Introductions v2.0 - Where are you on your wedding planning?

Re: Introductions v2.0 - Where are you on your wedding planning?

• mrs.khan

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  MrsBM- I really can't wait to see your pictures! I'm sure they are gorgeous.
  
  I got engaged Nov. 2008 and have been apart from my jaan since then as we are working on his visa. We just got the much anticipated and dreamed of call from the Embassy today to pick up his visa! We are ecstatic right now.  For our visa type, we need to be married within 90 days of his entering the USA, so I am starting to plan a small, last-minute wedding.  It was impossible to plan anything until we had the visa in hand.  He should be arriving this weekend!!!!!!!
  (We will have a small wedding here and then the large, multi-day extravaganza in Bangladesh in about 1 year.)
  
  I'm sure I will be on here a lot over the next few weeks to get ideas and suggestions.  Everyone is so helpful.

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• rsharma3

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  Hi there

  
  

  Congrats on your recent wedding MrsBM! I'm sure you're relieved it's all over. 

  
  

  I'm a Punjabi Hindu bride marrying a Hindu groom from Chennai. We met at work & are totally in love!  I have major things done for my wedding. Now it's just getting details & small things done. The hall, caterer, dhol players/DJ, decorations, horse, photog, make/hair, and clothes are all done. Just have to put the finishing touches on, but those small details seem overwhelming at times. As far as my timeline .........

  
  

  My wedding is 10.9.10 in Atlanta, GA, and it's an outdoor wedding. The festivities will start on 10.2.10 with a 7pm sangeet with the groom & his fam present. We're expecting about 100-125 guests. All of the planning for that event is taken care of. 

  
  

  Then we're having a chawnki the following day. 

  
  

  Weds 10.6 we're having the pithi on (I'm nervous about it wearing off my mehndi so I'm doing it early). That is all taken care of as well. 

  
  

  Thursday 10.7 is a small Mehndi ceremony w/about 35-40 guests. All of that is also taken care of.  

  
  

  Friday 10.8 is when I'll get my nails redone & last errands. We'll also be picking up our friends from the airport and having a small dinner w/the bridal party. I'll also plan on not getting any sleep that night from nerves.

  
  

  Then 10.9.10

  6am Get up to start the traditions and get going to the hotel.

  
  

  8am I'll start getting ready and have a small breakfast for about 40 family members who'll be there w/us getting ready. 

  11am is his baraat. 

  11:45 is my entrance. Then we'll do all the fun games & ceremony. Lunch/snacks are served during this time.

  2 is the Vidaai will be done by 2:30. 

  2:30 Photos & customs

  4:30 back at hotel to start getting ready for reception

  6pm Cocktail hour

  7pm reception doors open

  7:30 We make our first appearance as husband and wife at the reception. Then fam intros, first dance, speeches, 3 dances from friends, comedic video skit my bro is making, 

  9pm Dinner is served

  10pm Dancing starts & we have to be out by 1amish

  
  

  Then maybe an after party in downtown Atlanta. Phew...........I'm tired writing about it! Sorry this was a lot to read.

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• raangoli

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  Wow rsharma - you really have everything in order already! I might have to borrow from your day of timeline
  
  MrsKhan - I am so excited that your FI got his visa and you'll be married soon! You must be estatic!
  
  My FI and I are getting marred this November 21st after a short engagement of 6 months. Ack!
  
  We will be having a traditional Hindu ceremony (even though FI is American) that will be immediately followed by our cocktail hour and reception here in NJ.
  
  For the ceremony, we will both be wearing traditional clothing: FI will be sporting a sherwani (very simple) and I have a panetar. For the reception, I will change into a less formal wedding gown and he will be changing into a charcoal grey suit with an orange tie.
  
  Which brings me to our colors: we went with traditional fall colors of burgundy, a mango-orange, and hints of gold and ivory.
  
  Hopefully our vision of simple, classic and elegant comes across as that and not just sparse and meager!
  

  

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• Trupti8584 member

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  Hello there..Nice to hear from you ladies. Thanks to Mrs.BM, we will know more about each other.
  
  I am a hindu bride from Bangalore marrying a hindu groom from Gujurat. He and I went to the same grad school and were best buddies for 2 years before falling for each other. Our parents recently met and decided on 12/26/2010 as our wedding date. The wedding will be in India since both our fams are in India. We are trying to include both our cultures in the wedding.
  
