A beautiful management accountant raised and settled in Dubai, and a handsome medical engineer working in Australia, despite being continents apart from one another, were brought together and happily tied in the bonds of holy matrimony. Even though the two were settled in different continents away from their own country, they chose to come back to India for the wedding. And boy, was it a grand affair!
Wondering how this geek won over his Arabian princess? Well, here is a ride through the big fat, 'larger than life' Bollywood-style wedding story of Bhairavi and Avinash made perfect by a dream team of wedding organisers- F5 Weddings!
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The two met at a party through a common friend. While Avinash knew she was the one for him the second he laid eyes on her, Bhairavi took her time, and made her prince charming wait until she finally said yes, and that too after being sure that he held an Australian passport. He proposed to her at her favourite sushi place in Dubai with, as he calls it, “a 15-minute Oscar-worthy speech.”
Working in different countries and time zones, the two took full advantage of technology to stay connected to each other better. And then, after breaking out the news to their respective families, getting a warm positive go ahead sign; they had 11-months to plan their dream wedding. And, even though they originally wanted an Udaipur wedding in royal style, it was the F5 team that rightly convinced them against it, as the weather during their wedding time would not have suited them. Thus, they chose Mumbai as the wedding destination, which also happened to be where both of their families were settled.
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Theirs was a wedding that was a magnanimously grand affair. The theme of the wedding was ‘A Tale of Two Continents’. The wedding invitation card was was a movie reel that had clapboard inserts for every event, so it showcased the essence of their filmy-style romance perfectly. The décor was orange and pink with marigold garlands decorated all over the venue along with hanging umbrellas, lanterns and khatiyas.
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The venue for the Bollywood-themed sangeet ceremony was The Club in Juhu. It was basically a premiere to their ‘A Tale Of Two Continents’, with red carpets rolled out to welcome all the guests. The venue was also really liked by all, as it had a permission to play music post 11 pm as well. There were performances by the family members and friends along with movie posters of the couples all around the place. While Bubbles, our bride, looked like a princess in a beige coloured long embellished kurta with pants, Avinash rocked his look in a royal blue and dark beige coloured kurta pyjama. The two showcased the correct blend of modern and ethnic.
The mehendi ceremony took place at Bhairavi’s home. It was a personal and private affair with only close friends and family members in attendance. The gorgeous bride was glowing in her short pink Indo-western gown.
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The venue for the wedding was the ITC Maratha Dome Side, Mumbai. The theme being ‘Vintage’, there were flowers in cages with a beautiful tinge of yellow and beige. On being asked for selecting this particular venue, here is what Avinash had to say:
The moment we walked in to the lobby at ITC Grand Central (Lower Parel), it gave us that ‘saat phera’ feeling and we could not see ourselves getting married anywhere else. There was even that moment where had there been a setup of a mandap there, we would have had a first take that day itself. The venue had a very colonial feel to it and the outdoor dome area that we used for the pheras were ideal for an outdoor setting that we always wanted. A few venues that we saw in Bombay were Novotel, both the ITC’s, Westin, Tote and Taj land’s end.
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Bhairavi looked like a true Bollywood bride as she wore a stunning red lehenga with golden and green work, and she teamed it up with a bright green blouse. Avinash chose to match his lady-love, and so, chose contrasting colours of cream and maroon for his sherwani.
As per tradition, the lovely bride entered under a beautiful phoolon ki chadar with her friends and cousins surrounding her, while our groom ditched the traditional ghodi and entered in style on a Vespa.
The grand reception took place at the ITC Maratha Ballroom. And, as Avinash puts it:
The food reputation of ITC has standards of giving any gastronomical critique a run for their money.
While Avinash looked oh-so dashing in his royal blue tux, Bubbles looked like royalty in her blue one-shouldered extravagant, yet elegant gown.
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And, all the festivities came to an end with a small post-wedding photo shoot where again, the couple was seen in matching outfits.
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It was F5 who gave a bit of method to our madness. Since we were all based in different countries, we used to have Whatsapp and telecons as our prime form of communication. We as a couple had a vision for how we wanted our wedding to be. F5 would always be open to our judgment of wanting things the way we wanted, and at the same time, knew when to stand up and remind us that this isn’t Bollywood. In short, we tried to paint a picture of our ideal wedding in the best possible way and F5 transformed this into an artwork, which was cherished and loved by both our families and friends.
And though there were no disagreements otherwise, the only one was that Bubble wanted a candid photographer whereas I could not get the whole hype behind one and wanted to stick with a traditional photographer. F5 suggested that we keep both and introduced us to our cinematographer who would handle the traditional side of the clicks and solved the problem.
Apart from F5 weddings, here are the others who helped make Avinash and Bhairavi's dream wedding a reality:
Makeup and Hair: Nisha Sablok and Amrata Sanghvi
Photographer: Richa Kashelkar
Choreographer: Aparna Daswani
Cinematographers: SeventyByTwo
Outfits: Gaurav Gupta (Sangeet), Mireya (Reception), Mehendi (Reet - Dubai)
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So, here is wishing Avi and Bubbles a lifetime of happiness and togetherness!
