Amruta & Aneesh

Amruta and Aneesh held their gorgeous, vibrant wedding at Poundon House in Oxfordshire, a venue that really does have it all. A beautiful house in which to get ready, stunning gardens that can be used for your wedding ceremony (like this gorgeous pair did) and lots of space for a marquee. Amruta had two outfits for the day, her gorgeous traditional ceremony outfit and then a fabulous pinky coral sari for the reception - she looks breathtaking in both. The henna designs she's sporting are incredible too, some of the loveliest henna work I've seen! Images come from Matt Penberthy who, as always, has captured everything in such an authentic way.

The Bride

Amruta the Bride: Leading up to the wedding I had spent a lot of time on Instagram looking at Indian Wedding designers, so I thought I knew exactly what I wanted. However, when the time came to travel to India I went to quite a few shops and didn’t see what I had pictured. It was at the point I decided to forget what I had envisioned and see what the shops had to offer. The outfit for the ceremony was from a boutique called RAAS. As well as getting my Bridal outfit, I bought outfits for my sisters and mum from the same shop. I opted for a palette of pastel green and pink to fit with the country venue, as the hope was to have the wedding outside which was in contrast to the traditional red. For the evening reception I picked an Indo-Western dress from designer Shruti Ranka.

The Groom

We decided to choose a traditional wedding Sherwani using a more unique mint green and gold colour scheme that would suit the rural location while matching with aspects of the bride’s outfit. The Sherwani was purchased at Geeta Arts which specialises in outfits for grooms. For the evening we chose a tailor-made tuxedo comprised of a cream jacket, white shirt and black trousers purchased from Tom James. The shirt included initialled cuffs and the inside of the jacket had a message about the event embroidered. The tuxedo was designed by Andrew Field and supplemented by a black velvet bow tie purchased from Selfridges and silver cuff links from Hackett. The shoes were Jimmy Choo loafers with a patent design on the outside and a velvet strip along the top. The choice of a cream tuxedo was to reflect a bright, summer style while maintaining class and elegance.

The Venue

One of my bridesmaids, Khilna Shah recommended Poundon House. It was on the list for her own wedding but unfortunately too small to accommodate all her guests. Given we were having a comparatively smaller Indian wedding it was perfect. We loved the beautiful Oxfordshire backdrop, the lavender gardens and the versatility of having a covered terrace, lawns and a marquee to accommodate up to 300 people.

The Decor

For the day time I wanted pastels with pops of bright pink to match the top of my outfit. I managed to coordinate my family to wear a pastel palette in keeping with the English country venue. I picked Katie to do my flowers as she was recommended by the venue and was familiar with decorating an Indian mandap. I loved her arrangements as well when I looked at her previous weddings on Instagram. One of my favourite floral features was the ombre curtain which formed the backdrop of the mandap.

The Entertainment

We were lucky to have Jasmine Elcock (from Britain Got Talent) perform our first dance song (Justin Timberlake – Mirrors). This was such a special song to us and Jasmine was able to perform it incredibly. For the rest of the evening we decided to go with a DJ firm called Sensasian Roadshow and dealt with the main DJ Mani Bamrah. We wanted to make sure the music reflected themes we both loved and are friends could easily dance to. This included popular chart music, 90’s R’n’B and Bollywood music which all kept the dance floor alive through the night.

The Food

Lunch, canapés and dinner was courtesy of Preeti Catering. I could not recommend them enough. They were responsible for the smooth running of the whole day. We had a freak heatwave and so were kind enough to provide refreshments to our guest throughout the ceremony. They specialise in modern Indian cuisine and our guests loved the inventive canapés. I got cake design ideas from Pinterest and then my vision came to life thanks to Kiran and her team at Cake Boulevard. The tiers inside tasted as delicious as they looked, she made both a ferrero rocher and red velvet layer.

The Photography

We did a lot of research to find a photographer’s style that we liked. We wanted beautiful natural pictures that captured the emotion of the day and Matt did a great job in doing just that.

DIY Projects

I produced the table plan and the table names myself. We both love cocktails and while dating we have frequented a number of London cocktail bars. This was the inspiration for our table names. The map of London canvas board was purchased from Dunelm Mill and I did the crafting and design myself the week of the wedding. For the actual table names I mounted the prints on Moroccan printed paper to reflect where we got engaged.

The Transport

We used a Rickshaw named Marigold both for me to enter the venue in before the traditional ceremony as well as both to leave in. We thought this would provide an authentic entrance for me and would add some humour for the bride’s family to try and stop it leaving when the ceremony was over! The rickshaw was hired from Tukshop.