Real Wedding

Dentist Sheena met sports medicine fellow Aalok at lunch with a buddy they both had. Aalok texted Sheena, and for five years they commuted between Fort Lauderdale, Boston, and New York City while dating long-distance.

Aalok leased out a rooftop in New York City and invited both families for the proposal. He made his marriage proposal as Ed Sheeran’s song “Perfect” was playing. They chose to engage a wedding planner to cover all the bases so that their families could relax and enjoy the wedding ceremony. They chose the Marriott Water Street in Tampa for their wedding despite considering more than 15 potential locations.

BANQUET HALLS Tampa Marriott Water Street 813-221-4900 | BEAUTICIANS Michele Renee The Studio and Salon 813-531-7770 | CATERING Saffron Indian Cuisine-Orlando 407-674-8899 | DECORATOR Suhaag Garden 772-528-0394 | DISC JOCKEY Awaaz Entertainment 407-902-9639 | EVENT PLANNER Apsara Events 727-687-8185 | HORSE CARRIAGE Wind Chase Farm 772-285-3480 | MEHNDI Henna Allure 321-444-5911 | |PHOTOGRAPHER / VIDEOGRAPHY Otto & Priscilla Haring 786-444-9743 | PRIEST Pandit Manikya Sharma 813-484-9568

Before their sangeet, the couple decided on a private combined haldi and mehndi. They enjoyed spending time with their closest friends and family at each pre-wedding event, which had a different flavor. In order to symbolize the beginning of a new life together, the decor and attire for the haldi ceremony were clearly yellow. The mehndi was done in green and yellow, and the decorations were based on marigolds.

While their wedding was held inside in the main ballroom, the baraat was held on the riverwalk. Since they met in brilliant, colorful Miami, the colors were intense and strongly centered on florals. The visitors were welcomed with a silk shawl and a golden bell to ring when Sheena entered the mandap, which was embellished with red, purple, pink, and white flowers along a green canopy laced with hanging lights.

An amalgam of Indian and American music, but the dhol musician set the mood by giving each song a distinctive traditional pace. Their napkins and gift bags, which were personalized with their initials, added a special touch to their wedding. Sheena’s family presented each visitor with a silk shawl as well as personalized candles as gifts for their mehndi. They also left the location aboard a yacht after their wedding, which was another unusual feature.

Misha initially noticed Shyam, a Texas native from Lubbock, during a business conference when they took turns working first. But at that moment, Shyam had paid Misha absolutely no attention. He asked her if she worked on the same floor as him when they first encountered each other in the elevator at the workplace. They did, in fact, share a floor at the time, and she was smitten by his effortless charm and astute humor. But as her father got sick and they lost touch, Misha was forced to return to Columbia, Tennessee. She was still thinking about him, despite the distance. They planned to go out for sushi close to Misha’s apartment, so he traveled there to meet her.

BANQUET HALLS Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Cancun +52 1 998-580-9880 | BEAUTICIANS Red Lotus Artistry 281-254-9941 | DECORATOR Grupo Gama +52 998-882-2724 | DISC JOCKEY  M4U Events 732-771-9648 | HORSE CARRIAGES Drums in Paradise +52 998-240-2834 | EVENT PLANNER Palino Events 469-759-3494  | FLORIST Floreria Tulipania 998-361-8136 | MEHNDI Loto Mehndi by CB&Co. +52 998-165-3277 | PHOTOGRAPHER / VIDEOGRAPHY Gareth Davies Photography +52 553-501-4322 , Ruiz Wedding Films +52 999 900 2371 | PRIEST Adhvaryu Dhruvkumar K 423-355-9465

They recruited Ana Almazan to decorate the interior and Palino Events (Dallas, Texas) to handle the outside preparations. At the Planet Hollywood Beach Resort in Cancun, Mexico, the wedding was planned.

The bride’s orange and fuschia lehenga was complemented by the open-drape theme of the mehndi. Tulipania Floral, in Cancun, created the open-drape concept for the sangeet and the floral arrangement. Mexico’s Cancun-based Loto Mehndi applied for the bride’s mehndi.
The wedding’s decor, which included a fort palace in the background and traditional Rajasthani music, complemented the concept of a royal Rajasthani wedding.

During the reception, the bride’s cousins gave the bride and groom a surprise wedding dance. ‘Laal Ishq’ was playing when the bride arrived at the reception.

