We’ve heard of love at first sight, but this couple met just a week before their engagement and had yet fallen in love long before. Shopzters brings you the story of Keerthana and Siddharth, the couple whose modern day arrange marriage is aided strongly by technology in Keerthana’s words.
We were introduced to each other, not in person but through an aunt’s friend’s son as a future prospect. And when his parents came to meet me, they were instantly in love with their future daughter in law and me with them.
Distance became my only enemy because Siddharth was in the US. So we spoke and we started liking each other.
This lead to facetime and skype sessions, with all day texting, and within a few weeks I was sure that I had made the right choice. The wedding soon got fixed, and I was yet to meet Siddharth. But finally we did see each for the first time, even if it was only a week before the engagement.
Our engagement took place on May 2nd at Hyatt Regency, Chennai which is where we both are from even though he is settled in America. My décor for this event was by Vermilion events who did a brilliant job.
I didn’t want my décor to be done with flowers, instead I wanted lots of drapes and elegance, in white and pink which they followed perfectly. For this function I wore two Sarees from Varamahalaxmi in Kanchipuram, which is where I went for my bridal shopping.
We went to a couple shops but my cousin suggested this store and surprisingly all of us picked up sarees from there because they had some beautiful designs. My blouses were absolutely amazing and were all made by Turquoise by Nandita.
My husband’s Sherwani was from Moksha, we went there together and selected what he would wear and they altered it within 2 days, so we had no complains.
My jewellery for all the functions is from VBJ, as a family we’ve always bought our jewellery from here. We trust them for diamonds which we wear a lot, and their designs always suit our requirements, we never come back empty handed.
@make-up-ibrahim# from Chennai did my make-up for all the functions, I went for a traditional look for this function with a braid which was done by his hairstylist. The photography for all our functions except the engagement was done by@once-upon-a-time-wedding-tales#, who did a brilliant job.
The Sangeet was held at ITC Grand Chola on July 1st in Chennai. The Floral Hut did our décor, as the event was a cocktail styled sangeet, they set us disco lights, a led wall and focus lights which looked absolutely amazing.
I wore a long Gown by Nazia Sayeed, I was wearing Indian for all the other functions so I decided to pick something different for this one. Though it does have a very strong Indian touch with a lot of sequence work.
We also had a great DJ called DJ Beck who was the life of the party.
For the jewellery which I picked up from VBJ, I wore just a pair of simple diamond earrings. Siddharth wore a shimmer blazer was designed his mom & stitched in Park Avenue, however the fabric was from Mysore Sari Udyog in Bangalore.
The Mehndi was held at Beverly Hills, the function was Nalangu followed by a Mehndi. The décor was done by Kodhadan, who also did the mandapam for our reception and wedding.
He did a beautiful job complete with flowers and lotuses. My sari for the Nalangu was from the evergreen Prakash silks in Kanchipuram.
My make-up for this function was done by Faiyaaz, who is a local artist since it was a small affair but he did a great job. For the Mehndi part of the function I changed into a lehenga from Kay, since I wasn’t looking for anything very expensive the destination was perfect. A
And the lehenga was more like a crop top and skirt, which was very comfortable. My husband wore a smart kurta and pant which he picked up from Lagan.
My Mehndi artist was Sharifa, she has been putting mehndi for us for past 15 years and has been a regular and trusted artist at all the family weddings before.
Our reception was held on July 5th at Sri Varu, our décor was done by Kodhadan again. He gave us some theme options and I selected from those. The most attractive part was the crystals hanging from behind where we were sitting.
I wore a lehenga from Moksha, it stood apart and I was pretty happy with it. My makeup and hair were done by @make-up-ibrahim# once again, I took an evening look and left my hair loose.
I also tried to adopt natural shades with more pinks. My husband’s suit was from Sydebowker, and he looked so handsome.
The wedding took place on July 6th at Sri Varu. My sari for the function was from Nalli, I picked the store because we didn’t want to travel all the way to Kanchipuram once again as there was no time so within the city this was our best and first choice. My husband wore a Pancha dhoti style, kurta top from Moksha.
Our photographers for the engagement were the corporative and attentive @zero-gravity#.
We had a post wedding photoshoot by them in Bangalore, amongst the mountains in a resort called Shilandara Resort which had a very scenic view. Our post engagement photo shoot captured the enchanting sunrise at ECR.
My favourite moment through the functions has to be the thali tying, it made me so emotional.
But the sangeet was my favourite function, the rest of the events involved traditions and had a set pattern, however the sangeet was just pure fun where we broke all the rules.
It also had one of the funniest moments, where we had a bike entry where he rode in on a bike and I was sitting behind him, he jerked and I would have almost fallen off.
