Ella and Ronak’s vibrant wedding weekend was a perfect reflection of their unique love story—a joyful blend of traditions, cultures, and fun. With three main events, they celebrated the coming together of their backgrounds in a way that felt truly “them.” The weekend kicked off with a colourful Indian cultural wedding, followed by a stunning Western marriage ceremony and reception at the historic State Library of Victoria. The festivities wrapped up with a lively Sangeet night at The Wool Mill, where they danced the night away, surrounded by the love and support of their family and friends. All captured through the talented lens of Art of Grace and Nudo Events!

Ella met Ronak through their Best Man, who introduced them on a boozy night out at the Dirty Swan in Richmond.

During an unassuming winter weekend away in Strathbogie, Ronak asked Ella to marry him. “It was a beautiful getaway where we just relaxed and sat around the fire. One of the days, we did a big hike with our dog, Gilbert. At the peak of the mountain, covered in mud and with no view because of the fog, Ronak proposed, having hiked up the mountain with the ring in the pocket of his basketball shorts!”

Ella wore this vibrant red lehenga for the Friday night event, which she was able to custom design with the help of her mother-in-law and own mum! “It was super special to be able to choose the details of that outfit, and I absolutely love how it came together.”

Her wedding party consisted of her four closest friends, each wearing a gorgeous light green lehenga that matched the florals.

The first event of their wedding weekend was a Hindu ceremony at Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs. Ronak wore a classic cream-coloured outfit full of beautiful embellishments that were the perfect contrast to Ella’s lehenga.

In his wedding party, Ronak had four members – a family friend, two school friends and Ella’s brother. “I wanted to make sure the groomsmen stood out from everyone else. We all went on a shopping trip and decided to get the same outfits in four different colours so they stood out, but you could tell they were part of the wedding party.”

As Friday was their most traditional event, Ronak entered the ceremony in a big procession. “Whilst I’m not the most traditional person, it was important for me to participate in these customs that have been passed down.”

They’d been to another wedding at this temple and absolutely loved everything about it. “It also came with the additional benefit of hosting many Indian weddings, so the events team were on top of everything and knew how the day would run. They also had great vegetarian catering on-site; the food was a key factor in all our venue choices!! We loved how we could customise the space to fit our vision of the event and worked with Indian Wedding Decorators for both this event and our Sunday reception to decorate the spaces.”

While Ronak stood on the Mandap, Ella walked down the aisle with her brother and his fiancé with her parents behind her as tradition. They worked alongside their Pandit (priest) and Ronak’s parents to decide which parts of the tradition they wanted to include.

One of Ella’s favourite memories, and photographs, is the moment Ronak had to get her mangalsutra on around her dupatta and mala. “Ronak’s mum had specifically told him to practice before the wedding which he didn’t, but it ended up being such a funny moment when it took him ages to get it on properly,” she shared. “It was one of a couple of moments that made people laugh and made what could have been a very serious ceremony a bit more light-hearted, and provided a moment of connection as well between us and our guests. Having these moments between us during the ceremony also made it feel a bit more like ‘us’ to me.”

Their second event of the weekend on Saturday was their marriage ceremony. For this Ronak had always wanted to wear a classic black tuxedo as he’d never worn one before! “I made sure to learn how to tie my own bowtie for that special extra touch,” he explained.

His wedding party wore classic black suits with floral green ties, to match the bridesmaid dresses.

Ella’s wedding party, each of them wore various shades of light green and blue in their own personal styles. “I’ve heard some absolute horror stories about bridesmaids’ dresses and people being forced to wear outfits they hated, so it was really important to me to make sure my bridesmaids felt comfortable and beautiful in their dresses so they could focus on being present and having fun! I loved the idea of sage green, and ended up with four dresses of different shades of light green and blue in styles that each girl chose.”

Ella wore a classic white wedding dress, which she picked out so it would live up to the beauty of their second venue – the State Library of Victoria. “I didn’t see myself as a sparkles girly but ended up with a beautiful beaded strapless dress with a huge removable train and bow. I fell in love with the pattern of the beading and the bow, and loved that I could create different looks on the night with the same dress (clearly three wedding outfits weren’t enough for me!!).”

Before the ceremony, Ella and Ronak did a first look with their wedding party at the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens near the conservatory. “It was a special space for us as we often walked around the park while we lived in the area. Especially during COVID lockdowns when living in a small apartment, the gardens really felt like an escape for us.”

Here they had a pre-ceremony shoot with their photographer for the weekend – Steph from Art Of Grace. “She made sure to capture every moment of every event, and it was so great seeing her style come through in the final photos. Given how much time we spent with her, it also helped how easy she was to hang out with! She also matched our vibe very well – we wanted more focus on capturing organic moments than posed photos, which she did perfectly.”

Just before they had to head off to the ceremony, they stopped in at a bar for a quick drink stop. “We were running a bit late with the photography before the ceremony on Saturday and were getting close to the end of the booking with the limo. We were lucky that our family was already at the library, so the limo went directly there so they could grab the stuff we had left in it. We caught an Uber there from where we were at a bar,” Ella explained. “The Uber driver that picked us up was Persian and such a sweet guy; he kept telling Ella how honoured he was to be picking up a bride. He told us that in Persian culture when they are transporting a bride, they beep the horn to let everyone know, and he asked if he could beep for me! It ended up being such a fun Uber ride and I was so humbled by how this man we didn’t know was excited about our wedding!”