Ten years ago, Karim and Yasir met at Twilio, where they are still employed today. They were both teammates on the same squad and were attracted to one another right away. After returning from a business trip, Yasir relocated back to the area, and Karim made the first move. After she arrived at her Dublin home, they had nonstop FaceTime conversations during which they could tell they clicked. A few months later, he traveled to London to visit her, and after ten days together, they decided to start dating.

Finally, Yasir got down on one knee and asked Karim to marry him on the rooftop of the bar Radio, where she was waiting with rose petals, numerous pictures of the two of them, and a view of the London cityscape. Their pals surprised them on the balcony two hours after a wonderful meal in the cabana on the rooftop. Their closest friends from San Francisco, LA, NY, and Dallas were able to travel to London because of Yasir’s organization.

BANQUET HALLS The Venue at Waterstone 224-444-0008 | BEAUTICIANS Ishnae & Co. 214-986-6424 | BOUTIQUES Pronovias 737-241-0959 | CAKE Wow! Donuts 469-514-2647 | CATERING Terra Mediterranean 469-277-2775 | EVENT PLANNER Meredith Commender 214-783-7310 | FLORIST Platinum Petals 605-310-4887 | MEHNDI Meena’s Mehndi 469-360-9954 | MUSICIAN LeForce Entertainment 214-302-8564 |PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOGRAPHY William Bichara Photography 469-556-5462 | Memories Films 214-239-0184 | RENTAL SERVICES BBJ La Tavola 866-376-4755 , Premier Transportation 214-351-7000 | WEDDING SERVICES Zola 408-657-9652

Meredith Commender, the company’s founder and the couple’s wedding planner, was incredibly on time, well-prepared, and helpful with recommendations. The Waterstone Venue in Celina, a stunning barn on the river in a secluded area of north Texas, served as the wedding location. In order to protect the venue’s natural beauty, the decor was kept to a minimum and included only a few string lights and drapes. The furnishings gave off a rustic barn vibe and a lot of natural beauty.

The first gown the bride tried on at Pronovias, a bridal boutique, was a western-inspired gown. She wore a customized version of her mother’s old sari as a lehnga for the mehndi.

The bride and groom opted for a custom-made doughnut wall from Wow! instead of the traditional wedding cake. The guests were pleasantly surprised by the pyrotechnics at the wedding’s conclusion, and the bride and groom enjoyed seeing everyone’s expressions as they exited via the wedding tunnel.

The bride’s intimate last dance and the opportunity to take in the beauty surrounding them before their departure were both meaningful moments.

During the winter of 2018, Devendra and Crystal connected via the Indian dating app Dil Mill. They fell in love at the same moment, but destiny had other ideas when Crystal was accepted into the nurse practitioner program and Devendra began working at Microsoft. Soon, the memory of their exchange began to fade.

However, it had been two years since their last chat when Devendra recalled it after seeing Crystal Patel’s display photo. Devendra decided to take a chance and message Crystal once more. On the streets of Bombay at the time, Crystal was busy eating pani puri. She was dealing with COVID in India during the two weeks he was waiting, and they were urged to return to the USA right away. She returned to Florida with her family.

BANQUET HALLS Caribe Royale Orlando 407-238-8470 | BEAUTICIANS Beauty Marked 813-445-6485 , Henna Allure 321-444-5911 , Onesite Beauty 404-704-2289 | CAKE  Tru-Cakes 407-473-5849 | CATERING Aashirwad Indian Cuisine 407-370-9830 ,  Khasiyat Restaurant 407-252-8756 , Maa Vimla Catering 407-408-6030 | DECORATOR Dreams To Reality 407-592-9261 |  DISC JOCKEY Awaaz Entertainment 407-902-9639 , Jashn 404-441-3539  |  EVENT PLANNER Elite Dream Creations 407-733-2597 | LIMOUSINES & TRANSPORTATION VIP Wedding Transportation 407-822-7755 | MEHNDI Vandana Methi 630-656-3401 | PHOTO BOOTH Capture Your Events 321-402-3446 | PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOGRAPHY Castaldo Studios LLC 407-347-8926 , NSPG Media 407-301-8648  | PRIEST Mahesh Gor 321-297-6167 | WEDDING SERVICES Dream Dance Floors 407-988-4749

On March 28th, 2020, she finally replied, and they immediately resumed their chat. Due to the epidemic, they were sadly unable to go and had to wait patiently for the president to issue travel authorizations. They came together on June 10th, 2020, in Sedona, Arizona. They both agreed that they had something special and had a great time on their trip. The next step was eventually reached after trips to each other’s cities and getting to know each other’s families.

