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| December 2006 | |
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Wedding date: March 31, 2007, in Chandler, Arizona
Sept. 15-30 He said: Ok, a long story, very short - our DJ was in the news. Let's just say the circumstance for which he was on the news was very... bizarre. Having said that, Rushina and I were on the lookout for a new DJ in case our current situation doesn't resolve itself. During a recent weekend, Rushina was out of town visiting her nephew and I went to an Indian party thrown at a local bar (by the way, the editor of everyone's favorite magazine was on hand... yes, I love dropping names). Anyhow, the cool thing about the party was the DJ was non-Indian, but he was able to play a good mix of both Indian and American music. Since our wedding and reception will have many American-style traditions, I thought he would be perfect. He would be able to emcee as well as DJ, since he told me he performs as an emcee for most of the weddings he does. Right now - I'm in a negotiation process with him. I'll be sure to update as things go along. Dhol Player I believe I talked about the baraat earlier. It's the time
before the wedding when the groom's family and friends arrive to the place of
the ceremony with the groom riding in on a female white horse. During this
arrival, family and friends are dancing to the music of a dhol player (link). The
music is amazing and very infectious!
It's electric! Boogie, woogie, woogie!
...anyway, people are usually doing a bhangra dance (link) to the
music. It's a style of dance associated with
the state of Punjab in Oh, back to the journal. So, I just booked a Dhol Player. One of my good friends has a friend in Houston who is a "Dhol Master,” a title given to those who compete in Dhol competitions. He is giving me a great rate and since he will just stay at my friend's place, all we have to pay for is his discounted rate and his flight to town. The flight will probably be around $200. I am very excited to have him! Bus A while ago, I got an American Express Platinum card (link) just to be cool. It comes with a ton of benefits - none of which I've used. Well, I decided to take advantage of their concierge service. Wow! They will research just about anything for you. I have been looking for a bus service to transfer people back and forth from the hotel to Ashley Manor. Instead of calling a bunch of places, I called American Express and they took it upon themselves to go and get me a bunch of quotes. One place with a great rate was a site called Busbank.net. I called them and booked the bus. What I didn’t realize until I actually called them is they are willing to negotiate. So, if you have a need for a bus, I would definitely give these guys a call. I'm sure they'll beat any rate you can find on your own. Plus, they seem to be nationwide. Raven Golf Course (Friday night cocktail party) Well - I got in touch with the sales person, Matt, at the Raven Golf Course. He told me about the upgrades he was planning for the reception hall. It was nice to see that they were going to move forward with upgrades! Based on his changes, Rushina and I decided to go with white linens and deep red (burgundy) napkins, or deep red wine color for those of you who mix food and colors. I made an appointment with Matt for a tasting and linen selection. He is going to get us a few samples to choose from.
She said: Making the decision on what the groomsmen are
going to wear for the wedding has been like a tennis match. We just keep going
back and forth and back again. We had three choices: 1) matching Indian outfits
for wedding and tuxedos for reception 2) tuxedos for wedding and reception 3)
black suits with dark red shirts for wedding and tuxedos the reception and the
winner is ...choice number three. We decided this would be the most economical
choice and the easiest to put together. All the guys have their own black
suits, so we are going to get them matching dark red shirts and have them rent
tuxedos, if they don't have their own. We figured since we are having the
bridesmaids wear dresses, that the guys would match nicely in their suits. Raj
is going to wear a traditional Indian outfit for the wedding. We are going to Mandap My mom and I met with the people that will be designing our mandap and I thought it was all set. Well, after the construction of Ashley Manor was complete, I took my mom by to see it for the first time. She fell in love with the place, just as I had. The one thing that we both noticed is that the stage seemed a lot smaller than the dimensions we were originally given. I was worried that the mandap would not fit on the stage, so I called our vendor to come by and check it out. Jagu had called Ashley Manor herself, so she was pretty sure the stage was big enough. Well, it wasn't. It was about 3 feet too short. We tried to come up with some alternatives, none of which really wowed me. They all seemed okay, but not the same as I had pictured. Later that day, my mom, sensing my frustration with it all, called Jagu and they came up with an alternative solution that will work out well. Leave it to my mom to make it all better. We will still use all four pillars, but instead of using the pre-sized wooden pieces to connect the pillars, we will use fabric. The mandap will be a little on the small size, but our easy going Pandit seems to think it will work just fine...phew, crisis averted. Program Considering that our wedding guests are 40 percent non-Hindus and 10 percent confused Hindus, we decided to put together a program that explains the entire ceremony! There a lot of sites on the Internet that have full descriptions of each part, so we used that as our guide. To add a personal touch, we used our names throughout the program and the names of the people performing each step. Most of the programs I saw just refer to the couple as the bride and groom. We also wanted to recognize each person, by name that would be participating in our ceremony. Colors Raj made some comment about how peach is not a color. Please let the record show that I never even brought up the color or the fruit!!! I am not a fan of peach (the color), so it will not be making an appearance at our wedding! I am thinking of dark red and chocolate brown for our wedding colors. I am sure Raj will make some comment about how chocolate is not a color, but I really love those two colors together. The only thing is that our venue provides our linens and floral centerpieces, so I am not sure if they will have what I am looking for. Seeing that I am dangerously close, probably 10 cents away from exceeding my budget, I will probably not spring for other linens. My plan is to see what Ashley Manor has and then I will make the final decision on my colors. So, stay tuned for the conclusion.
He said:
Well, with Rushina going to For a single woman: For a married couple: For a married couple with different last names: Married Couple and wife is a Doctor: Dr. and Mr. John Smith
And, get this. When both the husband and wife are doctors:
The Doctors Smith
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Rushina is in ------- Today was Ashley Manor's Open House Event. It was an event for all those who are booked there to see the castle totally finished. Of course, they also invited perspective customers there. There were different service vendors with samples of their products and services.
