A Halterneck Vera Wang Dress for a Christian Ceremony + a Big Fat Indian Bollywood Bhangra Party Wedding

There are some weddings that just blow you away with the thought that goes into them to make them truly reflect the couple, and today’s gorgeous day is no exception. A wonderful mix of faith, heritage and geography, this wedding is one to remember; from the bright colours, to the delicious food, our couple thought of every way to incorporate the coming together of their roots.

So without further ado, let’s meet the creative pair shall we? Events organiser Mandip and affairs manager Alan were married on 22nd September 2018 in a traditional Christian ceremony at St Mary’s Church in Marylebone, London, followed by an Indian Bollywood Bhangra party for the evening’s celebrations.

Photography by Belle Art Photography

Loving this Meghan-style halterneck gown by US designer Vera Wang (remember Meghan’s evening ceremony look by Stella McCartney?)

“My dress was Vera Wang. I always knew I wanted something with a high neck that showed off my shoulders and potentially with a low back too. Finding the dress was probably the hardest part of wedding planning for me as I just couldn’t find anything like I had in my mind.”

[RELATED]

“I came across the Vera Wang dress and thought it was only available in the US when by luck, I realised it was stocked at David’s Bridal.”

“As soon as I tried the dress on I knew it was the one. I loved the clean lines and simplicity and it showed off my arms, shoulders and back perfectly. I felt elegant, classy and sexy all at the same time and most of all, it was comfortable too!”

“Alan had been in a serious accident at the very beginning of the year and the wedding had been put on hold as all our focus was on his recovery. He made a miraculous recovery and it was only at the beginning of May that we decided we could, and more importantly, wanted to go ahead with the wedding this year.”

“I wanted my wedding shoes to be something I could wear again and again. I went with a pair of Fiolla in Bone Misc from Aldo, which were super comfortable all day.”

“I wore Euphoria by Calvin Klein as my perfume on the day. It’s a scent I’ve worn for years and even now, every time I wear it people always compliment me on it.”

“I found both my hair stylist and make up artists on Instagram. My hair was done by Victoria Ralph. I loved her perfect ‘messy’ hair. I didn’t want a style that was too polished and Vicki totally understood the brief. She creates amazing looks with texture and movement.”

“She was patient, especially when I had a last-minute change of heart the week of the wedding and called her in for another trial. We went for a low ‘messy’ bun that wouldn’t take away from the dress.”

“Make up was done by the talented Stacey Lacey. Again what I loved about Stacey’s style was how flawless her brides looked without being caked full of make up. I wanted to look like me but just the best version I could be and she perfectly captured that. She was so much fun to be around and we had such a laugh getting ready.”

“I chose a single tier cathedral style veil with lace detail around the edge, also from David’s Bridal. The length of the veil added a statement to the simplicity of the dress and finished the look beautifully.”

“A friend of Alan’s was due to do our flowers but she had to travel for work just before the wedding and couldn’t commit to it. She recommended Floris Van Den Hoed and he was incredible. He beautifully created my bouquet based on some pictures I’d shown him.”

My bouquet consisted of Amnesia roses, Viburnum berry, burgundy Astrantia, thistle, seeded Populus eucalyptus, pink waxflower and Japanese Anemones. The bridesmaids bouquets were similar but smaller to keep continuity. Alan and his ushers corsages consisted of thistle, which incorporated another Scottish touch to their looks.”

“How Alan and I met is a classic Tinderella story of a girl swipes right, boy swipes right and the rest is history. We met in January 2015 and our relationship got serious quickly – we were already discussing marriage after just 6 weeks! I always thought I’d be able to guess when Alan was proposing but he caught me completely off guard by doing it on my birthday. He had organised a beautiful picnic at St Dunstan-in-the-East. It’s a lovely hidden garden and church ruins in the city.”

“I was opening the last gift that Alan had given me which was a scrapbook he had put together of pictures of our time together. I was crying just going through it and didn’t even realise Alan had been speaking and was suddenly on one knee asking me to marry him! Straight after, he had arranged for a few of our closest friends to join us for a celebratory drink.”

“In the evening, Alan had told me he had booked dinner and suggested we go for a drink beforehand to the bar we had our first date. When we got there I was completely overwhelmed as it transpired that he had organised a surprise birthday party for me! It was such a perfect day! I still don’t know how he pulled it off with so many people in the know and not one person slipping up! We were engaged for just over a year before we got married.”

“Alan has been going to St Mary’s church for over 15 years and it’s a very inclusive and welcoming church. Even though I’m not Christian, John (the Minister of the church) wanted to ensure my family felt included in everything. It’s such a beautiful and striking church and often hired out by companies for events, so I knew it could also work as an evening venue having seen the space transformed previously.”

“It also meant no time was lost travelling to another location and we got to spend more quality time with our family and friends.”

“We hired Union Weddings to be our on-the-day coordinator for the wedding. They were great and I felt fully relaxed knowing Ali and Carrie were taking care of everything so we could enjoy the day, and so could all of our friends and family.”

