely ambitious Kiran Bawa—almost unknown in the business and social circuit till a few years ago, the franchisee of VLCC in Mumbai and daughter of the owner of Hotel Bawa International, Kiran shot into the limelight when she teamed up with Shilpa to launch Iosis, the upmarket Spa. Kiran and Shilpa have plans to open many more spas and salons throughout India.

Not only is the wedding being held at Kiran Bawa’s home, Kiran has been Shilpa’s spokesperson too. So here’s the input from Kiran, on Shilpa’s picks and the Spa services for the wedding guests at the wedding venue.

Clothes
Shilpa and Raj both chose Delhi based designers. Shilpa’s clothes are all by Tarun Tahiliani. Raj has chosen Shantanu and Nikhil. At the mehendi Shilpa wore a very un-traditional hot pink Swarovski crystals kaftan. For the sangeet she chose a Anarkali churidar kurta. Her wedding saree is a traditional bunt saree, in burgundy and red. For the reception, she’s wearing a saree which looks more like a gown with as many as eight thousand crystals stitched to it. Raj is wearing a black short sherwani with pants.

Music
Shilpa and Raj danced to Teri Ore from Singh is King and the choreographer for the Sangeet was Ganesh Hegde. Daler Mehendi also performed at the function. A Hawaii-themed mehendi ceremony preceded the sangeet.

Wedding
The Wedding with 150 guests was a mix of Punjabi and Bunt traditions. The sehrabandi, chuda and kalire ceremony was held and Raj arrived in a chariot to the wedding venue. The wedding was solemnized in the traditional style of the Bunt community. Spa and beauty therapists from Kiran’s spas and salons were present to provide massage and styling services to the guests.

Food
The lavish buffet at the wedding comprised Hyderabadi and Awadhi dishes from Mumbai’s A-list caterer- Sanjay Vazirani who runs Foodlink.

Watch this space for more information on the Grand reception for 400 guests at the Grand Hyatt!

Tags: Aditya Motwane, Geeta Samuel, Gurlein Manchanda Puri, Kiran Bawa, Martin Da Costa, Meher Sarid, Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty, Vandana Mohan