Meera and Keval, Fairmont Ajman, UAE

After a surprises-laded proposal in Dubai, Meera and Keval wanted no surprises on their wedding, so they picked their vendors carefully such as WeddingSutra Favorite – Vivaah Weddings to be held at the luxurious Fairmont Ajman, UAE. As a result, their nuptials with its cool thematic events went off smoothly. Here, bride Meera shares some interesting highlights and stunning pictures of the events.

How We Met
“I’m from Kenya, and at the time Keval and I met, I was working in London. We lived in completely different sides of the city and hardly had any mutual friends, however, both of us were using DilMil which is a dating app. It so happened that the both of us passed each other’s filters for the kind of people we were looking for respectively. Soon after we got talking, Keval suggested that we meet, and I kept declining his request for the longest time. However, when we met, we quickly realized that we were perfect for each other.”

The Proposal
“Our story, I would say, has had a winter theme, in a way. Both of us met on Christmas Eve. We saw each other for a year and the following December, he met my parents and sister. During this visit, he also asked my father if he could marry me. Once he got his permission, he went ahead and planned an elaborate proposal for me. He planned a trip for both of us but was unwilling to reveal the destination until the very last minute. He made me apply for a Schengen visa which got me thinking that we were going somewhere in the UK. He even made dummy reservations in a couple of hotels to have me convinced. Later he had me believe that HongKong was our destination and finally it turned out that we were heading to Dubai. When it came to telling me where we were staying in Dubai, once again, he was back with his tricks. He told me that we would be staying at Sofitel Dubai The Palm Resort & Spa, but our cab took us starlight to Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah. That is a property that I love, and I was thrilled that we would be staying there. Once we checked in, we went for the Friday brunch at the hotel where he kept telling me not to have drinks. We left the place quite early after which we went to the Dubai Marina. When we reached there, I saw that he had a yacht booked for the two of us. We went aboard and it took us around for a before it stopped at the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah and that’s where he proposed to me.”

Wedding Venue
“We wanted to host a destination wedding because Keval and I have our families spread across Kenya, Britain, Australia, and India. Keeping in this in mind, we felt that UAE would be the ideal location.

Our wedding venue was suggested to us by Arun and Rahul of Vivaah Weddings who were also our wedding planners. When we were flying to UAE, they had planned for us a few site visits. We checked out a few properties before going to Fairmont Ajman, but after seeing this hotel, we didn’t have to look any further. The view of the open waters from the rooms was breathtaking, the lady who was showing us around was lovely and very helpful, they had experience in managing Indian weddings – which was an important pre-requisite for us, and they said that we could take our vows on the helipad. All of this pretty much sealed the deal for us. The hospitality at the hotel was just amazing. They gave us an upgrade and put us up at the hotel’s penthouse, and the team spoiled me as a bride which made me feel special.”

Wedding Planning
“Our nuptials were organized by Vivaah Weddings, and we found them via a Google search for the best wedding planners in Dubai. We liked their ideas and their approach. What I liked best is that they are easy to get in touch with. Arun is more of the operations and logistics kind of a person while Rahul is the one who is in touch with the brides and knows how they are feeling. Rahul has seen my bridezilla moments, but he was so patient with everything. They are a very organized team and gave us a list of things that they would need from us and tweaked the requirements based on our feedback.

Raja Shah of Clearvision Photography was our wedding photographer. He is based in the UK which made it easier for us to coordinate the shortlisting of the pictures, the details of the wedding album, and other details. Vasudev Mehta was the pandit at our wedding and music was taken care of by Shiv Gopal Mehta. Resham Moorjani of Moor Designs created our wedding invites. We worked on it together, and all the artwork on the cards were created in alignment with the colors of the decor that would have been seen at the wedding.”

Wedding Functions

Welcome Lunch
“We kicked off our wedding celebrations with an informal welcome lunch which we called ‘Marhaba.’ We kept our first function interesting yet made sure that our guests could look forward to what was in store next and then be bowled over by the larger scale of the next event.”