“The day was inspired by our mixed heritage and faith. I’m Scottish/Indian/Sikh and Alan is English/Pakistani/Christian. We wanted our wedding to reflect all elements of us, which was fun incorporating it into our special day. Having a London city wedding and Christian church service meant parts of Alan’s faith and upbringing were included, whilst having Scottish and Indian touches, such as the bagpiper, food selection and evening party, included mine.”

“Our joint love of food, drink and having fun was perfectly weaved throughout the day too.”

“Our day and night time had very different looks. For the Christian ceremony we created a romantic and warm feel with lots of fairy lights, foliage and candles. As the venue was so big, we used garlands and fairy lights to bring the height of the ceiling down and make the space more intimate for the ceremony and dinner.”

“As it was an autumn wedding, we were lead by the colours and tone of the season which I love. Burgundy, blush, navy blue, mauve and blue thistle were all incorporated into the flowers, button holes, ushers ties and bridesmaid’s dresses.”

“I didn’t have anyone accompany me down the aisle as my dad passed away 13 years ago. I didn’t really want to pick between my mum and my brothers and wasn’t sure how I felt about being ‘given away’ in the first place. In the end I decided to walk down on my own.”

“Whilst I walked down the aisle on my own, the next time I walked back down I wasn’t alone, I was with my now husband who is my family and future. It felt symbolic as I came in as one and left in partnership.”

“I walked down the aisle to I’m Kissing You by Des’ree. It’s a song which we’ve always loved and found very moving. Every time I hear the first few notes it gives me goosebumps and it was no different on the day.”

“Emily from Get Gospel who has the most incredible singing voice sang it as my bridesmaids walked down the aisle, followed by myself.”

“We were recommended Get Gospel, who are a gospel choir. They lead our hymns and also sang At Last by Etta James and Oh Happy Day by The Edwin Hawkins Sisters during the signing of the registers.”

“We were married by one of Alan’s best friends Ben, who is a church of England minister. Alan has known Ben and his wife since university and it was very special having him officiate our wedding. He and his family are such an important part of our lives and it made our ceremony even more special.”

“We chose two readings for during the ceremony; the first being Love Is A Temporary Madness by Louis de Bernieres, read by Alan’s good friend Alex. We both loved the words and in particular the last paragraph which we found powerful.”

“The second readings were from the Bible; Ruth: 1:16-17 and Ephesians 3:14-19. They were read by Hanelle, the wife of our officiant Ben and another close friend of us both.”

“Our wedding bands were made by Ingle and Rhode who specialise in ethically sourced gems and metals, which was important to us. Alan had my engagement ring designed and made by them too. It’s a 2 carat peach sapphire with micro-pave diamond shoulders in rose gold. I chose a matching diamond band in rose gold and Alan chose a simple gold band.”

“I had four bridesmaids and I was super relaxed about what they each wore. My brief was full-length and dusky pink/blush colours and the rest was up to them. They are all so different in terms of their style and skin tone, and it was important to me that they all felt comfortable.”

“In the end they picked their dresses from Ghost, Whistles, Jarlo and ASOS. I also had my cousin’s daughters as my flower girls who wore their own dresses and looked adorable, and my cousin’s son was our page boy. He wore a cute traditional kilt outfit that matched my brothers and cousins kilts.”

“We used Becy at Belle Art Photography to photography our wedding photography. She was incredible and captured our day beautifully. We loved the style, storytelling and emotion that her pictures captured. We met her for a pre shoot to get to know each other at Kew Gardens and hit it off straight away.”

“Becy was not just the consummate professional, but also good fun to be around and she made us feel very relaxed on the day. In essence, I couldn’t have chosen anyone better and when the pictures came through, I was overjoyed at how she captured the feeling of the day – emotional, fun and authentic!”

“For the day time Alan chose a bespoke made to measure 3-piece navy blue suit from Reiss. He’s always been a smart dresser and I knew he would look amazing on the day. He had been to Saville Row Tailors but was ultimately impressed by Reiss so went with them.”

“He teamed his suit with a crisp white shirt from Hugo Boss and a Liberty blue paisley print tie. I was born in Paisley and it was a subtle nod to that, along with the Scottish thistle corsage that finished off the look.”

“Alan’s best man and ushers all wore 3-piece navy blue suite from Next and pale grey/blue floral ties. My brothers, cousins and nephew all wore matching full kilt outfits in grey highlander tartan. They all looked so sharp in their outfits and it worked beautifully with our colour scheme.”

“When it came to the wedding cake, Alan and I were quite relaxed and decided to get it from Marks and Spencer. We had both a traditional cake and a savoury cheesecake. The traditional cake was a simple 3-tier and the savoury cheesecake consisted of Gould’s cheddar, creamy Lancashire, white stilton and cranberry, brie and Blacksticks blue truckle which we decorated with figs and grapes.”

