Raj Suri, 32,
Intel software engineer
Rushina Dalal, 31, telecom engineer
Wedding date: March 31, 2007, in Chandler, Arizona
Week of July 31
She said: I have been waiting 31 years to plan my
wedding and now that it’s here, all I can think is that I wouldn’t mind waiting
a little bit longer. Even though, it is a really exciting time, it’s A LOT of
work. There are so many things to do and it’s hard to know where to begin. My
friends told me to first find the place and then set the date, so that’s what
we did.
Since we knew we wanted to cater Indian food, it was hard to
find a place that would allow outside caterers. Basically, we came up with a list
of places from azweddings.com and started visiting them one by one. The last
place we visited was Ashley Manor (www.ashleymanorwedding.com) and I have to
say that I was not thrilled to go inside. From the parking lot, you can’t see
much. However, once you walk through the wrought iron gates, it’s a whole
different world. I fell in love immediately. Once we took the tour, we started
talking dates with the Wedding Coordinator. We quickly realized that dates fill
up fast, so it’s never too early to plan. We started talking about the facility
that they were building next door- The Castle at Ashley Manor. Now, getting
married in a Castle would be the perfect ending to this fairytale. Although, it
was in the very early stages of construction, we were able to see a video with
computerized images of the finish product. “That’s it, that’s where we are
getting married!” Since, the place was still so new when we booked, there were
a lot of dates open. We got our first choice- March 31, 2007. With that, the
plans were underway.
 My cousin is having a destination wedding in Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico. So, we have been swapping war stories when it comes to
planning a wedding. She told me that she had a hard time finding a photographer
in Mexico, so she was flying him in from Phoenix. She had done a lot of
research and was floored by the work of Story By Photo (www.storybyphoto.com).
Now, my cousin has impeccable taste, so if it is good enough for, it is clearly
good enough for me! Raj and I took a look at their website and the images were
unmatched in their beauty and uniqueness. We quickly made an appointment to
meet Gino and Heather, owners of Story By Photo. They showed us their slides
and all we could think was “I wonder if they’ll make us look this good?” We
signed with them that night. Photography is one of the most important choices
to be made, because you’ll have those pictures for a lifetime. I think this is
thing we are most excited about.
So, now that we have the place, the date, and the
photographer, it is time to start thinking about colors, linens, and flowers
all the other things that drive me crazy. That will keep me busy for the next 8
months.
So, now that we have the place, the date and the
photographer, it is time to start thinking about colors, linens and flowers —
all the other things that drive me crazy. That will keep me busy for the next eight
months.
He said: Rushina, my Dad and I began finalizing our plans for the
wedding function that occurs the night before the wedding. Typically in an Indian wedding, this is
called a Sangeet. However, a traditional
Sangeet implies that a bunch of ladies will be sitting on the floor singing
traditional pre-wedding songs. Yeah -
we’re not doing that. We are basically just having a cocktail party the evening
before the wedding. It’ll be roughly 120
people to include mostly family and some out of town guests. We are having this function at the Raven Golf
Club at South Mountain (http://ravenatsouthmountain.com/). Rushina and I wanted it here because we want
to do the usual hotel reception party (not that there’s anything wrong with
that!). The thing with the Raven is that
the reception hall there is located right next to the golf course so we will be
getting a nice view – which is the selling point of this place. However, the reception hall itself is
OK. They are planning renovations to the
hall but they are not 100% promised. We
are hoping they come through. We decided
on the raven because it is reasonably priced and has a great view.
So, now we have to finalize the dinner menu. Food is a big deal with Indian people. We are not doing Indian food at the cocktail
party because we will be doing Indian food at the wedding reception. We’ll have a lot of non-Indian people at our
wedding so we didn’t want everything to be Indian. In choosing the food, my dad’s primary
concern is that everyone leaves very full.
So we are going to try to finalize the menu very soon.
… … …
Tonight, Rushina was showing me color schemes in a wedding
magazine for our reception. Honestly,
unless I see the colors in front of me all set up, I can’t tell if I like
it. BTW, peach is a fruit, not a
color. Anyway, I was thinking of
recommending burnt orange linens with Chicago maroon napkins for the reception
– that way the color scheme would match my alma mater – Virginia Tech (Go
Hokies!). But, my male intuition told me
that those colors wouldn’t fly with my bride to be.
We are still trying to finalize the cocktail party
menu. Right now, our entrees are
eggplant parmesan, chicken marsala, and sonoran stuff sea-bass. Rushina and I are thinking about switching
the Sonoran stuff sea-bass with a cilantro lime swordfish. For the most part, all of our entrees and
sides are very heavy. While I want
everyone to enjoy the food, I don’t want any heart attacks on the day of the
wedding. When I recommended the change
to my Dad, he responded with “so, is it just baked fish?” Apparently, Indians don’t like diet food at
party functions. But, hey, it is served
in a lemon sauce! ………
Well, looks we have finally finalized the contract with the
Raven golf club. The entrees are still
up for debate but the prices are set. Rushina and I will probably head down there
some day to test out some of the food and then we can finalize the menu.
