×
WeddingSutra
WeddingSutra.com
GET - In Google Play
Install

Poonam and Hamel – Koh Samui, Thailand

Londoners Poonam and Hamel celebrated their Gujarati heritage at their beach wedding in Thailand. Here they share how they pulled off their cross-continental celebration with elan.

Wedding Venue
After exploring several venues, Poonam and Hamel decided to hire wedding experts Foreign Wedding Planners. “We talked and finally zeroed in on Phuket and Koh-Samui as probabilities and decided to recce them both before we finalized on one,” says Poonam.

Accompanied by Neha from Foreign Wedding Planners, the couple visited several resorts around Thailand until they got to Anantara Resort, Bophut in Koh Samui. “It was love at first sight for us!” Poonam explains, “It was intimate with incredibly lush landscaping.” And the couple went bananas for the resort mascot featuring coconuts and monkeys. “They used this everywhere from the driveways to the lobbies, from candle stands to table centerpieces, even the pool had statues of monkeys with coconuts!”

Wedding Planning
Poonam gives kudos to Foreign Wedding Planners for taking the lead with all the preparations, especially the food, as the resort doesn’t have an Indian chef. “They recommended Sagar Shah from Ahmedabad, and together they custom-designed a unique room itinerary in a calendar format.”

Foreign Wedding Planners also took care of all the elaborate arrangements for the three-day wedding festivities. “It turned out to be an awesome experience for us and our guests!” says Hamel, “The hospitality by Anantara group was very good as well, and they ensured that our guests were comfortable at all points.”

Wedding Events
Day 1 – Our festivities kicked off with a daytime Gujarati Mandavo ceremony, followed by a Mehndi lunch where the décor was done in colors of Green and Silver.

The evening was an absolute riot with a poolside water carnival complete with caricaturists, candy stalls, water guns, water games, floats and Russian mermaids too!

Day 2 – Our Pithi and Haldi ceremonies were held in the morning. After lunch, the wedding ceremony took place on the beach.

Hamel made his entrance on a majestic elephant accompanied by dhol players and bhangra dancers. I was carried in by my brothers, on a Palki chair. Post the ceremony, Hamel and I left on a speedboat!

Day 3 – The morning was free for the guests to explore Samui city. We hosted a grand black-tie reception in the evening. Thai drummers and dancers announced our entry into the venue, decorated with candles, in a silver and navy blue theme.

It was an elegant affair and we partied until the wee hours of the morning.

The Wedding Makers:
Wedding Planning & Decor- Foreign Wedding Planners
Wedding Itinerary designed by Sagar Shah (Ahmedabad)
Thai Cultural Dance organized by Tourism Authority of Thailand, Samui

Related Articles: