Wedding Details
Event Management: WizcraftFood: All-Vegetarian fare, Indian and Continental prepared by a team of Chefs from India and South Africa under the direction of legendary Chef Marut Sikka
Wedding Consultation: Puneet Gupta & Rimple Narula
Invitation Card & Stationary: A safari themed invitations and six fancy containers containing a delicacy from six different continents, designed by Puneet Gupta Invitations
Bride’s Wardrobe Styling: Rimple & Harpreet Narula
Bollywood Extravaganza: Performances by Sonu Nigam, Kailash Kher, Shankar Esan Loy, Neha Dhupia, Diya Mirza, Mona Singh, Hussain, Esha Gupta to name a few
Special Invitees: Actor Anil Kapoor, Raju Shrivastav
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soon after Vega, daughter of Achla and Anil Kumar Gupta from Saharanpur got engaged to Delhi boy Aakash Garg Jahajgarhia, her parents were thinking of Mauritius, Italy or Spain as the venues for the Destination Wedding. But the bride-to-be wanted it in Sun City, because she was emotionally attached to Johannesburg, having spent many of her summer holidays and later college years there.
While we have often blogged about shaadis in Thailand and Bali, Mauritius and Malaysia, Macau and more recently Europe this is the first time we’re talking about a Destination Wedding in Africa’s glamorous leisure oasis. Vega and Aakash’s five day wedding celebrations commence at Sun City today, ending with the finale, a royal gala on May 3rd. The different functions are at The Palace of the Lost City, Sun City’s five star flagship Hotel. A fantasy world come to life, the Lost City has incredible jungles, cliff-tumbling gardens, sparkling streams, water falls, swimming pools and entertainment areas.
For the 400 guests, over 200 of who will be flying in from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh this will undoubtedly be an experience with a difference, a rare combination of African luxury and traditional Indian festivities. A number of local guests will be attending the wedding too- the bride’s maternal uncles Atul, Rajesh and Ajay Gupta are the owners of Johannesburg based The New Age Newspaper and Sahara Computers. The celebrations commence with the traditional ‘Godh Bhari’ at the Pool Deck. The Mehendi and Bhajans are at the Elephant Courtyard, the theme of the Engagement is ‘Fashion forward’ and after the traditional nuptials is a ‘Royal’ theme dinner at the Grand Ballroom. The finale is a Royal Gala at the Super Bowl Entertainment Center. In between all the hectic festivities, the guests will spend their leisure time pursuing a variety of leisure and water-borne activities- hot air balloon rides, game drives and water sports on the lake.
A week after the newly-weds and their families return to India, a Grand Reception for over 3,000 guests takes place in Delhi, where the groom’s father runs their family business. Groom Aakash Garg Jahajgarhia, a post graduate in International Business from London works in his family business, the Jahajgarhia Group headquartered in Punjabi Bagh, Delhi.
Post Credits: Wedding Sutra
Here is a photo of Saifeena's wedding invitation card, which was distributed by Sharmila Tagore. It has the Pataudi crest and emblem on the top.
 We come across many grooms who do not know what role they can play in planning a wedding and prefer leaving all decisions to the bride. This is because of the misconception that a wedding involves a lot of planning, attention to detail and of course lots of pretty things – shades of colors, types of flowers etc, something which men may not always understand and hence are at a loss as to what they can do to help. So here are some areas where we think, the groom can step in and take control!
TRANSPORT - We all know how men love their cars and hence taking care of transportation for the day should be an easy task for the groom. Depending on the budget, he can pick the best of cars for ferrying your guests and the bridal party, to and from the venues. Surprise your guests with a grand entrance in a limo, a stylish sports car, a vintage Mercedes or even a horse drawn carriage. Hang a “Just Married” sign and string along some empty cans and your all set to go.
MUSIC – If he has a good ear for music, he can work with the wedding band, musicians or the DJ and put together a collection of songs for everyone to enjoy. He can put together a list of songs that you want for your entrance and first dance. In case there are performances, you can make sure that all the songs are put together in a CD and the songs cued for the performance.