The castle was looking stunning! Upon arrival, (I was solo today as Rushina is
in Inside, they had different display for the different vendors. They had
one display with a wedding dress. They had four tables setup with
different color linen arrangements that were out of this world. Of
course, there were different cake samples from a local wedding cake
vendor. A local caterer had provided a full buffet spread and of course,
free champagne outside by the bar. No night is complete without the Sun City
Band playing on the wedding podium.
I was
really excited about my trip to
Weeks before I went to All I could think was “Really? What about the 50 people that tried to convince you before?” I guess guys will always listen to their mother, if all else fails. I was just happy that he gave in. Well, I was happy until I got to the store and saw all of the choices. I began to get nervous. What if he hates it? Oh well, if he hates, he hates it. At least, I know I will look good. I found one that I really liked and the good news was that it takes about 2 weeks to order the fabric, so I’d be able to show the sample to Raj when I got back and then have my aunt place the final order. My cousins would have to bring it to the States for us, but at least Raj could see the sample.
He said:
The horse people are still not calling me back!!! I think my message should just be, "I want to donate money. Call me." But, perhaps some good news on the horizon. I was frustrated today because I didn't know who to call! But get this. I dropped my car off at a local dealership for an oil change and the woman who drives the shuttle van just happened to mention in conversation that she used to own horses. Of course, I asked where I could get one for the wedding. She told me to look up "riding stables" in the phone book. Sure enough, I found a few near me! I will call them shortly to see if I can get further with them! ----- I swung by the Men's Wearhouse today. I wanted to know what the general timeline and process for getting tuxedos was. They said as late as a month before the wedding, I can be fitted for a tuxedo. The Men's Wearhouse will create a Group ID for my groomsmen and me. Then, my groomsmen can go to a Men's Wearhouse near where they live to be fitted and their tuxedos will be available at the Men's Wearhouse near my house. The associate at the Men's Wearhouse said they have discount coupons available at Wedding Expo's that occur throughout the year. Expo’s are shows where people hawk their wedding services. In order to get a discount, I need to go to this thing because they can give me a discount without this magical coupon that you get there. Oh well. --------
With Rushina back from --------
I called the Papago Riding Stables about my horse. The
young girl I talked to seemed unsure about renting out horses for events.
The conversation was like this: She said:
Since we are blending east and west traditions, we are having a flower girl in our bridal party. She will be almost three at the time of the wedding and I decided to get her a chanya choli (lengha) to wear for the ceremony. It was fun shopping for kids’ clothes. They had some cute choices and I decided on a green and burgundy outfit that had little bells on the skirt. My mother, aunt and I had gone to a store that sells items made out of silver. I saw these silver champagne flutes and thought they would be perfect toasting glasses for Raj and me. I hadn’t seen silver toasting glasses, so I thought they would be unique and they had a pretty design on them. When we met with the Pandit (priest), he mentioned that we
needed garlands for the ceremony and that we could use silk ones instead of one
made from fresh flowers. Now I thought silk ones would be cheesy, but I
actually found some in I just got back from For the record, I did not show him several of my clothes. I showed him two outfits, none of which I will be wearing on our wedding day. I like to ask him if he wants to see my wedding clothes, as a joke. He thinks I am cracking. He’s wrong. |
The next day I woke up early. Like a little kid on the first
day of school, I was dressed and ready to go about four hours before the time
we needed to leave. Finally, it was time to start shopping. We arrived at the first
store on the list (again), Ushnak Mal at South Extension, and it was open.
Hooray! My aunt, my mom, and I sat down and then the madness began. One by one,
a sari was placed in front of us on a big platform. I would either shake my
head and have it tossed aside into the “not in this lifetime will I be wearing
that” pile or nod my head and have it placed into the “it’s good enough for a
second viewing” pile. After seeing about 1,282 red saris, I was ready to weed
through the pile of maybes. I found a few that seemed nice, but nothing that
was really eye catching. I decided to move on to my reception outfit. I
originally had my heart set on a gold lengha for the reception. I tried one on
and decided that my mom was right (again). Gold did not do much for my skin
tone. I looked better in brighter colors. I began the whole “viewing process”
with the lenghas. All three of us unanimously decided on one. Now, I am not one
of those girls that try on a dress (or lengha) and say, “this is it. I have to
have this one.” I am not an “it girl.” I am a “this looks really pretty, I
think I will get this one” girl. One down and one to go… Time check…two
hours to go. We arrived at the second store, Frontier in Karol Baag, and made a
mad dash for the wedding saris. One buy one, the sales clerk started throwing
red saris in my directions. A sea of red and rhinestones blinded me. I put a
few aside and started trying those on. They were nice, but nothing memorable.
My mom took one from the rejected pile and asked that I try it on. Wow, that
one was really pretty. Everyone loved it and agreed that I should buy it. Good
thing my mom told me to try it on! I guess it pays to listen to your mother.
Two down and none to go. Time check…one hour to go…enough time to grab a bite
to eat and get to the airport. Phew! And they said it couldn’t be done!
We arrived in Ahmedabad last night and the first task on the
list it to pick out our invitations. We went to Festival Cards and spoke with
Manish. This guy was great. He is my pick for the most helpful and knowledgeable
man in Ahmedabad (by the way, my pick for number two is the guy at Café Coffee
Day that helped me choose which frozen coffee drink to try). He showed us
several samples and really helped me figure out which colors and paper would be
best for me. He showed me a sample invitation that had a symbol of an Om with a
small Ganesh in the center of the 
