Oberoi, Alva to tie knot today

Dhols of destiny beat for the actor and daughter of Jeevaraj Alva

Over 2,000 invitations had been sent out for the event. The invitees had a glimpse of what’s in store, with rich red satin-laced two-tiered boxes reaching their homes. The limited-edition boxes came accompanied with a Ganjifa painting and a little note explaining the revival of the art form. The invite was on a environment-friendly paper made of herbs and other natural materials.

The wedding day will begin with marriage pujas at Alva residence followed by Haldi and Chura ceremony at the poolside lawn. Vivek Oberoi will be dressed like a Maharaja, set to arrive on a mare wearing a deep maroon brocade outfit and carrying a special sword.
The bride will wear a Tarun Tahiliani creation, a lehenga with 14 different colours with a peacock motif. She will also be wearing an heirloom, an antique jewellery set of rubies set in gold.

The baaraat will arrive at 5.30 pm and around 7 pm will be the Jayamala ceremony. There will be a flute performance by Pravin Godkindi and veena performance by Kannan. Around 11 pm, the pheras are scheduled to begin. The wedding will be conducted both in Bunt and Punjabi traditions.

On Thursday, preparations were in full swing at the Alva residence to host the mehndi and sangeet ceremony. Dressed in pastel colours the relatives arrived as early as 8.30 am to take part in series of pujas after which high decibel dhols were beaten by the 15 to 20 drummers to get everyone into celebration mode. This was followed by performance by Dolly Guleria, a punjabi folk singer along with her troupe.

After a laid back lunch, a massive stage was set up for a grand sangeet ceremony. The entire residence was lit up with bright blue and yellow light. The decor was a fusion of the culture and it was larger than life set up with flowers, curtains and lampshades. The food for the evening was multi cuisine with the menu designed exclusively for the event by ITC Gardenia Hotel.

As the dhol continued to beat, the guests arrived in swanky cars dressed in elegant attire. The sangeet began with family members.

Later, drummer Sivamani took the center stage and entertained the guests for more than an hour.

The actual party began with DJ Jasmeet, who rocked by spinning hit numbers from Vivek’s movies. Since the crowd was a mix of Punjabi and Sindhi, bhangra numbers were played along with tunes with local flavour.