Shruti and Abhishek at Ramada Caravela, Goa
Abhishek went jogging with Shruti every morning to figure if she was THE one for him.
Our series, ‘Featured Weddings’ brings you wonderful moments from weddings held at the finest venues across different cities. Here, bride Shruti tells us all about their beach wedding festivities in Goa.
How we met
I’d go jogging to Juhu beach every morning with a common friend. Abhishek joined us a couple of times but we didn’t really talk much. My parents had already started looking for a potential match for me and I’d even met a few of them. A few months later, Abhishek and I met at the same common friend’s wedding in Pune. We ended up chatting a lot and hung out. When we got back to Mumbai, Abhishek started jogging with me every morning.
Two months later, he proposed marriage. I was surprised. I barely knew him and found it slightly random, so at first, I refused. But then I gave it some thought, discussed it with Abhishek and decided to give it a shot. Everything worked out, our families agreed. Of course, only later did Abhishek confess that he wasn’t a morning person at all and the only reason he made the effort to come jogging every morning was to figure out if I was ‘The One’ for him!
Wedding Venue
I’ve dreamed of a beach wedding since I was a young girl. Also Abhishek and I first met at the beach and we love the beach!
When you think of surreal beaches in Goa, the first place that comes to mind is Goa. It doesn’t get better than that! Both of us love Goa and we instantly knew that it would be the perfect destination for our wedding.
Wedding Functions
You know, WeddingSutra has featured a lot of beach weddings, which served as major inspiration. Pinterest was another website that I referred to a lot, for ideas.
We had a typical Punjabi themed mehndi function in the courtyard of Alila Diwa.
A bhangra troupe was called in to get the party started. The mocktail counter looked like a truck. The courtyard was bedecked with phulkari dupattas and we had a fun Bollywood housie session hosted by Hiral Kamani and her team (Taal Group), a tarot reader, a pottery wheel and several stalls. We served ‘mehndi’ themed cookies that would have been a task to organize if Amit Pathania, the chef at Alila Diwa hadn’t risen to the occasion.
The next morning, we took the festivities up a notch with a colourful beach carnival at Zuri beach featuring water sports, a rain dance, foam, massages, hair braiding, coconut water, golas and more. The idea was to give the guests a typical carnival rush.
Our sangeet at Zuri White Sands was an elegant affair with a royal purple and white colour scheme, sparkling crystals embedded in the décor. I was also very keen on having sparklers as part of our entry. Thanks to Laksh Events and our family and friends, we did manage a ‘sparkling’ entry!
The morning of the wedding started with a Mandap Mahurat by the poolside followed by the Haldi ceremony.
We really wanted a mandap on the beach and thanks to my father’s enthusiasm and the support of our wedding planners, we managed a beautiful, traditional and elegant mandap on the beach at Ramada Caravela, Goa. It was the perfect setting – the mandap with the sunset and waves behind us as renowned wedding singer Hiral Kamani and her team rendered soulful music in the background.
We had all our guests light and release sky-lanterns at the end of the wedding ceremony.
The reception on the grounds of the Ramada hotel was the fairy tale I always wanted: a galaxy of fairy lights, a rich white and gold colored colour scheme, chic centerpieces and a banquet table for a sit-down dinner. We also had a pianist perform. It doesn’t get dreamier than that!
The Wedding Makers
Wedding planners: Prasang Events & Entertainment (Ahmedabad), Laksh Events (Vadodara) and the decorators, Cross Craft (Goa). They were all such comfortable, intuitive people to work with.
Photography: Thee crazy, fun loving and hard working bunch of photographers from Love Dope Studios (Mumbai) captured intimate moments from our ceremonies, producing the most stunning photos.
Makeup & Hair- Bianca Louzado’s team did an outstanding job. I’d like to say a special thank you to WeddingSutra for putting us in touch with Love Dope Studios and Bianca’s team.
Outfits- Garde Robe by Nehal Mehta designed the outfits of my pre-wedding functions. Nehal has amazing taste and excellent fitting. She also did Abhishek’s mehndi outfit.
No Indian wedding is complete without delicious Indian desserts and Gangaur Sweets (Juhu, Mumbai) made sure that people put on a few extra kilos by the end of our wedding.
And lastly I have to mention the crazy enthusiasm and energy of our families who have supported us and made this wedding a dream come true!
Photos Courtesy- Love Dope Studios (Mumbai)
