College sweethearts Prashant and Namrata had been together for over 11 years before they tied the knot in December 2016. According to bride, Namrata, “We just knew we had to get married. There was no formal proposal”. Having a background in designing, the couple designed their own bridal clothes. They were also keen on having an outdoor wedding with fresh, rustic elements. But Mother Nature has a surprise in store for them…read on below to find out what ensued! All images courtesy Pixelena Studio Wedding Photography.
Couple
Namrata Patel and Prashant Diwakar
We met
We met in college and have been together for the past 11 years.
Our proposal
As stated above, there was none. Everyone knew it was inevitable that we would get married one day.
My dress
I am into ecommerce so I believe in buying everything online. All my wedding shopping was done on Instagram. I bought my dress material from a vendor on Insta and designed my lehenga myself. ENSO in Bangalore helped me customize it. Likewise, I got jewelry and accessories from Mortantra, all online. You might say that buying this way is risky. But believe me when I say I did thorough research. I spent hours online and was very satisfied with the results. A few of the things did come in late, but all’s well that ends well!
My hair and makeup
I knew my hair stylist and MUA from when we worked together. Her name is Shreeya Pawar. She later left the corporate world to pursue a career in bridal makeup artistry.
His suit
Prashant designed his suit/sherwani himself. It was customized by a tailor in Commercial Street, Bangalore.
What our bridal party wore
It was a traditional ceremony and most ladies wore Benares and traditional silk saris.
Our ceremony
A simple & quick Arya Samaj wedding.
We chose our photographer Pixelena Studio because
I had scouted far and wide for photographers and zeroed in on Pixelena. Their work was very impressive and also within my budget. My wedding planner had recommended other photographers but I found them too expensive. Right from the first meeting, Ajith and his wife Elena impressed us. They were warm, friendly and put us at ease. Very soon they became a part of the family and I saw that all our relatives were also smitten by them. They established a rapport with everyone and, like I said, they were more like family than wedding photographers. We were also extremely impressed with the photos.
We chose our wedding coordinator because
Purplerings came highly recommended and boy were they awesome! So we had decided to go in for an outdoor ceremony instead of a stuffy indoor wedding. It was a December evening and it usually never rains in Bangalore at this time of the year. So imagine our surprise when it rained (after 13 years) in the month of December, that too on our wedding day! But Sowmya and Neeti were great-they rearranged everything perfectly-they recreated the décor indoors and everything turned out just as it was supposed to.
Our menu
You know, I did not eat a morsel on the day, can you imagine? Everyone tells me that the food was great and we had these Jalebi and Pani Puri stations which the guests went gaga over!
Our honeymoon
Ours has always been a long distance relationship. Prashant works in Dubai and I had some passport issues which prohibited me from travelling out of the country. So we settled for Orange County Resorts in Hampi which was simply out of this world. I had seen the pictures of the place but they do no justice to its real beauty. The service was also amazing…I highly recommend it to all couples looking to honeymoon in India.
My favourite part of the wedding day
The rain! It was as if the Gods themselves were blessing us!
My piece of advice for other brides
Ladies please do not try to micromanage everything. I know I did as I tried to find the exact outfits, accessories etc and was freaking out. Finally my family had to keep asking me to calm down! So just leave everything to the experts and have fun!