………..
Alright, so we swung by the Castle at Ashley Manor
(wedding/reception location) to see how construction was going. The place looks awesome! The ceilings are beautiful and the
chandeliers are just pimp. Rushina and I
were stunned by the marble flooring, majestic doors and beautiful décor. There is still a bunch of work to be done but
things were looking nice. We talked to
the owner of the place. He told us that
he was inspired by different castles and palaces during a trip to Europe. Rushina shot down my idea that I enter the
reception in a suit of armor. Perhaps,
I’ll show up as the court jester.
If there were any downside, the centerpieces while beautiful
were silver. We kind of have a gold
theme with the chairs, the castle colors, our colors, etc. We’ll probably talk to the owners to see if
we can get the centerpieces in gold. I
don’t think we’ll be the first to say something.
The owner of Ashley Manor currently has plans to open a
wedding/reception hall with a Polynesian theme.
He said the ballroom would be over water or something like that. Wow.
It’s going to be his next project after the castle is done.
Next, we swung by the Raven Golf Course. We wanted to check out some the menu items at
their restaurant to get a feel for the quality of the food that would be at our
cocktail party. I had the Santa Fe Salad which is actually a salad choice at
our wedding. I was bit under whelmed so
I think we’ll be changing that item to a Caesar Salad with chicken. Rushina order the chicken enchiladas. They are not a menu item at our party but we
wanted to get a flair for the flavor of the kitchen. The enchiladas were good. As of right now though, our menu is still
undecided. We’ll probably go back and
have them prepare some items that we’d want in our buffet and decide then.
I couldn’t help but be a little worried when I saw the tent
that the party is being held in. They are
planning renovations and we hope they come through! The view is very nice though.
Week of August 7
He said: In an Indian wedding, it is traditional for the
groom to arrive to the place of the wedding on a horse. Or if you are really
hard core, you arrive on an elephant. (I’m not hard core.) The groom’s family
and friends dance in front of the groom on the horse as they head toward the
wedding site. This is called the bharat and it’s a lot of fun!
I called a local horse ranch to inquire about renting a
horse. It was one of the most bizarre
messages I’ve ever left. ‘Ah yes. Hi.
I’m calling to see if I can rent a horse for my wedding in March. The horse has
to be decorated and can’t get nervous with people dancing all around it.’ They
still haven’t called back.
Week of August 21
She said:
A few weeks ago, we started researching
videographers. I didn’t really think we needed one, but Raj wanted one. Seeing
that this was important to Raj, I gave in. We had heard about an Indian couple,
Daneshvari and Vijay Sheth. They do both videography and photography, but we
only needed the videography. We went to their house and saw their work. We were
impressed by their work, but more impressed with their knowledge of Indian
vendors and services in the Valley. You pay for a videographer, but you also
get planning assistance free of charge! They were very helpful in recommending
different vendors and since they have worked many Indian weddings here, they
had a slew of contacts. My mom and I are going to India in October to buy wedding
and reception outfits. We are also purchasing the invitations there. I wanted
to get an idea of different styles of saris and lenghas that I liked, so I
purchased a bridal catalog from www.sila.com.
It didn’t have tons of outfits, but it did help narrow down styles and colors
that I like.
Last weekend Raj and I went to Honeymoon Sweets for cake
tasting. The tasting was at 9 am and I can’t think of anything better for
breakfast than a big slab of cake, can you? We decided on a cake with a castle
topper and the tiers appear to be stairs leading to the castle. It seemed to go
with our venue, The Castle at Ashley Manor. I wasn’t a big fan of the colors on
the cake, as it looked like the cake had been tye-dyed. The Salesperson was
very helpful and suggested doing the cake in all white with gold shimmer on the
stair. I also decided on rose petals on the cake table for an added touch of
color.
I had been looking through a lot of bridal magazines and
came across a ton of ideas for wedding favors, but nothing seemed to strike me.
I just hate the idea of spending money on something that people are not going
to use. So, I decided to go with something else that I had seen in America
Weddings. Instead of favors, we are going to donate money on behalf of our
guests to an Indian Charity in memory of our late Grandparents. Not only does
this help a good cause, but it honors our grandparents. I pitched this idea to
Raj and he was not only in agreement, but he seemed to love this idea as much
me.
He said:
Today, my Dad signed the deal for the Raven Golf
Course. Rushina and I will meet with the
sales guy to setup a tasting for dinner.
I’ve never been to an actual tasting and thought of people bringing out
a bunch of awesome dishes for “free” sounds too good to be true.
… … …
Ok, I was really looking forward to the cake tasting. I mean, you go to this place and a eat lot of
cake. Further, it gives me a good excuse
to get off the fitness kick. After all,
we can not disappoint our guests with lousy cake.
We ended up going to Honeymoon Sweets (http://www.honeymoonsweets.com/)
for the tasting. If there was any
downside to the cake tasting, it was that it was at 9 o’clock – in the AM. It was the absolute breakfast of champions! Just kidding.
