Anjan and Shweta
It all began when Anjan moved to Australia from the U.S in 2011. It was then that we met through his cousin’s sister. A few weeks later, we caught up for a casual evening coffee along the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne. Starting then and in the weeks and months to come, we embarked on a wonderful journey of discovering each other; the things we had in common, the things we admired in each other and most importantly…… the things we loved about each other. We dated for about two years before Anjan took me back to the place where we first met and proposed on bended knee. Needless to say; I said “YES”!!
Anjan describes me as bubbly, honest, kind and most of all a loving person who always has “a million things to say”! I describe Anjan as a very calm, patient and sensitive person who is extremely caring towards everyone around him. I do think he is the funniest person I have ever met and because of him I smile more and laugh harder…. (Like never before)
We then excitedly launched into months of planning our wedding, fully supported by our loving parents, family and friends. Since we are originally from India and most of our family are back there we decided to hold our wedding in India. We wanted to make the wedding an event and to spend time with our guests for multiple days. We had a couple of pre-wedding events such as the Mehendi (Henna) ceremony and cocktail dinner at night the day before the wedding. The pre-wedding events were a blast and we had a great time with our friends and family. A few days after the wedding we had a dinner reception in Delhi- my hometown. My outfit was designed by Shubhangni Singh and Anjan’s outfit was from Diwan Saheb . The moments at this event were captured by Simply Push Photography. This marked the end of the week long wedding celebration which we were blessed to experience.
Images by Simply Push
My wedding gown was from Raffaele Ciuca. There was just something so romantic and dramatic about the lace, the long train and the back of the gown. My Victorian style earrings were from GlamorousBijoux and the vintage design rhinestone hair comb from Labelle Chanson. I got the personalised “Mrs Vincent” gown hanger from lilafrances.
The groomsmen wore black suits and the bridesmaids wore coral pink dresses. Linda Lee from Nun and also my maid of honour and closest childhood friend designed the dresses for the bridesmaids. Anjan wore a black suit with a Navy tie.
We decided to hold the ceremony at the beautiful Taj- Fisheman’s cove just outside of Chennai-India which also happens to be Anjan’s hometown. The main reason we chose Taj- Fisheman’s cove was the amazing uninterrupted view of the beach from the venue, the reputation for quality food and the most genuine staff. The staff were incredibly helpful, professional and friendly throughout the whole process. Being the only child I walked down the aisle with both mom and dad.
We wanted to really focus on the details, because that is what makes the wedding memorable. We tried to include as many personalized details as possible and included various DIY elements to not only save money but to make our wedding reflect us as a couple. We wanted a very rustic and romantic feel to the wedding. The colour scheme was coral pink, ivory and dull gold. We had a canopy of fairy lights, candles and paper lamps over the ceremony/reception area for a very dreamy feel. We ordered our ring box from Teomil – it was a very cute rustic box with our names and wedding date on it. We also had a “tree of love” – thumbprints and signatures of our guests on a frame. We had pictures from our childhood with our families as part of the décor. For wedding favours we gave away home-made chocolates inside some really cute bride and groom shaped boxes.
Our wedding planners Neethi and Sowmya from Purplerings were extremely good and very helpful given we did most of the planning from Melbourne. For candid photography we had Sneha and Venkatesh Coffee Stains who were brilliant and Prasheila Lookhar from Going Bananas Photography. Prasheila also happens to be one of my very close friends and made our wedding day super special with the amazing pictures she took! It was great to see the wedding through her lens. A short video was also created by Rahul Datta from Starving Artist Videos.
Image by Going Bananas Photography
We wanted to keep the rustic vintage theme throughout and loved the idea of a simple wedding cake. We ended up with chocolate cake with white chocolate layers. It was to die for! We found the customised Mr & Mrs Vincent cake topper from Etsy (ThePinkOwlGifts). We also had a photo booth at the wedding using props from PhotoBoothgirls and some of the customised props were hand made by my friend Dolly Singh.
Image by Going Bananas Photography
When I think about our wedding day, what I remember most is laughing and dancing a lot and feeling surrounded by so much love. So many huge smiles and laughs! It was the most beautiful day. We were thrilled with the presence of family and friends on the wedding day. Having all our beautiful family and friends come over from various parts of the world made our day. Being surrounded by all your favourite people is a really special and overwhelming experience. It was so precious to see all of our loved ones enjoying each other’s company. It was a day full of love and friendship and we couldn’t have asked for anything else. We along with our guests dined and danced under the stars and the cool sea breeze.
If I had one piece of advice for other brides-to-be planning their weddings, it would be to make sure your day is built around what you and your partner love and value. Also, make sure you take a moment together during and after the wedding to reflect on the day… it will be one of the most memorable day of your life but it goes by very quickly, so soak it up!
Images by Coffee Stains / Going Bananas Photography / Simply Push
Ms Gingham says: Such colour, light and happiness. Congratulations Anjan and Shweta!
Shweta says: “We recently got married in India and we live in Melbourne. We are both Indians settled now in Melbourne.”
Beautiful pictures and such a lovely coverage Shweta. Blessed to be your makeup artist for such an important day of your life. God bless both of you. Keep smiling as when you smile you look like a flower…:-)
Wow, looks nice. Guys sitting on boat says that this is a sea side wedding but pics are missing to show this.
Beautiful wedding! the white peonies are stunning! Lovely photography and planning.
Wow! Beautiful Shots. This is really a great work by photographer in capturing these gorgeous moments. Loved it.