Devendra surprised Crystal with a trip to Alaska on July 28th, 2021, when they flew in a private helicopter to the top of a glacier, where he magically proposed to her. The wedding date was selected by Crystal and Devendra for December 11, 2022. After making several journeys to look at potential wedding locations, the Caribe Royal was chosen. They selected Elite Dreams Creation to serve as their full-time wedding planners after choosing the location.

When Hurricane Nicole began to threaten Orlando, the boho-chic mehndi was being held indoors. Devendra and Crystal made the decision to incorporate the colors magenta and haldi yellow into their pithi, which was held on the Boca Pier Foyer.

The Sangeet night’s theme was “Horn OK Please,” which is what is written on signs behind trucks in India. The truck art motif was brought to life by its decorator, Dreams to Reality. The guests were kept busy all night by the variety of Bombay street food options available at the vendors. Raas and Garba were followed by unexpected dance performances by family and friends.

As the guests danced their way to the door, the baraat’s exuberance was contagious.

The bridegroom arrived in a vintage silver convertible Cadillac. Around the golden pillars, flower decorations in shades of mauve, burgundy, off-white, and pink made up the mandap.

During cocktail hour at the reception, a live piano played Bollywood tunes from the 1980s for the attendees. Then came our first dance to one of our favorite songs, Thoda Thoda Pyaar, and Devendra and Crystal’s dramatic entrance into the ballroom. With the help of their families, the wedding planners, and the organizers, everyone enjoyed themselves.

First, it was a dance team and then Statistics tuition that made Manisha and Akaash closer to each other. Gradually they started liking each other and finally, the cupid struck and they began dating in 2016. After dating and knowing each other for 4 years, Akaash took Manisha to Nashville, the heart of Manisha’s favorite country music. On the fourth anniversary of their first date, he proposed to her amidst floral carpet and floral heart, getting down on one
knee. The answer was a delightful yes with the happiness of spending the rest of their lives together.

Finally, it was on March 5, 2022, that they decided to tie the marital knot. As both were from Orlando, they decided to have the celebrations locally and chose B Resort & Spa as the wedding venue and hired the wedding planner Big Guava Events. Instead of celebrating separately, the couple had their prewedding ceremonies together. The Haldi and Vidhi were done outdoors with simple yet elegant décor with a backdrop of a dome made of greenery combined
with lots of fresh flowers. At the end of Haldi, both of them had mango lassi, and champagne and their friends poured a bucket of ice-cold water on the couple.

On the second day, they had the Sangeet night with a dance floor, food stations, a photo booth and a surprise dance performance by the bridesmen.

BANQUET HALLS B Resort & Spa 407-828-2828 | BEAUTICIANS Henna Allure 321-444-5911
CATERING Flavors of India 321-613-3715 | Khasiyat Restaurant 407-252-8756 | CHOREOGRAPHY DpaulyMoves 305-332-3182 | DECORATOR Tas Events & Design 727-967-1189 | DISC JOCKEY Awaaz Entertainment 407-902-9639 | EVENT PLANNER Big Guava Events 571-241-4405 | MEHNDI Henna Allure 321-444-5911 | PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOGRAPHY Lillie Shawn Imagery 407-878-9277 | PRIEST Pandit vishnu 813-728-7512

The wedding took place in the morning, inside the ballroom. The decoration was minimalistic. The walkway started with two pillars with fresh roses and greenery and the white floor had floating candles and fresh roses that ended with the Mandap with a backdrop of greenery and fresh flowers. Akaash arrived in a yellow jeep decorated with white flowers. He played a dhol throughout the dance and was joined by Manisha afterwards. Bollywood, Afropop, and Punjabi songs were played for dancing. Soft Bollywood songs were played in the background during the wedding ceremonies.

The reception did not have a specific theme. There was a dance floor with a gold-marbled design and an entwined M and A in the middle. The head tables had heightened candles, greenery and pink florals on top of a bright pink tablecloth.

The rest of the tables had a small low variation of florals to avoid the guests’ view of the dancefloor. Each of the 290 guests enjoyed the party thoroughly. The first song was Mann Ki Lagan by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan followed by Dil Le
Gayi Kudi followed by speeches and a wonderful performance by friends on the couple’s relationship. There was also a remembrance table for the loved ones who were no longer with them.

The couple enjoyed every moment of their special event in presence of their close ones and it will remain a precious memory for them.