I’ve something a little different for you this afternoon in Yashwin & Avani’s engagement ceremony. In India, where the couple live, having an engagement ceremony is just as big a deal as the actual wedding. As photographer Kismet Nakai explained,
“What usually happens in India is that when the couple gets engaged, even if there is a sweet proposal in private, there is always a ‘formal’ engagement to announce it to the world. It’s almost like a mini wedding. In this case they had their engagement party on the same day as Avanis parents 25th anniversary so it was a combined party with like 400 people (imagine how big the wedding is going to be!!!).”
“The families said a few words about the bride and groom and then they exchanged rings, cut a cake and partied! Not very different from a wedding really! There was nothing very religious about it but our traditions such as the ring exchanging are very very important. People do combine all this into the wedding time (usually an Indian wedding will be a week long celebration, with all the different events, including the engagement ceremony, a few days apart, but these guys did it before – I guess just to celebrate!) Yashwin & Avani did have a religious ceremony for the engagement as well, at the temple but I wasn’t there for that. They also had a mehendi/henna party too! It might seem crazy that so much happens just for an engagement but India loves weddings!”
Avani wore a stunning patchwork dress by Masaba, a designer from Mumbai. “As I paraded around the studio, in my funny patchwork garb, Yashwin said I looked like a magician,” the bride laughed. “See the love in that statement?! In fact ‘love’ has been our main inspiration throughout our wedding planning. Celebrating our engagement it on my parents 25th anniversary made it so much more special. We celebrated by being who we are – colourful, artistic and madly in love!”
“The day was a happy and shiny morning. We desperately wanted candid photos and pictures with our darling cat babies. So our photographer Kismet came over to my place first and we got some beautiful, deliciously random pictures. It was all the details, the tiniest ones didn’t escape her. At the ceremony, things were mental, a complete blur. We wanted a really low key affair which got blown out of proportion cause our parents are super social. However we made it work in the end. All you need is a close bunch of friends from all over and mad music. We were rolling in laughter and vodka and love. It was a glorious day.”
If this was just the engagement ceremony I can’t wait to see the wedding can you?!
Thank you so much to the beautiful Yashwin & Avani and their photographer Kismet for sharing these today. Good luck with the wedding planning!
Photography Credit: Kismet Nakai at The Unreal Bride
Venue: MCA (Mumbai Cricket Association Club), Mumbai, India
Bride’s Dress: Masaba
Bride’s Shoes: Trés Mode
Bride’s Headpiece: Traditional Tamil hair brooches
Groom’s Outfit: Missoni
Cake: Sweet Passions
