About the Couple
Ekta qualified as a lawyer but is a professional mehendi artist since the last 12 years. She and her mother Usha Shah are popularly known as the mother-daughter duo in the field of mehendi. Originally from Bombay, Ekta is married and settled in the US where she plans to pursue professional mehendi and wedding decor.

Dharmesh Kansara is originally from Bombay. He completed mechanical engineering in US and has been working since ten years. He works in the Automotive field and specializes in designing and engineering car seat mechanisms.

How they Met
Says Ekta: "I met him through Nehal, our common friend. I was not keen on settling in US so was uninterested in meeting him, but my friend insisted that he was a really nice guy and I should meet him just once, and then decide. We met for the first time on December 26th. Me and my parents were supposed to be at his home in Andheri, Mumbai at around 8:00 pm. But we were stuck in the usual Mumbai traffic and reached his place at 11:30 pm. We couldn't talk much that day and at the end of our conversation he asked if we could meet again. To my surprise I replied in the affirmative as I had earlier decided not to proceed beyond the first meeting. We met the day after at The Palms, Oberoi. I then realized that he was the one for me. As they say I could feel the tingle in my heart."

"We decided to meet up for lunch the next day as I was leaving for Goa on the same evening, to celebrate New Years Eve. He picked me up from my home and we went to Trattoria, President for lunch. From there we moved to Café Mocha where we hung around for a while. That afternoon I wished the moment would last forever….

"I wanted to stay back in Mumbai and spend time with him, but I had to go to Goa and moreover my family was not keen I settle in USA. But in Goa I realized how much I wanted to be with him and how much I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I was supposed to come back on Jan 5th and he was leaving for US that morning. We SMSed each other during my stay in Goa, but I did not show any positive signs as I was unsure on how to handle my family."

"I came back a day early just to discuss things with my family and convinced them without informing him. We invited his family over, but my family was still unsure about the whole thing. I went to see him off at the airport leaving the matter undecided. Call it fate or whatever, his flight was over booked and he was given the option of flying out the next day. I was speechless when he came back with his luggage. This gave me one more day to convince my family. I went home and told my family that either I would marry him or would remain single. Our engagement was decided at the airport minutes before he left."

Informal Sangeet and Haldi Rasam
Anugrah Bunglow, Juhu
24th July, 2003

It was an informal function, where my mothers brother gave me my wedding outfit and bangles. Haldi and mehendi for all the family members took place followed by dancing and dinner.

Mehendi/Sangeet and Engagement
Sunville, Worli
25th July 2003

I designed the décor for this event. We had umbrellas decorated with flower lines, and roots with series lights from behind depicting the rain. It was a perfect backdrop inspired from the sets of the movie 'Monsoon Wedding'. Dharmesh wore a white Lucknawi Kurta from Telon, Warden Road, Mumbai and I wore a Ghagara Choli designed by Trupti Shah of Mumbai. I wore a combination of floral and gold jewellery.

It was a touching moment as my mother Usha Shah and our colleagues did my mehendi at home. The mehendi design was inspired by Mughal paintings, and the mehendi, which was my mother's dream design went all the way till the arms. The designs on both hands had symbols of Ganesha as both of us are strong believers in Ganeshji. The hands depicted Radha Krishna in RasLila as I am extremely fond of dancing. The main design on the left hand depicted a Moghul queen doing her shringar and putting kajal in her eyes to prevent any bad luck. For the other hand, I had the bride sitting in the Doli waiting for the groom. She crafted a traditionally carved doli, with me dressed in the wedding outfit. I got my feet done up to my knees. The feet had elephants blowing trumpets and dancing on the Dholak. I had two dancing peacocks as my main design, as they would dance on the first rain. It was a unique gift from my mother.. a design so unique, one which was never done before and one which will never be repeated."

Ekta shows off her mehendi	Chocolate Mocha Cake

For the sangeet, we had an excellent orchestra by Sudhir Joshi and 16 performances by close family members and friends. There was a special surprise performance by Avni Shah whose dances were based on the theme of Pardes and Barsat. The sangeet was followed by the engagement after which we cut the cake- a special chocolate mocha from Deserts R Us, a three tiered cake with images of the bride and the groom.