  The wedding planning is mostly being taken care of by my parents. Being the micro manager that I am, its very difficult to let go but I am making the best use of technology and exchanging a lot of notes/pictures with the vendors and my parents to make sure they get an idea of what I have in mind. We are still in early stages of planning and yet to finalize any vendors.
  I willbe flying to India 15 days prior and I'm really worried about that. Hopefully I don't fall sick and everything goes smooth.

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• kpwedkk member

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  @ Mrs BM, I too can't wait to see your pictures
  @ Mrs.Khan, I'm happy for you and your fiance!!  Happiness flood your home!!
  @ RSharma, Wow, you are on top of your planning!! You are a beautiful bride!
  @ Trupti, I think your parents can pull it off, with you as the manager!  Don't worry about flying to India, the more you worry, the more you'll get sick... Just think about your fiance, and the wedding, and all other worries will melt away!!
  
  So my story - I'm still considering myself a newlywed....  We got married March 21, 2009 (so we just flew past our 1st anniversary!)
  
  I'm from the states, 5th generation Indian, and my DH is from South India (1st generation). We met on an Indian matrimonial website, and conversed for many months, by email and phone.  And we did everything the proper way, he asked permission of my parents, we got approval from his parents, and we had a roller-coaster of planning, but we did it together as a large family (in laws and all)!
  
  Our wedding was beyond amazing, and I wouldn't redo it, or trade it in, or go back and change anything about it. We had so much help from our relatives and friends, and immediate family, that goes beyond all material things :-) We are honored to be a part of the both families, and will keep them close to our hearts for as long as we live :-)
  
  Our wedding schedule - Our wedding ceremony/reception was set in Phoenix.
  5 am - relatives started cooking for wedding lunch
  6 am - get up, get something to eat - fruits, drink some water.
  7 am - mua/hair stylist/helper with jewelry/dress
  8 am - Everyone else getting ready
  9 am - drive to temple with parents, and priests
  9:30 - the baraat arrives with dhol
  10am - Wedding starts
  1pm - Wedding lunch begins
  2pm - Bride/Groom go off for portraits
  4pm - same mua/hair person comes back for reception outfit change
  6pm - cocktail hour starts - snacks/fruits/drinks (bar open)
  7:15pm - guests allowed to enter reception, pick up a glass of champagne on the way for the toasts.
  7:30pm - new Mr/Mrs walks through the doors + speeches (bar closed)
  8pm - dances by friends + cousin (bar closed)
  8:30pm - Mr/Mrs first dance (bar closed)
  8:35pm - Dance floor open, and dinner buffet open (bar reopens)
  12:55am - last song (mostly everyone stayed!!)
  1:30am - reception ends..
  
  

  

  
  
  2:30am - everyone gets home
  3:30am - drive to the airport to get on with the honeymoon travels!!
  
  So of the 100 families that were invited, 300+people showed up!  Planning a wedding in Phoenix, we went against the norm of hiring the most expensive coordinators who think they have the best vendors, and interviewed the vendors etc to find a group of professionals that enjoyed working together, and now have their own lists!  Promote local businesses rock!
  
  For all the meals, they were all vegetarian!  But I was surprised to find many guests coming up to us loving the CHICKEN?!  (Maybe they meant the textured vegetable protein! hehe or soya chunks)
  
  I had two pre-wedding events before hand - the Mehendi (Thursday), and the Haldi Ceremony (Friday) with over 100 guests at my parent's home each night.  Home cooked food on the premises as well.
  
  
  

  

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

  
  Wedding Colors - We wanted a progressive look, adding to the decor between lunch and dinner.  For the lunch, we had Burgundy tie-backs on the white chairs with cushions. 
  
  The centerpieces, were only the top most tier of the three tiered centerpiece with the calla lilies.  The rest with the candles, the additional two tiers with floating candles and floralytes at the bottom came at dinner.  We also had low bowls with gerbera daisies with candles in the middle.
  
  I made my own centerpiece setting because what ever there was, wasn't what I wanted...  I wanted the centerpieces to glow, extra intimate light sources around
  
  

  

  
  
  
  So at lunch it was Burgundy and White and at dinner it was Burgundy with Gold, with White accents (because they were from lunch)
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  Flowers - I purchased the flowers (about 1500+) in bulk from costco.com.  I totally recommend this option because all of the flowers were used, and it gave my relatives something to do, and out of my hair   I purchased carnations, calla lillies and gerbera daisies.
  - Carnations - used for the mandap open sides and flowers for the guests to bless us with, and the garlands (which were made by a very close friend)
  
  

  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  - Gerbera Daisies - used for the low centerpieces
  
  
  

  

  
  Calla Lillies - used for the 3-tiered cylinder centerpieces (seen above)
  
  Realistically we wanted to spend $30k, but it creeped up to $65k when we brought in musicians from out of state, paid for tickets for dancers, and pandits (we had 4), decor, outfits, food (lots and lots of food actually) and helped out with hotel accomodations for in-laws family.
  
