Kiran and Amar, London
A bit of London, a bit of Punjab and a whole lot of love, this couple’s wedding was truly enchanting!
Kiran and Amar’s gorgeous wedding brought the sun from out behind the clouds literally and figuratively. Crediting WeddingSutra Favorite Amore London for creating much of a wonderful celebration, the couple is also grateful to WeddingSutra Favorite Shaadi Videography who preserved all the special moments, big and little.
The bride shares with us the highlights of their wedding.
How We Met
“I was introduced to Amar by my cousin who had been friends with him since school. We hit it off immediately and over the next five years became best friends. When it was time to introduce Amar to my Mum and Dad, like me, they instantly fell in love with him.”
Proposal
“We went to Croatia in the summer of 2016. One evening Amar booked a restaurant in the mountains on the island of Brac. We drove up in a rented convertible VW 1994. As Amar tried to nervously propose, I was too busy frantically trying to avoid the many wasps. After what was otherwise a romantic dinner, we went for a walk in the olive gardens and stopped by a wall where the view of the sunset over the mountains was truly breathtaking. He finally got his chance to propose and I couldn’t have been happier!”
Wedding Venue
“We hosted a party after our wedding ceremony at the River view Suite at the InterContinental London – The O2. I booked the venue without actually visiting it. The hotel has a contemporary feel with beautiful views of the River Thames and the London skyline. I thought it would work perfectly because it was very different from Wrotham Park, the venue for our reception, which took place the day after.
Wrotham Park is a neo-palladian English Country House Mansion located in Hertfordshire surrounded by 300 acres of parkland. There are no words to describe the house; a truly magnificent building surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns. As soon as we saw it we could not get the image of it out of our heads. Not many Indian weddings take place at Wrotham Park, so there was also its exclusive appeal. The house is full of old paintings and portraits. The French windows open out to a grand dual stone staircase that overlooks the grounds.”
Wedding Planning
“Urvashi, Hemali, and Nikki from Amore London were our wedding planners and their work speaks for them. From the moment I contacted them, I knew they would be able to help plan our wedding to perfection. Their knowledge and industry relationships helped us tremendously. They know the best of the best and pride themselves on creating a truly memorable, sophisticated event that you and your guests will remember forever.
Their wider network – Shaadi Videography, Osman Ghani and recommended list of service providers, from makeup, production, DJ’s and cake designer are all on point and some of the best in the industry. This team creates magic by putting together themes that are awe-inspiring and everyone is very professional, friendly, approachable and work so well together. Thank you, Amore, for creating magic on our big day!
Osman Ghani Photography for The Amore Collection were our photographers while Shaadi Videography for The Amore Collection was in charge of the videography.”
Wedding Functions
Wedding
“Amar and I had a Sikh Wedding ceremony in a Gurudwara. I wore a red and gold Bordeaux lehenga by Manish Malhotra that featured hand embroidery rendered in a flattened metallic wire. The skirt came with a custom made blouse and I loved the rich colors of this outfit. It was my favorite despite the fact that it weighed about 14 pounds! To complete the look, I wore a handpiece and chooda by JazziBindi and a cut glass and gold necklace with earrings and a maangtika. Amar wore a gold and red sherwani that was bought from Lals in London.”
After Party
“Amore did a stunning black, white and gold city theme with hints of pink through the flowers to bring in some softness to the look. The decor complimented the contemporary, chic setting of the hotel. For the entertainment, we decided to keep it simple and had a saxophonist play as guests arrived into the drink reception. It was subtle and worked perfectly with the theme. During the party we, of course, had dhol players – after all, every Punjabi wedding would be incomplete without dhol! My sister Anisha, who couldn’t manage to steal Amar’s shoes in the gurudwara, found an opportunity when he took them off in the hotel room! He had to do 3 dares over the course of the night and pay up and only then did he get his shoes back. No wonder we took so long to arrive at the reception party!”
Reception
“For our reception at Wrotham Park, Amore London and their team of talented suppliers transformed our marquee into something straight out of a fairytale. The decor followed an enchanted theme with a great emphasis on the little details. Prominent features like florals, dancing fountains, cirque performers and a stunning chandelier transported all the way from Holland were balanced with finer elements such as the table dressing, the cake and bespoke dance floor design.
Creating this marquee entailed many logistical challenges and took over 2 weeks to build. Although we got married at the peak of summer, it had been raining heavily in the days leading up to the wedding. However, we were extremely lucky as the sun shone brightly on our wedding and everyone got to enjoy the stunning grounds. Everything came together perfectly and our guests were blown away.
On the day of the event, Amore had this idea that for our first dance we should stand on the steps leading to the dance floor with the fountains overlapping and dancing over our heads. It was one of those spontaneous ideas that ran the risk of soaking us if it went wrong! Nikki from Amore stepped up to the challenge and we’re so glad she did because looking back at the photos and video, we can see how stunning it looked!
I wore a spectacular lavender-grey ball gown by Manish Malhotra. Replete with reflective sequins in a mystical floral pattern across the gown, it depicted his knack for bringing together unconventional color tones to create an absolutely unique hue for the modern bride. Amar complemented my outfit with a tuxedo from Scabal London.”
Advice To Couples
1. Hire a professional and highly experienced wedding planner. Amore London has a fantastic vision, they work with the best suppliers and plan and design your day to perfection – a great team indeed!
2. Have a theme and work to it.
3. Eventually, everything will work out. Planning can be stressful, especially with a big Indian wedding. However, we always said when it came to the week of our wedding we would enjoy ourselves and cherish every moment, which we truly did. I would do it all over again and we definitely had a serious wedding blues after it was over.
4. They say it is the best day of your life and it truly was for us!
Wedding Makers
Venues: InterContinental London – The O2 (After Party), Wrotham Park (reception)
Wedding Planner & Event Design: Amore London
Bride’s Outfits: Manish Malhotra (Wedding and Reception)
Groom’s Outfits: Lals (Wedding), Scabal London (Reception)
Jewellery: JazziBindi
Makeup Artist: Patti Panue
Hairstylist: Mukhtar Rehman
Mehndi: Ash Kumar
Photography: Osman Ghani Photography
Videography: Shaadi Videography