Beach Party
“The beach party took place on the same day. The party began at 5 pm and when on till midnight. The theme for this was ‘Carnival,’ and the dress code was florals for the ladies, and linen for the men. I wore a plain blue dress which had flowers in the bottom while Keval opted for a beige suit. We had floral decor and a gorgeous photo booth. The pictures clicked there were sent to the rooms of all our guests as memories that they could take away from the wedding. We had fire dancers, lots of music, a percussionist, Walter Scalzone – who was amazing, and even a team of mixologists who go by the name The Flaming Trio. Everyone partied together and danced the night away. The decor was done by Timeless Events, and they were good with their concepts and ideas. They were so easy to connect with and understood exactly what I wanted.”

Mehndi
“Our ‘Moroccan Mehndi’ was held at the Arabic themed restaurant at the hotel. The space was so nicely done that we needed very minimal decor. We had floral arrangements and the vibe once again was fairly informal. For entertainment, we had tanoura dancers and a Turkish ice cream man who performed tricks with his desserts. We also had sheesha because that’s something Keval and I bond over with our friends. The function was held by the pool, so a lot of our guests swam and some even played cards.”

Sangeet
“‘Mughal Mystique’ was the theme of our sangeet, and we had our friends emcee the whole event as well as give speeches. To us, that felt like a way of making everything more personal. My nine-year-old niece and I did solos. Other performances included my dance with my sisters, a medley to which my friends danced and a surprise performance by my cousins. Our mixologists created cocktails and mocktails that were not only created especially for our wedding but also christened after our names and our wedding hashtag.”

Wedding
“Keval and I had our pheras in the evening, and Keval chose to enter the venue on a camel instead of on a horse. Our mandap featured these beautiful spirals that were created using fresh flowers, and the overall appearance was ombre. We exchanged our vows just as the sun was setting, and it was just magical. At one point, the weather had got so windy that the water was coming onto the helipad and we were forced to consider another venue option. However, it got slightly better just in time for our ceremony because of which we could proceed with the location that we had our heart set on. Even during the pheras, the wind was fairly strong because of which we could feel the mist around us, which, in my opinion, felt nice. I walked down the aisle to a song that I had pre-recorded and Keval, and I left quickly after a happy ‘vidai’ (farewell for the bride) because I was very sure that I did not want to cry at my wedding.”

Reception
“As I said, I feel like, our story has had a winter theme to it, so we were keen on representing that in some way at our wedding. The theme for our reception, therefore, was ‘Frosted.’ The decor here was just mindblowing, and we weren’t expecting it to be anything like the way it turned out. There was fake snow on the stage and the dancefloor, the tables looked like ice cubes, and our cake came down from the ceiling. It was beyond what we had expected in every sense. We had canapés and cocktails on the menu. Keval and I entered and had our first dance which our friend Shiksha helped us choreograph. On this night, we had speeches by our family and Raaga Factory, a band from Dubai, played live during dinner.”

Advice for Couples
“Be sure to chill out as that way you will have a lot more fun at your wedding. Brides should start their skincare a few months before the wedding, not just a few days. In terms of organization, what we did when we went shopping in India was that we stapled the receipts in a book. We wrote down the expected arrival dates to keep track of all that we had purchased and had to collect before we left. We also made a note in the book when an order was delivered. This made our lives so much easier.”

The Wedding Makers
Venue: Fairmont Ajman, UAE
Wedding Planner: Vivaah Weddings
Decor: Timeless Events
Makeup Artist and Hairstylist: Dimple Shah
Entertainment: Walter Scalzone (Beach Party) Shiv Gopal Music (Phera Music), Raaga Factory (Reception)
Pandit: Vasudev Mehta
DJ: DJ Rugrat
Invitations: Moor Designs
Mixologist: The Flaming Trio
Photography: Raja Shah of Clearvision Photography

Videography: H.O.M Productions – The Story Tellers

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