Yes, it's finally up, my wedding day highlights. I have covered hundreds of weddings over the years, and to finally be the bride, and having the task to edit my own wedding was a bit overwhelming. I have been going back and forth on this edit for over a year and I finally stopped making changes and tweaks...so here it is!
We decided to have our wedding at Union Station in Los Angeles since we wanted the venue to be something unique and felt that this location offered everything that we needed. We chose March 24, 2012 to be the date that we would become Mr. and Mrs. Patel! We started out the day at the Standard Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles with Oscar Naranjo arriving in the morning to get me ready! I have worked alongside with Oscar for the past 10 years and I think he is one of the most talented makeup artists out there. When I was choosing my wedding date, I would text Oscar to make sure that he was also available. No way would I get married and not have Oscar be the one to get me all dolled up. Also in the morning came Farah Manekia to get all my bridesmaids, mother and mother-in-law ready for the big day.
As I arrived at Union Station, I saw our beautiful ceremony site. All the months of planning and now it was all coming to life. The ceremony site was all pulled together by Yogi Patel from Sheer Romance. I have known Yogi for close to 10 years and have worked with him on many weddings. When I decided on my wedding date, he was my next call. Yogi helped the vision that I had for my ceremony become a reality!
When it came to choosing the florist for the ceremony, I called my old friend Kevin Reeder, who I have also known for almost 15 years. He worked on all my flower arrangements for the ceremony, and exceeded my expectations!
We had the honor of having Pundit Praful Joshi and his wife, Bharati, conduct the ceremony. As with all my vendors, I have covered Praful many times and when he accepted to be our priest for the wedding day, it felt like it was all falling into place perfectly!
As the baraat started, I sneaked a peak at Sagar and all of our guests jumping and dancing to the dhol (good friend Puneet Layal) and the DJ (Parag Shah & Ajay Manaktala from Special Occassions). I want to say that I have probably covered hundreds of weddings with Paraj and Ajay, and to see them out there at my baraat made it all feel so real! They both have become good friends of mine and Sagar's over the years, so having them there on this special day meant a lot to us!
Next was my entrance, and I knew exactly how I wanted it to be! If you know me on a personal level, you will know that I love Punjabi culture, Bhangra and the dhol! I approached my good friends Malinder, Jess and Jag Tooray and said, 'I need you all on my wedding day! Yes, all of you!' I have never seen them all at the same wedding, so this was a request that I knew may not happen. Lucky enough they all said yes they would all be at my wedding! I was pulling together the best dhol players for our wedding, and so we approached Puneet Layal and Ronak Parikh, and had an awesome quintet of dhol players all lined up for our Gujarati wedding! As I entered into the ceremony with my father on my side, I now knew how all my brides have felt! I saw all the faces of my family, friends and Sagar waiting for me at the end of the aisle.
I remember going up to David Yusif and Alex Amidi at a wedding reception that I was covering at the Hyatt Huntington Beach and saying, 'I just love your work, I wish I could have you at my wedding", and the response was, "Let's make it happen." This was, by far, one of my best decisions for my wedding day! The decor for the reception was truly breathtaking. I had dreams about what the room would like and David and Alex made my dreams come true.
For the dinner we always knew it would be Manohar from Delhi Palace. By far, the best Indian food!
We chose Harvard Photography to cover our 4 day event. We have worked with the Harvard team for over 15 years and knew that it would be a great match, with Lawrence as our lead photographer.
I want to thank my video crew for pulling it all together on the wedding day! Frank, Fahd, Matt and Chris. For anyone who is getting married and doesn't get this amazing day covered by video, you will lose out on being able to share this special day with your children and generations to come. I can't wait to show Asha (our daughter) how much fun we had at our wedding!
Vendors:
Robles Video Productions (www.roblesvideo.com)
Photography Harvard Photography (www.harvardphotography.com),
Makeup and hair by Oscar Naranjo (www.oscarmakeup.com)
Makeup and hair by Farah Manekia (www.myfairbride.com)
Music by Special Occasions (www.specialoccasionsla.com)
Ceremony Decor & coordination by Yogi Patel from Sheer Romance (www.sheerromance.com)
Reception Decor & coordination by Square Root (www.squarerootdesigns.com)