Fiona’s & Mukesh’s Indian Scottish Wedding

Our site is having a lot of exciting firsts! Our first Mumbai wedding, our first color palette moodboard, and now, our first UK-Scottish wedding.

Fiona and Mukesh, Kesh for short, were married twice in one day at The Matara Centre in Gloucestershire, UK.

Two dresses, two make up looks, and two ceremonies culminated in a colorful and energetic day!

When I spoke to Fiona, she was full of excitement to share her story and tips on planning two weddings in one day. Can we say superbride?!

From Fiona:
Our wedding day was truly amazing, we both hoped we would be able to pull off two weddings in one day but even we couldn’t have imagined how great the day was.

The reason behind having the two ceremonies on one day was to enable all our families and friends to come together. We felt that if we had two separate events on different days with time in between the Hindu and the Civil it would mean friends and family would have to travel twice. This would impact on which ceremony they would attend and we wanted to share both cultures with everyone.

The key part of our day was finding the right venue and the Matara Centre was the one and only venue we ever considered. As soon as we visited it (even on a wet and cold day in October 2011) we knew that it was where we wanted to get married. It was just right!

They gave us the freedom to plan both ceremonies exactly how and where we wanted them. The grounds were stunning and it was a very spiritual venue.

I won’t lie, planning the wedding was very stressful. It was a combination of planning two weddings in six months and the not knowing what to expect. This was my first Asian wedding. My side of the family had never experienced anything like this. But my husband’s side was very supportive.

We did a few things to plan for the Indian wedding:
* My in-laws prepared my family step-by-step through the Hindu ceremony. Roles and responsibilities, order of events, etc.
* Attend Asian Wedding show to get a better idea of outfits, hair and make up ideas.
* To help people understand what was going on during the ceremony we made a booklet. It gave information about what was happening during the ceremony and what it represented in the Hindu faith. {It did make me laugh when I looked up during the ceremony and everyone was engrossed in their booklets and not the event itself!}

The Wedding Day:

The Hindu Ceremony began with the Garland Ceremony at 10am and went straight into the Hindu Ceremony. We had a vegetarian buffet for lunch after the ceremony and during that time we posed for photographs and spoke to all the guests.

We decided to cut the cake in between the two ceremonies which enabled our guests to have cake and tea at about 2pm.

This is when we went back to the house to change into our second outfits. Lots of our guests also changed in between the ceremony as many of them were wearing traditional Indian dress and wanted to change for the Civil Ceremony.

I am originally from Scotland and my Dad and Brother wanted to wear a kilt. The combination of the two cultures was a great mix and looked visually stunning on the photos.

The second ceremony began at 4pm and with a free bar in between times the guests were really getting to know each other by this point. The main talking point between the guests was the Garland ceremony at the beginning of the day and the dholi which drummed us into our wedding. It was so loud and vibrant.

After the civil ceremony we had a sit down evening meal followed by speeches and then the disco. The music was a mix of Bhangra and Western music, the DJ was great and gave everyone lessons on Bhangra moves which got everyone up on the dance floor.

And now, for photos by Bigeye Photography!

A mirror used as a seating chart – Erase and reuse after!

Each table name represented a famous North Indian city. A great way to add a personal touch.

Laughing so hard, they’re crazy happy!

Thanks Fiona for sharing your wedding with us!

{Wedding Suppliers}
Photography: Bigeye Photography – Marcus Ward
Venue: The Matara Centre, Kingscote, Glos
Fiona’s Lengha: Kirans in Soho Rd, Birmingham
Fiona’s white wedding dress: Just For You Brides in Bristol
Mukesh’s Sherwani: Ahsan’s in Soho Rd, Birmingham