Sonali and Ricky have shared their gorgeous Irish Indian fusion wedding on the blog with us today and we are quite frankly just delighted! With Ricky being half Irish and Sonali 100 percent Indian, they wanted to incorporate a sweet day that truly became a fairy tale. Foto Collective shot their big day, making sure they documented every beautiful moment!
We talked to Sonali about the wedding of her dreams.
Tell us about the wedding
Ricky is half Indian and half Irish and I am fully Indian, so we decided to mix both cultures by having an English wedding (we couldn’t travel to Ireland) and an Indian wedding. We had our English wedding in Moor Park Mansion, a breathtaking 17th Century Grade 1 listed Palladian Mansion with the most beautiful grounds.
It was a lovely ceremony filled with a few Irish quirks, like a tiny horse shoe in my bouquet and an Irish Poem. We also had an empty chair for those who were watching from heaven. I had five bridesmaids and Ricky had five groomsmen and a best man.
We both love the color purple so the girls were in purple dresses and the boys in purple ties. We had a really cool butterfly release and then we served high tea. I feel it was quite traditional, yet glamorous and fun at the same time. This was on August 4th. On August 5th we had a Disney Party at a family home. Ricky and I dressed up as Aladdin and Jasmine and all our guests came as their favorite character. The real Mickey and Minnie traveled all the way to the U.K. to greet us, we had American style chips and veggie burgers and an ice cream van served us dessert.
On the 6th, we had a traditional mendhi (at another family home) party with lots of Masti and giggles, on the 7th we had a Mandvo the pre-wedding blessing and on August 8th, 2014 we had our traditional Indian Ceremony followed by a fun-filled wedding reception. This was held at Newland Manor a venue that is really fantastic for Indian Weddings as they have great decor packages. I wore a pretty traditional sari and had bought some Kundan style jewelry to go with it. My outfit was very simple and Ricky’s outfit was custom-made to look similar to mine, but not match completely.
The ceremony was an hour and a half long and the priest was asked to uphold Vaishanavism which is the sect of Hinduism that I believe in. Traditional Gujju food was served. I kept the decor as simple as possible as I felt that Ricky and I should be the ones shining.
In the evening we had a wedding reception that went like any other…glitz, glamour, welcome drinks, cake, speeches, food, drinking and dancing. Our theme was blue and very sparkly. The best speeches were my Dad and Ricky’s uncles..they were filled with love, affection and advice. My cousins gave funny speeches too, making fun of my picky eating and many food allergies!
Could you tell us about any special wedding customs/clothing you had?
4th August: I wanted to wear a white dress as Ricky said that was important to him. There was also an Irish tradition of a tiny horse shoe in my bouquet.
6th August: My mendhi was very simple and traditional, almost village-y, to go with my simple outfit.
7th August: Pre wedding blessing, Mandvo. This was done completely traditionally in accordance to Pushti Marg Vaishnavism.
8th August: Again, the wedding was performed in accordance to Vaishavism. My sari was white with a red and green as backing colors which is traditional Gujurati style.
What was the inspiration for your wedding?
Initially Ricky and I wanted a small wedding, but when my father said the words, “No daughter of mine will have a wedding that is any less than a fairy tale!” I decided that every childhood whim of mine will be catered to! Yes, I did budget myself—I bought fancy candles instead of paying for a harpist on the Monday and I had very few fresh flowers as my mother believed they were too expensive. But I don’t think my father said no to anything, so the inspiration was “Fairytales and Dreams.”
What was the hardest part about wedding planning?
I think it was planning so many different functions and having them all so close together! I think we all needed a break by the end of it! My honeymoon was six months later though.
Did you do any DIY (do it yourself) or special projects/things at the wedding?
I looked at the wedding from the point of view of the guest—Indian weddings are long and people need food! So on every chair at the Indian wedding the guest had a packet of roasted almonds and cashews (roasted and packeted by family) and a lovely refreshing bottle of water.
We also had a sweet buffet, all the sweets were bought by family and arranged by myself and a couple of lovely helpers!
The guests favorite part was a bag we called ‘Midnight Munchies’. As people left the wedding reception at midnight they got a brown bag filled with a packet of crisps, a cereal bar and a bottle of water. This was packed by myself and a lovely cousin of mine!
What was your favorite part of the wedding?
Bride: Ricky and I practiced the Mangalsutra and Sindoor a few days before the wedding, as I have seen it go wrong so often. When he did this on the wedding day, and it went perfectly, we were both so happy we laughed so much! It made the whole room laugh! It is a part of the wedding I will never forget.
Groom: During the cake cutting at the reception the music stopped all of a sudden. A laughing sound started to come out of the speakers, at which point everyone was confused. After about 30 seconds of the laughing noise, a voice came out of the sound system “Why So Serious?” it repeated. I realized it was Heath Ledger as the Joker. The character is a big favorite of mine. They then brought out a cake which was The Joker’s face and a few screen shots of the Dark Knight Film around.
What 3 words of advice do you have for future brides/grooms-to-be?
-Plan
-Delegate
-Listen to your parents
Congratulations Sonali and Ricky! What a wonderful day you put together.
Vendors: Photographer: Foto Collective // Priest: Hemang Bhatt // Wedding Music: Shiv Gopal // Caterers: VIP Lounge // Venue: Moor Park Mansion/Newland Manor // Decor: Exclusive Events // Make-up Artist: Maz Muraj // DJ: Nills from Professors // Toast Master: Andy Bignold // Cakes: Need a Cake (company has since closed)