My Son Vivek's Wedding
I am into the wedding preparations for the last one month and still it seems I could be more organised. What I could not manage was doing up the house - a bit of painting touch up. This is mainly due to the incessant rain lashing Pune for more than a week ..
Venue :
Vivek was getting married in Chennai on Sept 16th
The program is as follows:
10th Sept : Vivek arrives from Chennai at Mumbai. his VISA interview at 1 pm..
12th Sept : Poonal function and pre wedding lunch for family
13th Sept : The group leaves for Chennai
14th Sept : Mehendi ceremony at Vidya's house
So here it is :
Deciding The venue for reception in Pune :
First I had to decide whether we are going to host one or not. Vivek was not keen. Hari supportd me in wanting to hold one. I convinced myself "yes" I wanted one for our friends and relatives in pune who could not make it to the wedding. An opportunity to celebrate together..
Initially I chose "Hotel Vrindhavan" - It is close to our house , food is good , rates are reasonable .. but somewhere deep down my aesthetic sense was not satisfied - I checked out Kalasagar The ambience is excellent and a nice cosy hall - So I went and booked it first so we could print it in the card
Invitation:
This is the first glimpse one gets of the family's attitude to the wedding. All these days I thought a card is just an information. But when I set about looking for one , I realised many issues.. I wanted an elegant looking one, reflective of me, my family. The wordings were important. The cost factor became secondary. The one I chose appealed to my aesthetic sense. Handmade cream colour shining thick best quality paper with 2 inserts
List of invitees :
This one was tough - I just did not feel like leaving out any one but the reception in Pune cost per head. So I had to have careful head count so we could order proper amount of food - too less crowd and too many people would be disastrous. too much food and too few people would be financial foolishness.
I have zeroed in on 250 guest list .. ( + - 30)
What I want :
The wedding in Chennai - is being organized by Vidya's parents. I am determined we must enjoy the whole affair and come out as a dignified elegant group. No politics please we are Raghunathans !! "Yes" . No cheap talk, no expectation to be served on hand and foot. Just go get it Vats!!
The reception in Pune should be an achievement for our family. "Yes We can do it"
The reception in pune should bring pleasant memories for all who attend. Should be diferent in decor, food arrangements , music , video shoots .. The video must capture happiness and joy of the moment.. The decor flower arrangements should be subtle, elegant, indian, fragrant
Music should be soft Shehanayi initially.. I am looking forward to this day as it is the first time we Raghunathans go public. We have remained an extremely private family so far.
What surprised me when I set out inviting prople was the amount of good will I have generated in life. Like who ever I have called are certain to come. Some old ties were renewed too . Some lost contacts re-established. Shetty , Baby , Mukherjee, Radhu ...
I chose hotel Kalasagar an absolutely enchanting venue ; very elegant - Impressive entrance with water curtain, very artistically done up lobby, 2 spacious halls called Shehanai beautifully done up, one for the reception and one for food counters and a huge open terrace . Welcome drink of fruit punch, nimbu pani ( fresh lime juice) , 2 good starters, Good food , gajar halva + ice cream for desert and all this very reasonably priced.
Pillars with Flowers
Floral Rangoli
I arranged a florist to do fresh flower decorations and a beautiful floral rangoli . 2 pillars on the stage with huge flower bouque and hanging creepers, 2 pillars at the entrance with huge fresh bouque. we had kunnakudi classical carnatic violin as music and a sweet photographer/ video recorder Mallya . Return gifts (pretty jewellary box) were wrapped by sai perippa, list of who should be given what - gift, batchanam, blouse piece, sarees - Lalitha, Sai, Maya, Jaya, Sachi, Vijayalakshmi from Dombivilli - all were so helpful . The invities were just 200 +
The icing on the cake was of course the surprise visit of Lakshmi, Sujoy, and Dinesh from Champaign. Seeing them at the hall simply made vivek and vidya glow with happiness. Vidya looked ravishing in a pretty blue jardosi saree , her diamond necklace glittering and vivek as usual was his handsome self. They made a very dashing pair. All those who came to wish them were struck by Vidya's vivaciousness and vivek's pleasant smile and talk.
For me Balraj and His wife Chitra coming charging to meet me was an unforgettable moment. Each and every guest who came were my personal friends and so much of love, joy and warmth flowed all over.
Both Bala and Jaya were absolutely thrilled with all the arrangements and were full of appreciation for me. They were proud that dear Raghu's family was celebrating a happy occasion.
All in all it was a memorable and happy occassion for the family. I realized the value of team work and family spirit. My 2 sisters, brother, Ganga, Sai, Bala, Jaya, Maya family all stood like rocks beside me to make the Pune reception as well as the Chennai wedding happy affairs.
