Natalie & Rahul’s Amazing Stylish Maine Fusion Wedding

Everytime I receive a wedding submission it’s like taking a step in time to happy, loving, beautiful moments.

Today’s wedding feature is everything and then some. The royal purple and gold decor, the stunning Italian bride Natalie, the Maharaja Rahul, the mehndi cake, it is overload of gorgeousness and love.

So much love!

I chatted with Natalie to hear her story of wedding planning with two very different cultures: Indian and Italian.

Tell us about the wedding!
My husband is Indian and my family is primarily Italian. We knew that it was going to be a challenge to integrate two very different (and opinionated) cultures within one wedding. We discussed having two separate ceremonies, but ultimately felt that a wedding signified our love and unity and so should our wedding. We decided to have one Indian/Western fusion wedding, and do our best to represent both cultures.

We decided to get married at my family’s home in Cape Neddick, Maine. I had known since I was a little girl that I wanted to get married there. The location is very special to me and I wanted to husband’s family to share that as well.

How did you start planning the wedding with you and your husband coming from different backgrounds?

I did a lot of research to understand the significance of different Indian ceremonies. Traditional Indian weddings typically last for multiple days and we needed to consolidate multiple events to two days and a one hour wedding ceremony.

My husband and I discussed our ‘deal breakers’ and picked the most important Indian ceremonies with the input of family members and scripted the ceremony to ensure that it was within our desired time frame. The ceremony was most important to us, because it was what made the wedding truly fusion. We didn’t just want an Indian theme by including some decor, but rather fusion in every sense from the food to our ceremony.

What was your vision of the wedding?

Our design vision was the Godfather meets Bollywood. We wanted to incorporate bright and vibrant colors, so we chose purple and gold as our thematic colors. Our ceremony was outside and our reception was in a tented area. We wanted the atmosphere to be fun and laid back and included a cigar table, a 5-hour Energy table, and also had a table with bindi’s and bangles. We worked really hard to find vendors to work with it, were excited about our concept, and had their own creative ideas.

For example, I told Owen from Confection Art that we wanted a henna design on the cake and our colors were purple and gold. I had no idea what the cake would look like until the wedding, but he blew my expectations away. It was so exciting to see the flowers as well. I told our florist what our wedding colors were, along with my favorite flowers and left the rest to them. I adored all of the flowers and by giving the florist the room to be creative actually created something that was much better than I could have imagined.

You’ll save yourself some aggravation and stress if you trust your vendors and let them add their own personal touch.

Tell us about the wedding gown…it is beautiful!
I bought my wedding gown by myself at a sample sale on 5th avenue in NYC. I wasn’t expecting to buy a dress when I walked into the sample sale, but when I explained what I was looking for to the sales woman, she told me, “I have your dress.” She was right! I tried it on and because it was a sample, I was swimming in about a yard of extra fabric. I knew the dress could be exactly what I wanted, if it fit.

I bought it on the spot and needed to find a seamstress that could work miracles to make it fit my 5′ 4″ frame. I was lucky enough to find Susan Ruddie from the Wedding Dresser, who worked her magic. She used to design costumes for Broadway plays, so I knew she was creative and had the skills.

Thank you to the fabulous Casey Durgin Photography in Kittery, Maine.