  Currently: We are settling into our new space together.
  
  Our advice to all new brides and grooms out there -
  1) Learn to laugh... a lot!
  2) Make a plan (it sounds easy, but get something down on paper)
  3) Check rules and regulations of your Priest, Pastor, Justice of Peace, and state laws to see what's in order (and what's not) for having a marriage there.
  4) Remember to breathe, and take a few weekends or weekdays out of the wedding planning process and don't talk about the wedding during that time (it's like wearing a silent sign for a day)
  5) Remember that in the end, it's not your day alone, friends and family have traveled from far to celebrate the union that you and your fiance are about to embark on.
  6) Things won't go right, in fact they'll go better than you've ever thought possible. If there's an objection and it ends in a tackle, that's called waking up and entertaining the guests (and it was all for free hehehe)
  
  I hope that helps You can also check out our wedsite in my signature for more pictures

  
  "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." ~ Miss K ~
  

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• MrsBM member

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_south-asian-weddings_introductions-v20-wedding-planning?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:430Discussion:1d561a3e-bc04-4a29-a660-9c3dcf4db255Post:285980f8-a2a5-47a3-83e2-c7cb7165e8eb">Re: Introductions v2.0 - Where are you on your wedding planning?</a>:
  [QUOTE]
  4) Remember to breathe, and take a few weekends or weekdays out of the wedding planning process and don't talk about the wedding during that time (it's like wearing a silent sign for a day)
  Posted by kpwedkk[/QUOTE]
  
  Yes! those were the best weekends!  When you didnt have to do any wedding related stuff and you could just relax. 
  
  [QUOTE]
  5) Remember that in the end, it's not your day alone, friends and family have traveled from far to celebrate the union that you and your fiance are about to embark on.
  Posted by kpwedkk[/QUOTE]
  
  What an interesting piece of advice. !!!  What I found in my case was that I and my hubby had planned everything and therefore to keep people involved and "part of the wedding" was to delegate!  BRIDES: do not shy away from delegating tasks.  My in laws took care of the reception favours, my neighbours took care of the sangeet favours and ceremony programs.
  
  But on the flip side, not everyone will mean welll. Some people will want to take over and get the spot light, they won't listen to your requests nor will they care to ask what you'd like.   Be careful of those people and make sure you are smiling even if inside you're feel ringing someones neck LOL

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• MrsBM member

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_south-asian-weddings_introductions-v20-wedding-planning?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:430Discussion:1d561a3e-bc04-4a29-a660-9c3dcf4db255Post:aaeb42b7-803f-4cc3-b828-d9a62b54aa81">Re: Introductions v2.0 - Where are you on your wedding planning?</a>:
  [QUOTE] The wedding planning is mostly being taken care of by my parents. Being the micro manager that I am, its very difficult to let go but I am making the best use of technology and exchanging a lot of notes/pictures with the vendors and my parents to make sure they get an idea of what I have in mind. Posted by Trupti8584[/QUOTE]
  
  Wow Trupti...brave girl!
  
  The good thing about India is that they can make anything happen!
  
  As for not getting sick before your wedding...don't drink any water from a tap...that includes fruits or food items that have water from the tap (as opposed to bottled water)

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• Trupti8584 member

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  @Mrs BM, you can call me brave but the truth is I have been stressing crazy over it :P
  Hats off to you girls for pulling it off..as for me, I have already lost a lot of tress to stress. However, I am blessed with wonderful parents. They have been extremely sweet from the beginning, visiting so many different vendors, checking their work personally, sending me feedback/pictures, etc.
  FI is being a typical guy and doesn't want to suggest ANYTHING.
  Yes, I am worried about falling sick exactly because of water. I plan to carry bottled water with me wherever I go atleast until the wedding. :P
  
  @kp wow..one year already..congrats! I checked out your pics..you two look lovely and thank you for the tips, we need it!

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• kpwedkk member

  

  August 2010 edited December 2011

  I'm sure there's more tips and tricks too, but if one gets obsessive (I was one of those OCD brides), then you really do lose sight of your day, only because everyone has an opinion to share (good or bad) about any specific wedding task that you ask for help on or not! LOL

  
  "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." ~ Miss K ~
  

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