Pune Reception photos are here
Thursday Sept 20 2007
Well I have come back to the blog after so many days.. Much has happened . The wedding is over.
Wedding plan:
Venue :
Vivek was getting married in Chennai on Sept 16th
The program is as follows:
10th Sept : Vivek arrives from Chennai at Mumbai. his VISA interview at 1 pm..
12th Sept : Poonal function and pre wedding lunch for family
13th Sept : The group leaves for Chennai
14th Sept : Mehendi ceremony at Vidya's house
So here it is :
Deciding The venue for reception in Pune :
First I had to decide whether we are going to host one or not. Vivek was not keen. Hari supportd me in wanting to hold one. I convinced myself "yes" I wanted one for our friends and relatives in pune who could not make it to the wedding. An opportunity to celebrate together..
Initially I chose "Hotel Vrindhavan" - It is close to our house , food is good , rates are reasonable .. but somewhere deep down my aesthetic sense was not satisfied - I checked out Kalasagar The ambience is excellent and a nice cosy hall - So I went and booked it first so we could print it in the card
Invitation:
This is the first glimpse one gets of the family's attitude to the wedding. All these days I thought a card is just an information. But when I set about looking for one , I realised many issues.. I wanted an elegant looking one, reflective of me, my family. The wordings were important. The cost factor became secondary. The one I chose appealed to my aesthetic sense. Handmade cream colour shining thick best quality paper with 2 inserts
List of invitees :
This one was tough - I just did not feel like leaving out any one but the reception in Pune cost per head. So I had to have careful head count so we could order proper amount of food - too less crowd and too many people would be disastrous. too much food and too few people would be financial foolishness.
I have zeroed in on 250 guest list .. ( + - 30)
What I want :
The wedding in Chennai - is being organized by Vidya's parents. I am determined we must enjoy the whole affair and come out as a dignified elegant group. No politics please we are Raghunathans !! "Yes" . No cheap talk, no expectation to be served on hand and foot. Just go get it Vats!!
The reception in Pune should be an achievement for our family. "Yes We can do it"
The reception in pune should bring pleasant memories for all who attend. Should be diferent in decor, food arrangements , music , video shoots .. The video must capture happiness and joy of the moment.. The decor flower arrangements should be subtle, elegant, indian, fragrant
Music should be soft Shehanayi initially.. I am looking forward to this day as it is the first time we Raghunathans go public. We have remained an extremely private family so far.
What surprised me when I set out inviting prople was the amount of good will I have generated in life. Like who ever I have called are certain to come. Some old ties were renewed too . Some lost contacts re-established. Shetty , Baby , Mukherjee, Radhu ...
I chose hotel Kalasagar an absolutely enchanting venue ; very elegant - Impressive entrance with water curtain, very artistically done up lobby, 2 spacious halls called Shehanai beautifully done up, one for the reception and one for food counters and a huge open terrace . Welcome drink of fruit punch, nimbu pani ( fresh lime juice) , 2 good starters, Good food , gajar halva + ice cream for desert and all this very reasonably priced.
Pillars with Flowers
Floral RangoliI arranged a florist to do fresh flower decorations and a beautiful floral rangoli . 2 pillars on the stage with huge flower bouque and hanging creepers, 2 pillars at the entrance with huge fresh bouque. we had kunnakudi classical carnatic violin as music and a sweet photographer/ video recorder Mallya . Return gifts (pretty jewellary box) were wrapped by sai perippa, list of who should be given what - gift, batchanam, blouse piece, sarees - Lalitha, Sai, Maya, Jaya, Sachi, Vijayalakshmi from Dombivilli - all were so helpful . The invities were just 200 +
The icing on the cake was of course the surprise visit of Lakshmi, Sujoy, and Dinesh from Champaign. Seeing them at the hall simply made vivek and vidya glow with happiness. Vidya looked ravishing in a pretty blue jardosi saree , her diamond necklace glittering and vivek as usual was his handsome self. They made a very dashing pair. All those who came to wish them were struck by Vidya's vivaciousness and vivek's pleasant smile and talk.
For me Balraj and His wife Chitra coming charging to meet me was an unforgettable moment. Each and every guest who came were my personal friends and so much of love, joy and warmth flowed all over.
Both Bala and Jaya were absolutely thrilled with all the arrangements and were full of appreciation for me. They were proud that dear Raghu's family was celebrating a happy occasion.
All in all it was a memorable and happy occassion for the family. I realized the value of team work and family spirit. My 2 sisters, brother, Ganga, Sai, Bala, Jaya, Maya family all stood like rocks beside me to make the Pune reception as well as the Chennai wedding happy affairs.
Pune Reception photos are here
Thursday Sept 20 2007
Well I have come back to the blog after so many days.. Much has happened . The wedding is over.
