Gayatri & Gautam's Multi-Cultural Mallu Wedding in Bangalore!

The smell of jasmine and the sight of white Kasavu saris is not something you usually see on WedMeGood, so when this wedding landed in our inbox we were glad we could showcase it  in all it's glory. But what makes this one special is the mix of ceremonies - from Punjabi to Kannadiga to Malayali influences (Sikh, Nair & Gowda), this one had all the trappings of a modern wedding plus wonderful decor and cute outfits. We loved the simple approach and the easy banter - that you can see in all of the pictures expertly shot by Myriad Hues★ 4.8 .

Meet Gayatri & Gautam 

"My fiancé Gautam and I have been friends for a few years now. We met through common friends when I moved from Melbourne to Sydney for work. We used to hang out as friends but I remember him being the only guy I had met since I moved to Australia who I could connect with. I always used to tell him, had we met in university we would have been part of the same friends circle as we understand the same jokes. VERY IMPORTANT! You only understand this when you leave India and deal with a variety of Indians you meet abroad – they are; let’s just say, different!" says Gayatri. "In any case, when I left Sydney moved back to Melbourne for a new job, we started chatting on the phone. Occasionally, here and there but whenever we did it was for hours and then it got very consistent and somehow in a few months we were having a full-fledged long distance relationship! A LOT of flights back and forth, a beautiful proposal and the best wedding later, today we are happily married and live in beautiful Sydney with a purring baby- our cat Coco," adds Gayatri.

The Pre-Wedding Shoot

Vision for the Wedding

From The Bride: "Gautam and I are not the ‘let’s have a loud Indian wedding’ kind of couple. We are quite understated and quirky when it comes to our taste. We were very clear about what we did not want! Since we were going to combine three different cultural themes into our wedding (Sikh, Nair and Gowda) we wanted to make sure it was fun at the same time. We decided on a Punjabi sangeet, complete with the dhol and the girl, her family and friends receiving the grooms’ side with pagdis. The dancing was crazy to the loud ‘bolis’ and loud dhol beats even before the wedding party entered the venue, straight out of rustic Punjab! Our friends had gone all out preparing dances which was an amazing effort since most of them live overseas and they had coordinated these practically on skype!- very endearing!"

Sangeet Night

The Wedding 

"Our families, most importantly our mothers have singlehandedly co-ordinated our entire wedding. We only had 5 months from the time we got engaged to the D -day. We had a few ideas but we were also picky. We did not want it be in a hotel, but we wanted to make it fun for all our friends travelling from overseas plus we wanted our families to enjoy it." "With this sketchy brief, our mums geared up and took on the onerous responsibility of being the wedding planners. From the unique invitation, to the venue selection, decoration, catering, accommodation, travel and all the other million things that go into planning a wedding, they did it all. Super mums are what we call them!!We started with venue selection which was most important at such short notice and after looking at quite a few options; we decided to go with Temple tree leisure as our venue and couldn’t have been happier.: "At the morning wedding ceremony, we wanted the place to be traditional, elegant and timeless. My mom had organised 50 Kerala sarees for the bridal party who were going to receive the baraat! The groom came in a horse-driven carriage escorted by his pretty niece and nephew with all the family and friends dancing in the front. The ladies carrying a brass plate with a lamp escorted the wedding party to the mandap with the accompanying musical strains of the ‘naadaswaram’ ensemble. We wanted the whole colour theme to be cream and gold. So there were white jasmine flowers everywhere, gold diyas and brass lamps and gold thaalis/plates. It was spectacular!" she adds.  

My Outfits: I wanted my clothes to reflect my personality. But time was of the essence as when I landed in Delhi there were just 4 days to get all my clothes organised! Ritu Kumar's store had me at hello. A beautiful maroon anarkali with gotta patti work for my after haldi/mehendi and the most gorgeous beige/ pink lehenga in zari chanderi with a green net dupatta for the afternoon sangeet were bought there. Our next stop was Frontier Raas in South Extension where I tried on two dozen outfits and finally found this gorgeous pink lehenga with golden bead work done on it from top to bottom- truly beautiful. We went to Karol Bagh to get bangles and other accessories like shoes and clutches to complete my trousseau and that’s where we found a beautiful red zardosi Benarasi saree at Zohra Emporium for the reception. I also got a number of Patiala salwars and suits from GK-1 to wear for a lot of the other functions as well as statement jewellery from Amrapali from chandbali jhumkas to maang tikas"  she explains. "I had decided that my wedding look would be that of a traditional Nair bride so my mum and I found this place called weavers village in Trivandrum and ordered a beautiful golden and white traditional Kerala saree with maroon temple designs all through the border. This took about a month and a half to weave and it was exquisite. My make-up artist was Monica from Sketch professional hair and makeup who knew that I wanted to keep it to the minimal - I had a red and white flower braid and small flowers running through my hair for the first part of the wedding – the elegant morning Nair ceremony. My Dad walked me down the aisle and I couldn’t have been happier!! I then changed into a beautiful maroon and gold kanjivaram saree. Then came the traditional second half of the ceremony, which was the ritualistic and fun –filled Gowda wedding ceremony. The panditji had us playing games and involved all our friends in the frolic. The formal wedding ceremonies concluded with a keertan and shabads sung by a melodious singer who travelled from Delhi." she recounts.   Vendors: Venues : Sangeet, Wedding & Reception at Temple Tree Leisure, Bengaluru; Mehendi - Haldi at Home | Decor: Sangeet Decor by Punam Jaiswal; Overall Decor & Co-ordination: Gayatri & Gautam's Moms| Dhol: Yuvraj |Rajasthani Pagdi: Ashok |Brides Outfits: Pre wedding shoot lehengas by Ritu Kumar; Sangeet Evening Outfit by Frontier Raas★ 4.3 and Benarasi Sari for the Reception by Zohra Emporium | Groom Oufits: Wedding Outfit by Prestige The Man Store★ 5 ; Reception Suit by Hugo Boss |Jewellery: Amrapali Jewels★ 4.9 , Tanishq, Malabar Jewellers★ 4.9 , Mehrasons Jewellers - Yash Pal Mehra Group★ 4.3 and inherited stuff| Catering: Sharath of Manna Hospitality and Heera Caterers |Photographer & Videographer: Myriad Hues★ 4.8 | Makeup: Shreeya Pawar Makeup & Hair Artist★ 4.8 |  Entertainment: DJ Praful Menon; Jaggi & MoonArra | Invites: Indian wedding cards★ 4.5