BAR – If your groom is a connoisseur of wine and spirits, he must definitely give inputs in the alcohol and bar arrangements for the reception. Selecting the brands he wants the guests to be served, bottle rates and corkage from the venue, arrangements for returning unopened alcohol, meeting with the bartenders and other service staff are some areas he can handle. He can also come up with a personalized signature cocktail / mocktail list that is sure to jumpstart the party.
GROOMSMEN – Take full responsibility of things that directly affect the groomsmen and himself. This includes picking out their outfits, coordinating trials, putting together gifts for the groomsmen, arranging a pre wedding rehearsal and briefing them on their roles for the wedding day.
HONEYMOON PLANS – Your fiancée may not mind if you are not heavily involved in the wedding planning process, but planning your honeymoon is definitely something that is expected from him, he can surprise you! (or both of you together!). From travel arrangements to accommodation, he can take care of everything and hence he needs to start this well in advance to get the best offers. After planning a fabulous wedding, you need to be pampered and what better way to do this than a well thought out and planned honeymoon!
Popular TV actors Kanchi Kaul and Shabir Ahluwalia are marrying this month-end. And their friends and colleagues are looking forward to the four-day celebrations in Mumbai. Kanchi tells us more: “We initially thought it would be a quiet, intimate affair, but between two of us and our families, we have so many friends, so it might end up being a big if not big, fat wedding. The functions include a Cocktail party, Qawali night, Sangeet and the Wedding cum Reception.” And what is the beautiful actress planning to wear for the functions? “An Anamika Khanna ensemble for the Sangeet and a Tarun Tahiliani lehenga for the Wedding” she states.
Kanchi is best known for her roles on TV, Ananya Sachdev- Samarth in the show Ek Ladki Anjaani Si, and as Suhana in the serial Bhabhi on Star Plus. She also played the role of Soni in Maayka, and has acted in several Telugu Movies. Shabir Sebastian Ahluwalia is best known for his role as Rishi in Kahiin to Hoga and as Milind Mishra in Kayamath. He has acted in Shootout at Lokandwala and Mission Istanbul.
On Saturday last week, we posted a picture of newly-weds cricketer Gautam Gambhir and his bride Natasha Jain. Since then we received many emails enquiring if we’ll posting more pictures. So here are some more photographs of the charming couple and the wedding, courtesy Wedding Planner Meher Sarid who managed the grand yet intimate affair at a farm house in West End Greens, on the Delhi-Gurgaon highway.
Natasha’s wow lehenga & Gautam’s wedding sherwani were designed by Tarun Tahiliani. The creations for the other family members were designed by Kolkata’s Sabyasachi and Delhi duo Shantanu & Nikhil.
The groom Gautam was escorted by a league of Safa clad bearers carrying Zardozi umbrellas, and he entered the venue on special drum beat music put together by DJ Sunny Sarid. The bride entered the venue under a canopied veil, carried by safa clad bearers and she was accompanied by her brother and sisters, and close friends in a royal procession with special bell chimes music put together by DJ Sunny Sarid.
The event and entertainment planning was done by Sound of Music- Meher Sarid, Parvez Akhtar and Sunny Sarid. The elaborate elegant decor was designed and implemented by Meher Sarid and her team members Rhea Malvai, Neha Gupta and Supriyaa Choudhary. The decor was based on a Floral theme and a Fleur-de-lis sequenced motif. All the flowers were imported from London, Thailand & Holland.
The dinner spread included Indian, Thai and Continental delicacies specially put together by Meher Sarid and each table had a menu card for personalized service. The celebrities present included Virendra Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh with his parents, Rahul Dravid, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, VVS Laxman, Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta, Rajiv Shukla and Arun Jaitley.
At the after-party DJ Sumit Sethi and DJ Sunny Sarid jammed for the guests and their families and friends.
Behind the scenes
Caterers: Seasons and Nandi Caterers
Photographs: Badal Raja Jain
Fireworks: Israar
Doli: Puneet Sohan Lal
Flower Imports: Amrish
Tenting Support & Theme Implementation: Rama Tent House
|
RSS Feed