Their ceremony took place in the vibrant and historic building of the State Library of Victoria. “Ideally we wanted a space that spoke for itself and didn’t need much added decoration wise. As soon as we walked into the Latrobe Reading Room in the State Library, we knew that this was the venue we wanted for the Marriage ceremony. It’s an incredible space, with a large dome over the centre and old-style desks throughout the space. The lighting in here was amazing and having a non-traditional space for the event appealed to both of us.”

These vibrant flowers by Anatomy of Flowers were the perfect element to add a touch of colour to the ceremony and contrasted beautifully with her white dress. “What I loved about our flowers was the dark purples and pinks and how the shape of the bouquets were partially ‘hanging’ rather than just a sphere. Given that we weren’t doing much else in terms of decorations, we also wanted a statement floral piece (which we could use at both the ceremony and the reception) in the same theme. I was thrilled at how the flowers turned out, especially the flowers that framed us during the ceremony.”

For the Western wedding ceremony, instead of Ella’s parents giving her away, she and Ronak walked down the aisle together. “I would recommend this to anyone – it also decreases nerves!”

They worked with their amazing celebrant, Megan Jordan, to design a ceremony that would bring out all the things they felt were important. “We wanted to celebrate our love for one another and make our vows in front of our family and friends.”

All of the signs you’ve seen so far – from the menus, pamphlets, floor seating and welcome signs were all made by Ronak! “With a three-day event, cost was obviously an important factor, so doing these things myself helped us spend that money on other items,” he explained. “Such as the champagne tower! One of Ella’s big requests was just that. We had it after the ceremony as we made our entrance into the reception venue. It felt like a fun way to enter the reception and get the party started!”

One of Ronak’s favourite elements of the Western ceremony was actually how Ella’s henna showed through her gown. “I loved how Ella’s henna showed through her white wedding dress on the Saturday. The contrast between the dark henna and the white of the dress really shone.”

Their standout vendor for Saturday was their DJ – Hey Jack! “Given how much we had to plan, we ran out of time to create a full wedding playlist, but the DJ absolutely nailed the music on Saturday night and had everyone dancing all night. We were absolutely thrilled with the music and how much everyone danced. The musicians we had earlier in the night were also great, and we loved how Hey Jack organised the live musicians and the DJ so seamlessly!”

The final event for the weekend was their party night – a combination of an Indian reception and a Sangeet. Ronak wore more of a party attire in this light pink Indian outfit. And Ella wore this vibrant ombre outfit with a gorgeous sparkly skirt. “The skirt was so heavy – I would guess 5kgs at least! – and doing our choreographed dances in it was no mean feat!”

Their top five things that made the vibrant wedding weekend so special included:

“1. Having all of our friends and family from as far and wide as Belfast and Japan all together and celebrating with us.

2. The amount of love and effort our close family and friends put into making our celebration special.

3. The fact that we got to make it (mostly)’ us’. Neither of us are particularly traditional and I think what we ended up with was perfect.

4. Having three days was amazing. It still felt like it absolutely flew by, but we felt like we got to spend more time with our guests.

5. The choreographed dances! They were so much fun and turned out better than we could have imagined given our lack of dancing experience!”

The decor for Sunday night was really important to Ella and Ronak for building the atmosphere they wanted. It was a bonus that each element acted as the perfect photo moment throughout the night! “We loved all the decorations and how the whole look came together, but Ella really fell in love with the mirrored elephants we had at the end of the dining tables that night. Felt so cool to have elephants at our wedding!! Cannot thank Indian Wedding Decorators enough for their help in pulling all the décor together.”

For this event, they needed a space they could make their own and add all of the vibrant Indian style to. The Wool Mill was the perfect option for just that – they even had the space for the Bollywood dances the couple had planned! It also allowed them to bring in their own catering options from Tandoori Flames so they could have authentic, traditional Indian food. “Also, having our photography and florals done through Nudo – and therefore having fewer vendors to manage – was another bonus feature of using the Wool Mill!”

Forgoing a traditional first dance at their Western wedding – Ella and Ronak instead did a choreographed dance at the Sangeet event. “It was roughly three minutes long and was to a medley of Indian music. Learning it was stressful, but I’m so glad we committed to it!”

Ronak’s wedding party wore another variation of an Indian outfit in matching colours, but this time with different vests.

For the night, Ella and her bridesmaids performed a Bollywood-style dance and spent three months rehearsing. “My skirt was a light pink ombre that faded in a dark purple, and I got the girls different shades of pink and purple so the outfits would all look great together on stage.”

Ella’s favourite detail of the day was this: “I loved how we got three events to celebrate with our guests. It’s such a cliché, but time really does fly, and I feel so lucky people spent that much time celebrating us. I was worried the three events were going to feel like they were three separate weddings, but it really felt like one long celebration with different outfits! By the end of the weekend, our guests from different circles (and in some cases different countries!!) had gotten to know each other and were all celebrating together, which felt so special.”

Their favourite part of the planning process? When it was all over! “Ella, in particular, found the whole thing quite stressful, especially given there were so many events to organise. All worth it in the end, though!!”

Congratulations, Ella and Ronak, on pulling together this incredible, vibrant wedding weekend! And thanks to Art of Grace for capturing and Nudo for submitting it!