From Jessie -- our intern

Our Houston Wedding:


So, I finally got to work my first wedding and it was everything I thought it would be! It took place at The Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston. Houston, Texas is a great place to get married; there are a wide variety of vendors and venues.
The wedding spanned three days, starting on Thursday. On the first day, of course, was the Mehendi event at the bride’s house with close friends and family. She looked so beautiful and glowed! The next event was the Sangeet Friday night. There were dance performances from the bride’s sister, brother, cousin, and nieces. They were really fun to watch. Saturday the Baraat, ceremony and reception took place. I had never seen a Baraat before, but it was really awesome! The groom pulled up in a red Ferrari, then his family danced to the dhol players outside the hotel before meeting the bride’s family inside. That went into the ceremony were the bride’s family escorted her down the aisle underneath sloping stings of orchids. The reception looked like something out of a wedding magazine, although there was one little snafu. One third of the centerpieces had Japanese fighting fish and we thought they had died because they were just floating. It turned out though males tend to float at the bottom and females at the top, so don’t let that fool you too! After that everything was smooth sailing. The bride and groom cut the cake, there were speeches, and everyone danced. I could not have asked for a better first wedding, so thanks Angelee and Shyam (and of course, Sonal)!

Style Me Pretty..we got in!!

I love the Little Black Book with Style Me Pretty. It is packed with so many great vendors. I cannot believe we finally got in!

This is what they said about us..

I'm so glad we have you in the Little Black Book - I've been bragging that we have you :)-- HOW SWEET!
Thank you so much.. it is such an honor! We love the blog and now we are finally in.
Every bride getting married has to check out this blog.

From Our bride Sarika

When your invitations arrive, you are going to need help. Most brides don't know that your invitations do not come assembled. In fact they come in pieces which require a long time to put together.

Last Monday, our staff Judy and Jessica spent the entire day helping our bride Sarika. She wrote a very nice letter which is posted below:

Dear Sonal,

Thank you for lending me your helping hands. Judy and Jessica were a God's send. I don't know how long it would have taken to assemble the invitations without them. Please thank them for me.

Love,
Sarika Saagar

As our staff assembled, Sarika kept going to the post office to mail them out. In one day, all the invites were out in the mail.

Remember brides, most invitation places do offer to assemble for a small fee. This is the best investment to make as it takes a very long time to get the invites out in the mail.

Photos from Anar & Dale's Wedding- by Karen Wise

One of our most amazing weddings last year was in Birmingham, AL.
Thanks to Karen Wise for taking some amazing photos. Anar, you look beautiful. Dale, I wish I could dance like you. Can't wait to see the video! Congrats to you both.
BTW: I am so happy to have a fellow shoe lover as a bride. I loved the Christian Louboutin shoes that Anar had. What great style. Love it!

Wedding Registries

With everything you have going on with planning your wedding, it can be easy to forget about the registry. If you are moving into a new home after the wedding, this is essential.

There are a few rules of etiquette that come into play:
1.Do not include registry cards in your invitations, it infers that a gift is required of your guests. I know everyone does put these cards in but word of mouth is also the other way.

2. After you have received your gifts, please, please, please, make sure that you track the gifts properly

3. Do write a personal thank you note to each guest and a nice touch is how you are incorporating the gift into your daily life.

4. Keep a log of the guests so that you remember when guests come over that it was them who bought you the china you are dining on.

5. Get the groom involved so that the process is easier. Normally registring takes a solid 4 days so identify the stores early. Here are some suggestions of places we love for registries:

Target

Macy’s (at this registry you can get Macy’s rewards points when someone buys a gift for you!)

Wedding Channel.com (you can have a donation made to a charity of your choice every time someone buys a gift for you)

Home Depot (This is a great spot for the grooms)

Bed Bath and Beyond

Crate & Barrell

Williams & Sonoma

Please bear in mind that it is nice for guest to have a variety of places and price points in which to choose a gift.

Have color schemes in mind for each room in your home so that you are registering with colors in mind.

Have fun registering for your big day!

Our team at work...

Some of our staff hard at work during our events...


Hard at work in Miami checking the timelines


Checking over rooming lists


At rehearsal


Helping Rachna with her outfit (one of the most beautiful brides we have had)


More pinning (we wouldn't want any wardrobe malfunctions)


Helping with Jewelry


Hanging the bride's sari


Placecards, Placecards and more placecards.. checking all the lists






At a tasting with Nikita (Getting married in April)

My Planning Trip to Grand Cayman with Aekta and her family.

I just flew into Houston after a jam packed weekend in the Cayman Islands with Aekta Shah and her family from Albany, NY.

After months of planning and negotiating we all finally flew down to see the Marriott in Grand Cayman where the Shah Family is planning this 150 guest destination wedding.

Our schedule included: Meeting the decorator, 2 cake tastings, site inspection with the Marriott, food tasting with their amazing Indian chefs, meeting with photographers, 3 videographers, doing room inspections and finally doing a walk through of where the baraat, wedding, reception, mehendi, vidhis and garba would take place.

It was a hugely productive trip and best of all, Jay (my husband), came along to take notes and share his experiences from all the weddings he has attended.

I want to thank Aekta and her family for selecting us as their wedding planners and for such a memorable trip. We all really felt like family and I cannot wait for her wedding in August. 4 months to go!

Pink-- My Favorite Colors for Weddings!

Pink is back in for weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings just did their entire spring issue on everything pink, my favorite color. On page 180 they gathered a variation of pink flowers and tied them with a navy blue ribbon, giving the display a very classical look. They also showed how to style pink bridesmaids dresses with different navy blue accessories, like a cap sleeve short jacket, to give the ensemble a stylish look. MS showed how adding grey to a light pink bouquet gave it a very antiquated look. Even a new designer we have been looking at, Asfa Zahid of Maryland, has a collection of sarees in pink! You can do color combos of Light pink, cream and red. Another option is all champagne pink and white. It is so Spring.

For the bride who is concerned about grooms saying "It is too Pink", consider doing linens in black and white and then flowers and lighting in pink.