A DIY Backyard Wedding in a Goan Airbnb!
BY Latha Sunadh | 14 Sep, 2016 | 6304 views | 5 min read
2016 has come with a boatload of surprises and if you are a hipster at heart then this one might float your inner DIY- Pinterest dreams! From colourful paper planes to mason jars - this bride made sure this wedding rocked and how. Plus, the venue was this AirBnB villa in Goa - how crazy is that!!!!Photography by ShotStories by Varun Suresh captured the vibe beautifully and the video by MWPC was a delight.
Meet Adithi & Varun
"It's kind of a funny story actually. We had a common friend Shiva who went to my school. Through a comedy of errors and a bet gone wrong, I ended up with Varun's (the groom) number on my phone.
At the end of class 12 (a year later) I had an exam and need to call my classmate - also a Varun about exam portions and called this wrong Varun by mistake! What started off as a wrong number, got us adolescents emailing and msn-ing back in 2005-2006. Clearly we liked each other and decided to date right before my 12th board exams, probably not the best timing for my parents! Soon I moved to Singapore for design college and we did long distance for 4 years. Then he thankfully moved here for his masters then we both got jobs, and moved in together.
After 2 years of living together and several vacations later. We went to Phuket and he popped the question, and I said yes! we've grown up and moulded each other's personalities, and we are delighted to grow old together! Ten years together all thanks to a wrong number-which turned out to be so right!" explains Adithi.
The Mehendi
The Sangeet
The Wedding
From The Bride:
"My dad and his girlfriend Maria own the villa in Goa, its a 110 year old Portuguese Goan family home. We both went there on vacation 2 years ago, and we were having a bonfire with the family in the forest backyard, and decided if we ever get married, it would be here, right in the middle of this gorgeous forest. Varun is also Goan, so thought a wedding there would be perfect! Now it's putting Pinterest dreams and dreamy thoughts into reality which was the fun part. I am a graphic designer by profession, so I took up planning my own wedding with my own quirky design language in mind. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love handmade decorations, so with a mighty sketchbook and doodles I dived into wedding planning! My dad is an architect and creative genius and build this beautiful wooden elevated mandap, between some lovely rosewood trees. Right from the bulbs and fairy lights, the hanging mason jars with flowers and origami paper cranes, it was a dream come true.
We wanted a personalized touch to the wedding and since we kept the guest list limited and wanted every guest to feel special. The best part of the entire wedding was how "friend-sourced" it was. The origami folding, picking wild flowers barefoot and drawing on chalkboards, it was such a group effort and we are so humbled by it! We had this specialised DIY photo booth where every guest would find their name on a peg, use the polaroid camera by themselves and take photos with a fun prop or the origami paper crane backdrop. We dispersed film cameras and some of our guests captured some lovely moments on film. We designed some quirky guest-card with random questions which the guests could fill out in similar theme to the invites I had designed. We tried to make the guests feel very involved in the whole process. We wanted it to be a celebration of love in every way, and a big part of our support system through the 10 years has been our family and friends who came together to help us pull this off," explains Adithi.
"I had a mehendi in the afternoon that became the sangeet and cocktails in the night, followed by the wedding ceremony and lunch the next day. I used my parent's wedding and mum's retro style as my inspiration. I really love the look of the traditional Kanchipuram south Indian sarees and high-necked blouses. For my wedding sarees , we did a road trip to Kanchipuram where my dad's friend has this quaint little shop and works directly with weavers. Having the forest theme I picked a lime green saree for the wedding day and a royal blue saree for the sangeet night. Picked hues of blues and greens for the bridesmaids sarees from his store. Everything I picked had bright and earthy organic colours. My mother found some gorgeous material on a roadside store in Hyderabad which I used to stitch my sangeet's lehenga with.
Not being a fan of heavy jewellery either I made my pick from my mother's antique collection and bought no jewellery for the wedding. I borrowed my best friend's dress for the mehendi last minute, because she said what I had picked form my wardrobe was too simple! Most of all I wanted to feel like me and wear something I was comfortable in, so picked things I could wear again and that matched my personality. I have unruly curly hair and didn't want it straightened so let it loose on the first day and wore a high bun on the second. And all events happened at the villa (either the house itself, the porch or the backyard forest)" explains Adithi.
Vendors: Venue: Heritage Villa in Assagao Goa Photography: ShotStories by Varun Suresh Decor: Bride + Dad Mehendi Artist: Mehndi Boutique (+91 90493 29583 ) Bride's Outfits: Wedding saris by Krishna Silks,Kanchipuram (+91 9364312326); Blouse Tailor is Sylvia INAM Clothing, Chennai (+919884094535); Mehendi outfits by Biba and FabIndia Groom's Outfits: Wedding outfit by King's Collection T.Nagar; Sangeet outfit by Jacket from H&M, Shirt and pants from Zara, Shoes by Aldo; Bowties by Kirimoo Jewellery: Maang tika by Corner Shop, Bangalore Catering: The Royal, Assagao Makeup: Makeup by Lalita Videography: The Madras Wedding Photography Company