It wasn’t as fun gouging on cake so early in the
morning. But, we did find try some great
flavors. Right now, we are toying with
the idea of having multi flavored cake layers.
And best of all, we are going to have a cake with a castle on top! Wedding cakes these days can be really
creative. You can choose different
flavors, fillings, accents and icings – oh my!
They even had football themed cakes.
I wonder if anyone would notice…
Rushina and I love carrot cake and not surprisingly,
Honeymoon Sweets offered that as well.
Bad move. After all the other
cake we had tried, my stomach you couldn’t take it. I felt ill – like that kid who ODs in the
chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. … … …
So, in an Indian wedding, it is traditional for the groom to
arrive to the place of the wedding on a horse.
Or if you are really hard core, you arrive on an elephant. Let’s just say that I’m not hardcore. The groom’s family and friends typically
dance in front of me as I’m on the horse as we head towards the place of the
wedding. This is called the bharat. It’s a lot of fun!
Anyway, so I called a local horse ranch to enquire about
renting a horse. It was one of the most
bizarre messages I’ve ever left. “Ah
yes. Hi. I’m calling to see if I can
rent a horse for my wedding in March.
The horse has to be decorated and can’t get nervous with people dancing
all around it.” They still haven’t
called back.
Today – Rushina proposed a fantastic idea to me. She suggested that instead of doing party
favors for each person, we could donate money to an Indian charity in memory of
our late grandparents. I think this is a
fantastic idea.
… … …
So, Rushina and I have planned on having our honeymoon in
Tahiti. We searched a bunch of different
travel agencies but we ended up at All About the Honeymoon with Kelly Wanninger
as our travel advisor (www.kellyw.allabouthoneymoons.com). She has been really awesome. Tahiti is not cheap but she came in with the
cheapest price. Plus, she is so
attentive. Whenever I e-mail, I get a
response back immediately. I feel good
with her in charge of handling our arraignments.
So, today, Rushina and I were playing on her website and we
noticed something called a honeymoon registry.
Basically, it allows your wedding guests to pay for your portions of
your honeymoon – like excursions and meals.
Rushina and I are really intrigued by this. Together, we already have a ton of stuff – we
don’t really need more typically wedding registry stuff like a bread
maker. So, we thought it might be nice
to do something like this instead. Stay
tuned as we look more into this...
Week of September 4
She said:
Per my
videographer’s recommendation, my mom and I met with Elegant Creations for the
mandap. Jagu and Sandhya Patel have their own mandap and they do the
decorations for it and they also do aisle decorations, as well reception and
cake décor. Their stuff was elegant and simple, which is exactly what I was
looking for. They are using fabric and silk flowers for the mandap and for the
aisle. With the help of a few friends and family, we came up
with a poem for our save the date cards. We were going to make the cards
ourselves, but we have been so busy. So, we just decided to get them made when
I am in India. It will be really cheap and will save us time and headache.
My mom and I finalized the menu for the Mendhi Luncheon.
This is a party for the bride’s friends and family and the female guests have
henna put on their hands. Instead of having Indian food, we decided to have
sandwiches and salads. Since we our having Indian food at the wedding, I wanted
a variety of foods at the different events.
I called around for limos and had a hard time finding a
place that would do transfers only, since our wedding falls on the first prom
weekend of the season. During prom season, most limo companies have a 6 hour
minimum. We will probably take a town car from Ashley Manor to the hotel we are
staying at. My advice is to book early and to be flexible, especially during
wedding and prom season.
He said:
Wow – Ashley Manor is just gorgeous. Like
me. Oh, and my fiancé too. I think they had a wedding there last
weekend. The center pieces looked nicer so we don't have as much of a
reservation about them like we did before. All I can think about is how
fortunate I feel to be getting married at a breath-taking venue. The only
downside to Ashley Manor is that there are a bunch of cow pastures across the
street. Well - I guess if the horse doesn't come through.... … … …
Rushina and I are aggressively pricing out 56 passenger
motor-coach buses. We'll be using this to shuttle people back and forth
from the hotel to the wedding. Since most places have a 4 hour minimum
and then an hourly charge, we decided to rent the bus from one hour before the
wedding till the end of the reception. That way, the bus can make trips
to and from the Ashley manor as needed in case some people need to leave early
because they are tired or perhaps their kids are acting up. One company
didn't have a full bus so they suggested a party bus. But, I'm thinking
the neon lights and stripper pole would send the wrong message to our guests as
to the type of party they are heading to...
… … …
Rushina and I have decided to have a bridal party.
Typically, Indian weddings don't have bridal parties but we wanted some
American traditions included in our wedding. She'll have 5 bridesmaids to
my 5 groomsmen. Bridal parties are nice because then you have people
whose job it is to do stuff for you on the day of the wedding... J/K!!
The funny thing is that all my groomsmen are of Indian descent. All
Rushina's bridesmaids are non-Indian American except for my sister. It'll
be like a chocolate vanilla swirl when you put us all together!
What will happen next? Will Raj find a horse? And how will shopping in India
go for Rushina? Find out in the December/January issue as we follow the couple
on their journey from proposal to nuptials. |
