Kew Gardens, a place of personal significance and natural wonder, played host to the most elegant of summer weddings for doctors Iman and Adnan. Their heartfelt Muslim ceremony took place beneath the historic glass of the Nash Conservatory, surrounded by a delicate palette of soft pinks, creams and romantic summer blooms.
This wedding, beautifully styled and flawlessly co-ordinated by Love My Dress recommended vendor, With Akilah & Co, was a seamless blend of timeless romance and rich South Asian heritage. From the intricately embroidered gown by Pakistani designer, Misha Lakhani, to the joyful Nikkah traditions and the emotional Urdu poetry shared by family, Iman and Adnan’s wedding was layered with meaning, culture and love.
We are so proud to share this celebration – a graceful and deeply personal reflection of identity, culture and togetherness, set against the lush botanical backdrop of one of London’s most iconic venues. Enjoy this film by Film by Ray McShane and beautiful photography by Rahul Khona.
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Venue & Location
Our wedding venue was Kew Garden, chosen as we had one of our first dates there three years prior and had visited since many times. We also love nature and how unique the venue is.
I knew that I wanted something very classic and romantic, so lots of roses, creams and pinks, a string quartet, whilst also retaining aspects of our South Asian culture, like the food, clothing and ceremony. We had a Muslim wedding, with our Nikkah ceremony in the Nash Conservatory followed by the reception.
The Dress
Misha Lakhan
The designer that I wore was Misha Lakhani, a Pakistani couture designer. I had a really positive experience with them. I ordered the dress directly from the boutique when I visited in January 2023.
They allowed customisations and had a mock blouse made up for me before I left to check the fitting was okay. They dress was delivered before expected in May 2023. I would definitely recommend them to other brides!
I knew I wanted to wear something pastel to fit the romantic, classic theme, but also with hints of peach and coral as it was a summer wedding! And I always knew I wanted to wear something Pakistani to honour my culture.
I wore a dupatta on my head, which was part of my outfit, and is similar to a veil. My shoes were from Dune London and my scent was Kayali London Vanilla 28; after much trial and error I had decided to make this my ‘wedding scent’.
I wore my mum’s wedding day jewelry, which was a diamond set consisting of diamond earrings, a diamond necklace and a diamond tikka (a forehead jewelry piece) – my something borrowed! I also had a new diamond bracelet made in Pakistan to wear alongside it.
My hair and makeup artist was Shazia Afsar.
The Ceremony
Our ceremony was officiated by an Imam, who was booked via nikahservice.co.uk. We didn’t do vows at our Nikkah, we did them at our (very private) civil ceremony a couple of months earlier.
My husband’s grand-dad, who had flown in from India, did a surprise reading of a famous Urdu poem which has my name in it (Iman). He had memorized the poem and had been rehearsing it for weeks in private, apparently!
We had a Mehndi night two days before, a civil ceremony around two months prior and individual mayoun/pithi ceremonies a few days before the wedding. We had also done a ring exchange the year before at our engagement party, as per tradition. My ring was vintage art-deco from the Antique Jewellery Company, and Adnan’s was from Pakistan.
Immediately after the ceremony, all the close family members stood up and started congratulating and hugging each other (as well as us), which is a tradition in our faith.
Adnan wore a custom-made sherwani from Lucknow, India, which is where his father’s side is from. He wore a turban for our Nikkah ceremony, in keeping with tradition, which I absolutely loved.
Immediately after the ceremony, all the close family members stood up and started congratulating and hugging each other (as well as us), which is a tradition in our faith.
Photography
Our photographer was Rahul Khona – we chose him as we loved his candid, documentary-style and the way he captures emotions so beautifully!
He was great on the day, very unobstructive but still directed us appropriately, and delivered a preview just two days after, which was incredible!
How They Met
We met just before the pandemic via a dating app (Hinge). We had two back-to-back dates on adjacent days as lockdown was imminent; we then had weekly Face-Time dates over lockdown which progressed to twice-weekly! We watched movies together and got through a whole season of 90 Day Fiance.
When restrictions started to ease in the summer, we met in person again and instantly knew that we were in love and this was it.
Adnan proposed to me around two years later by taking me on a surprise trip to a gorgeous, secluded barn in the Lake District. He had hidden the ring in an excavated hardback of Alice in Wonderland (one of the very first films we watched together and one of our favourites) that he had specially made, and got down on one knee when we got back to the barn after dinner – he had hidden the book on the barn’s bookshelf and kept telling me to have a look at it!
We were engaged for around fifteen months before our wedding day.
The Reception
Our cake was from Lil Moon Bakery, based in London. We chose it as we knew we wanted more unique flavours – our cake was matcha and white chocolate (two tiers), chocolate and raspberry (one tier), and brown butter and salted caramel (one tier).
I’m a huge matcha fan, so it was my dream cake! We ended up going with a semi-naked design decorated with flowers from our florist to fit the summer-y romantic theme.
Our florist was Fleur De La Couture, a luxury silk florist based in London. We went with them because we loved the idea of having a huge floral arch at the entrance to Nash Conservatory (which not possible with ‘real’ flowers at Kew Gardens) and I also loved the sustainable aspect and being able to keep my bouquet afterwards!
Genni was amazing to work with, she captured my vision perfectly and we got so many compliments on our florals.
Evening & Dancing
We hire DJ Ash from Prelude Entertainment for the evening.
A very favourite moment from the day was dancing with my husband at the reception to all of our favourite (and very niche) songs, surrounded by all of our closest friends and family.
Our first dance was to ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ by the Beatles, which we listened to a lot together the first summer we spent together three years prior and really love, and is also sampled in ‘White Ferrari’ by Frank Ocean, who is another artist we really love!
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Remember to HAVE FUN! Don’t stress about the really small things, nothing is every going to go perfectly.
Be present as much as possible so that you can feel the emotions in real-time, and make sure you have quality time with your newlywed, after the ceremony so that you can process it properly.
We do wish we’d made more time to fit in some more group photos as some family members were a little disappointed not to be included.