“The order of the day booklets, table plans and menus were all homemade. We kept them simple – white with a geometric elephant motif in a metallic gold which added an Indian design element. We kept the table settings simple two and had empty Scottish whisky and gin bottles, which represented our geographical roots. We filled the bottles with LED fairy lights which I found on Amazon and scattered some corks and candles around the tables.”

“This created a simple but effective soft rustic look. For our place cards, we printed polaroid pictures of our guests with either Alan or I in the picture. Our wedding invites were done online via Joy Wedding. It was a fantastic free site and allowed us to easily create a website and keep track of the RSVP’s and dietary requirements etc.”

“Our ceremony and dinner both took place in the same area of the venue. Food, along with the entertainment, was one of the most important things for us and I stumbled across Greenleaf online after reading so many good reviews. Our contact Sunny was incredible and I knew we were in good hands as soon as we met her.”

“We knew we wanted Indian food but also wanted to incorporate Scottish and British elements. Our canapés included haggis pakora and masala fish and chips. Our dinner was a selection of Indian dishes including karahi lamb, butter chicken, aloo baingan, saag paneer and a lentil dhal. All accompanied with naan, roti and rice.”

“The food was served on each table with everyone helping themselves to as much as they wanted. Our desserts were a trio of Indian rice pudding, beetroot halwa and mango kulfi, finished off with espresso martinis served in teacups at the end of dinner.”

“Post dinner we had a selection of Scottish treats such as shortbread, tablet, tunnock’s teacakes served with tea and coffee, alongside cake and cheese. Our evening buffet was from McDonald’s! We had cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets and fries. What more does one want when they’ve had a few drinks after a night out? It went down a treat with our guests! At one point, the trestle table collapsed as guests poured over each other to get to the Maccy D’s!”

“We went bold, colourful and Indian for the evening’s decor. The entrance to the party was draped with bright orange and pink flowers. Most of the decorations were either made or borrowed. I borrowed a lot of my mums stuff! Saris which we draped over tables and through the rafters.”

“We took handfuls of Indian bangles and tied them to bright colourful string, which we hung from the ceiling at different lengths.”

“I also made a Bollywood sign out of cardboard and painted it white which became the backdrop behind the DJ. We framed the dance floor by hanging multi-coloured Indian umbrellas upside from the ceiling. Behind the bar we had a ”til death do us party’ sign which I made from gold glitter duct tape and outlined it with black duct tape.”

“We created a henna tattoo and bindi station so people could get into the spirit of the vibe. Everything was set off with a 2-metre high and wide colourful patchwork elephant prop, which we got from Event Prop Hire.”

“Alan and I thought it would be fun to change into Indian attire for the evening party, especially as the vibe was so different to the day time. My mum was in India prior to the wedding and had custom made outfits designed for us.”

“Alan wore a traditional navy blue sherwani with a red pocket square and I wore a traditional lengha consisting of a red embroidered cropped top and full-length white skirt.”

“Our evening entertainment was hugely important to us both and we knew we wanted the dance floor packed all night. We narrowed it down to two companies and finally went with Calibar DJ’s. After speaking to Jags at great length about our music taste and what we wanted, we knew they were the ones for us. They completely smashed their set and the energy on the night was electric.”

We also hired two dhol players through Calibar who drummed us in for our evening entrance and entertained the crowd with their drumming skills later in the evening.”

“We had a big fat Indian Bollywood Bhangra party in the evening. Indian Sikh weddings are known for their fun booze-fuelled parties and we wanted the evening to be a merry affair with everyone on the dance floor! It was all about colour and fun and we used bright colours everywhere.”

“Oranges and pinks dominated with the hanging flower garlands, Indian umbrella’s, draped sari fabrics and bangles, all finished off with a 2-metre high and wide patchwork elephant prop. There had been a lot of banter amongst our friends that they had wanted me to arrive on an elephant so I knew I had to incorporate it somehow!”

“We didn’t have a first dance as such. We made our evening entrance with an outfit change and walked in to the Notorious B.I.G Hypnotize. We cut the cake and rather than have a first dance, we played Let’s Dance by David Bowie to get everyone on the dance floor. It worked as it stayed packed from then on!”

“I have so many precious moments from the day but Alan’s speech during dinner was particularly special. We chose to have a sweetheart table as we didn’t really want to have a top table. It was really nice during dinner to have some time to ourselves and soak up the moment as the day goes by so quickly. Alan’s speech was just everything – funny, moving, powerful and very emotional. We had been through a lot that year.”

Words Of Wedded Wisdom

“Keep your day true to who you are and you can’t go wrong. Our day was a reflection of us and we couldn’t have enjoyed it more. People will remember how they felt and the atmosphere of the day, not the tableware.”

“I found having an on-the-day coordinator also meant we could fully enjoy the day knowing someone was taking care of any behind the scenes issues. It meant our friends and family could also relax and have fun.”

What a wedding! A big thank you to the happy couple and to Belle Art Photography for sharing the special day with us.

Until next time…

Much love,

Holly x