It’s not often we get to travel to the mountains for an outdoor wedding. Last time we visited the Garden of the Gods in Utah for an Indian fusion wedding, and we’re back again, to The Canyons this time for a Hindu-Jewish wedding.
You’ll just fall all over yourself for the sweeping views and bright colors captured by Pepper Nix Photography. And the Monique Lhullier floral print dress!
Bride Menaka shares her wedding story with us.
Tell us about the beautiful bridal attire!
I had two outfits for the wedding. One was a red sari with Indian jewelry, which I wore at the ceremony. The second outfit was a fishtail gown, which I wore at the reception. The overall theme was to be as brightly colored as possible! My sari was a beautiful tomato red and I paired it with red lipstick. My reception gown had bright yellow flowers on it and my shoes were electric pink. My hairstyle was a messy side fishtail braid.
Did you do a First Look before the ceremony?
We did a first look and we are happy about it. We wanted to spend time with our friends at the cocktail hour, so we didn’t want that time to be taken up with a bride/groom photo session.
Why did you pick that location for your ceremony?
I grew up in Utah and most of my friends had never been there, so I wanted to introduce it to them! And it’s such a gorgeous state–it was the perfect outdoor setting for a wedding.
Did someone escort you down the aisle?
My cousin Nilesh. None of my uncles could make it so we did the next best thing by having one of my uncle’s sons walk me down the aisle.
Tell us about the wedding decor and inspiration.
Indian weddings are super bright so I wanted to go with that theme. Our colors were tangerine, bright aqua/turquoise, and a deep pink/red.
The venue was so beautiful we didn’t have to do much. My planner sewed colorful table runners for all the tables and then we had the single blooms mixed in with long branches. My planner also did cute chalkboard table numbers. We didn’t have to do anything else in the dinner area. The dancing area was a patio downstairs that already had a nice white tent up. We hung paper lanterns from the ceiling and that was it!
For the reception, I wanted to go for simple and rustic to match the lodge. So we went with single blooms in jars and repurposed a lot of the flowers from the mandap/chuppah we got married under outside.
My nieces and nephews were flower girls, we had a great groom’s cake that showed Josh’s love of professional wrestling.
Favorite moment at the ceremony/reception?
Seeing Josh in the hotel room in the morning before we both got ready.
Hitting my head on one of the hanging mason jars with flowers while at the ceremony!
Absolutely loved the toasts. Those were the best part. What you would have done differently, if anything: Not worried about things running smoothly!
Any advice you have for future brides?
Let go of all stress and enjoy the day. Things will run well and most importantly, people will have a good time.
And, get a planner! That was the best thing I did.
{Wedding Vendors}
Photographer: Pepper Nix Photography//Hair Stylist: Enizio Inc // Cake Designer: Carrie’s Cakes // DJ: Craig Chambers Disc-Connection//DJ: Disc Connection // Makeup Artist: Enizio // Floral Designer: Every Blooming Thing//Dress Designer: Monique Lhuillier // Caterer: The Canyons
