About the Couple
Shashi is working as an IT Consultant for a leading worldwide management consulting firm and Hiren is currently completing his Business Management degree.

How we met
Hiren and Shashi met in college, when he first started CSULB during her sophomore year there. The very first time they met was at a meeting for an Indian organization. Shashi recalls that as the first time she saw him, but according to Hiren, the first time he saw her was in an Economics class they had together.

They had a couple of classes together and through the years, became better friends. As Shashi graduated and took a job in Chicago, they stayed in touch more so than before. Throughout the years, whether near or far from each other, their friendship turned stronger and much deeper.

About the Engagement
On November 22nd 2001, there was a formal engagement ceremony that took place at Shashi's house in the presence of both their families and close friends.  On December 14th 2001, an engagement party was held for family and friends to celebrate the engagement.

What we Wore
For the wedding, Shashi wore a beautiful matte gold lengha with a beautiful deep red/burgandy border.  For the reception, she wore a gorgeous sexy custom-made Indo-western lengha that was shaded from baby pink to medium pink shimmering with little glittery sparkling stones.

For the wedding, Hiren wore a traditional beige sherwani with tiny bit of intricate deep red/burgandy design in the front.  For the reception, he wore a three button suit with peak collars and a silver tie to coordinate with the glimmer in Shashi's reception lengha.

	At their engagement
At the Garba

The Cake, First Dance, Centerpieces and Favors
The cake was a yummy 3 tiered white cake with red roses all over it.  The top and bottom tiers were marble cake with bavarian cream and the middle tier was chocolate cake with banana cream.  The dessert bar included delicious little tiny pastries and ras malai.

The first dance song was a favorite of the couple. They chose "From this Moment On" by Shania Twain and Brian McKnight since from the beginning they both connected to it.

The favors were music CD's made by the couple themselves.  Some guests were given Indian music CD's and other were given English music CD's.  The cover on the CD was of Shashi's favorite flowers - Calla Lillies - in Purple and Gold to represent the colors of Hiren's favorite basketball team - the
Los Angeles Lakers.

The idea behind the centerpieces was created by the couple themselves.  They wanted to have an out of the world romantic theme with lights and candles everywhere.  The centerpieces were huge martini or margarita glasses with ivy and tuling around the stem of the glasses.  Inside the glasses were string of white/ivory pearls that sunk to the bottom.  On top of that were 3 little floating candles.  These glasses were placed on a round mirror with 2 candles along side of the glasses with red rose petals spread on the mirror.

The couple's table was set up as a sweetheart table - with candles and TONS of red rose petals covering the table.  Their back-drop was a twinkle light backdrop with white pillars covered with ivy.

Guests toasted to the couple with raspberries in their champagne.

Words of advice on "Wedding Planning"
-Start the planning as early as possible - and look to have your
wedding/reception on Sundays because those are the days when venues are the most flexible. 

- Be open to having a mix of Indian catering along with other cuisines. 

- There are plenty on resources online such as weddingchannel.com and weddingsutra.com- but besides that get the help of your family and friends who have already done a lot for their weddings.