Sharanya & Rashab’s Hindu Wedding in Balito

You see some weddings and just think wow! Sharanya & Rashab’s Hindu wedding at Collisheen Estate was so colourful and elegant. Its wonderful to see how different cultures celebrate such a special occasion. Im hoping that my dream of wearing a sari one day will one day happen, as they are so beautiful and so different to my regular jeans ensemble.

Zara-Zoo Photography captured the gorgeous day in sunny Balito in South Africa. The couple actually live in Australia,   so planning a wedding from a thousand miles away is quiet a feat. As you can see they did an amazing job!

How would you describe your wedding day?
It was truly magical. We had the perfect day. We had a garden wedding and the weather was perfect. Everything ran on time. We had a traditional Hindu ceremony with 225 guests ( small by standards!). I had planned the wedding from Australia which was quite challenging and then came to South Africa a month earlier to tie up loose ends. The support from my family was incredible, in particular my Aunty Pitham who became my Wedding Planner and my Uncle Shunnon who stepped in as Function Coordinator on the day – gotta love family! The best thing was that Rushabh and I had all our loved ones with us on such a special day. We felt so loved and grateful for all the amazing people in our life. Our priest who came with us from Australia was brilliant – he explained everything in English. We had a full rehearsal of the wedding and the ceremony was sacred and seamless.

What was your favourite part of the day?
Definitely the weather, it was a comfortably warm day with a slightly cool breeze. And it was a blessing because we were in the middle of Winter! The next day we had gale force winds and could not step outside with the rain and wind. The weather is the one thing that a bride cannot plan/delegate/control!

Words of wisdom for couples planning their wedding?
Wedding planning can be so stressful with everyone’s expectations, budget restrictions etc but it is possible to have stress-free planning.

1. Before any of the planning, decide who the final decision-makers are. It could be the couple or it could be the parents depending on your culture and how you view your wedding day. If the bride and groom are the decision makers – listen to what others have to say, help them feel involved (especially parents – they are so proud you are getting married and want to be part of it) – but you both make the final call. And remember – you can’t make everyone happy!

2. The moment I eliminated stress from the whole process was when I made two decisions: (1) I don’t have to do anything I am not comfortable with (2) I am going to enjoy every bit of the planning and every moment of the actual day. Before I made these two decisions for myself I was caught in the stress and drama of everyone else’s expectations of how they wanted it to be etc. After this moment – the whole process was joyful and fun!

3. Go full out for your PLAN A. You can have the wedding of your dreams. Have a scrapbook with all the images and ideas for your day, decide how you want it and create the day from there.

4. Budget – decide what you value the most and know that money goes to what you value the highest. I invested a lot in video and photography but for all the stationary I simply did it myself for minimal cost. Also the favours were gorgeous but did not cost much at all. Little cute golden boxes (x50 boxes for R30!) filled with yummy sweets and a cute thank you sticker on. Guests loved it – they looked very elegant but didn’t cost much at all. For the placecards – I had collected one gorgeous photo of each guest and stuck it on hard cardboard to make a placecard with their name written on the back of it. They loved it because it was so personal and loving. I needed a back-up portrait photo of Rushabh and myself for last minute changes to the guest-list (we made about 25 spares) so that everyone still gets a photo/placecard to take home.

The best advice you received for your big day?
Enjoy every moment of the day and be really present because it disappears in a flash – which it did!

Is there anything you’d change?
I think there is always that one story from your day LOL. Hindsight is great. I would have hired a different DJ. After having two meetings with him prior to the day, he turned up without the run-sheet or any of the music I wanted (he said he forgot to bring it). This caused unnecessary stress for my brother and Uncle. I had even given him the complete playlists of the ceremony, the reception music, the main parts of the night (cake-cutting, entrance music, first dance). He played the wrong cake-cutting song, first dance song. None of the guests knew the backstage drama that was going on. I had to re-adjust my walking down the aisle music 5 mins before I walked down the aisle. So after that experience, bring back up CD’s/USB with all your music on it to the day (just in case!).

Perhaps it would be easier to just expect 1-2 things to possibly not work out as you had planned and also decide that nothing will stop you focusing on the joy of the day. To be honest, with our wedding 99 things went perfectly and this 1 thing went pear-shaped so we still maintain we had the perfect day!

Here are highlights from the day captured by  Bernard Fischer | Pink Flower on Vimeo.

The Detail

Wedding Dress: I wore a gorgeous red and gold silk saree. It had embroidery and embellishments and cut-through windows where my red blouse could be seen through the gold lattice of the saree. Lana from The Saree Shop in Australia

Jewellery: Were given from our parents: husband’s parents gave me the beautiful set of earrings , headpiece and the necklace. My parents gave the red and gold bangles.

Hair: Shirley Naidoo from Hair Sensation, The Hilton, Durban. If you are an Indian bride, there is truly no other person better than Shirley!

Makeup: Jadelle from MAC at The Pavilion, Durban. Jadelle is brilliant! She really knows how to put make-up on you so that you look flawless and not overdone. She’s great with different skin tones.

Grooms Suit: Indian designer made Kurta suit, turban and shoes

Bridesmaids: Red and cream silk sarees, Lana from The Saree Shop in Australia

Flowers: Kayode’s Function Decor arranged Dark pink, purple, and deep reds were the colours for the flowers. Nirvana was amazing.

Ceremony and Reception Venues: Collisheen Estate which is in Balito in Kwazulu Natal. I cannot say enough good things about Amanda Wienhold– she really loves what she does and her energy is amazing. She is very organized and she made everything run smoothly on the day. It was such a pleasure working with her.

Photographer: Zara-Zoo Photography. Stefan was very professional and the photos were of a very high quality.

Videographer: Pink Flower Productions. Bernard is wonderful, they captured out day beautifully and their 10min highlight was brilliant!

Music: Unfortunate to disclose (but I feel I would want to know if I was a bride to be) that I would not recommend these guys to anyone! Regan and Lyle from Functions Corporation. Lyle D Chellan was the DJ on the actual wedding day who was nothing short of terrible.

Cake: Eden from The Cake Chef created exactly what I wanted for the cake and delivered it all the way to Ballito.

Catering: Collisheen Estate – so yummy, great feedback from guests. I had an Indian vegetarian menu.

Save the Dates and Invitations: Made by the Bride

Décor: Jitesh from Spot-On Events and also Ansuyah Devi Panday from Dazzling Events made the garden and reception hall magical.