Tying the knot, in style!

If it’s not fancy enough, it’s not good enough seems to be the motto of those who go in for a trendy wedding. Planning your wedding can make you nervous, confused and excited, all at the same time. The first thing that you will positively do is to check out the wedding planners in the locality. Don’t be surprised to see if you get about 5,380,000 results in less than 0.38 seconds!

Wedding planners can handle everything that comes in-between you deciding to get engaged, right until your honeymoon, down to the very last detail (and I cannot stress upon this enough)! If you have a vision in mind (or you don’t), they can help you in actualising it.

The conception of the theme, its creation and co-ordination are all fashioned according to your likes. Whether you want a traditional ceremony or something totally contemporary, they can help you etch out a wedding that is going to be a lifetime memory for you, and a nostalgic event for your guests.

Quite popular in western countries, themed wedding is a concept that is gathering momentum in the new-age Indian wedding scenario. Weddings have become a kind of showbiz and being different and making an individual style statement is the new mantra. Who doesn’t love to be married like a king in palatial mansions or the forts of Rajasthan?
Too Bollywood? Try the sun-kissed, pristine beaches of Goa, or the serene backwaters of Kerala, or a wedding in the gardens of a hill station, or even an Arabian style desert wedding! Wedding tourism is a booming industry. Gone are the days when weddings were held at a neighbourhood marriage hall. But deciding a theme can be a very hard nut to crack. When deciding a theme, it is useful to involve yourself, as well as your other half.

Answering questions like, what is special about the two of you or what do the two of you have in common, can help incorporate something personal into your wedding, making it unique. Citing a simple instance, a couple who met on Valentine’s Day can decide to theme their wedding accordingly. The invites, venue, food, décor, lighting, entertainment, hospitality, trousseau, make-up, photos, video, return gifts, budget (most importantly), pretty much everything can be tailor-made to follow a certain theme that you have in mind.

Accessories

Imagine this — a bride in Neeta Lulla’s beautiful, Rajasthani weaves with warm tones of saffron, emerald, copper, brown, and henna red, paired with big, larger than life, chunky jewellery. The groom, in the royal attire of a Mughal king, with the long Sherwani with intricate embroidery, matching long necklaces and open collars. Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s a clue that will make things clearer — Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan. I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I am talking about the attire in the movie Jodhaa Akbar. Watching Aishwarya and Hrithik long for each other in this 16th century love story makes several couples sigh.

The timeless inspiration this romantic movie brings to weddings continues to be so popular that even years after its release, it is still one of the most requested themes. The peacock-inspired theme is another popular one.

The wedding attire (including clothes and shoes of the bride and groom), invites, wedding cake, decor, make-up, return gifts, are all in the hues of blue and green. Radha-Krishna, Arabian nights, Egyptian, Las Vegas, Goan, Bollywood and colour-coded themes are the other popular themes. You will be amazed at the variety offered.

Technology is an integral part of new-age weddings. Using Facebook or e-invites to invite your family and friends and creating your very own personalised website, with your very own wedding logo, is a pretty common thing. Going one step further, live video-streaming allows front row access to loved ones who may be unable to attend a wedding.

Attempting to reduce our carbon footprint, many couples opt for ‘green weddings’. As environmental awareness grows, so does the use of recycled papers for invitations, banana leaves to serve food and clay pots to serve drinks. Decorations no longer add to the woes of our garbage disposal system and are now disposed of in an eco-friendly way.

So, how do you want the best day of your life to be? The options are endless. Take your pick.