THREE fabulous dresses, delicious styling, and a celebration filled with pure joy – this is just one of the most wonderful, captivating weddings we’ve ever seen. I am head over heels with Priyal and Dan’s day, and I hope you will love it too! The photos really do speak for themselves – but don’t miss Dan & Priyal’s interview at the end of the feature. It’s a bit of a treat for me when a groom fills out our interview form, and Dan’s words are a lovely read: from the tear in his eye as he saw Priyal walking down the aisle, to his delight when she was the first to make a speech, to his very excellent tip about not drinking 3 vodka shots after the first dance… Images are by the awesome MIKI Studios, who I am thrilled to say are members of English Wedding.

 

Wedding photographer’s website:

London & UK wedding photographers https://mikistudios.com/

How did you choose your photographer?

Most of all we were looking for photographs of the special moments without them feeling staged – and that’s what these guys do best ! They put everyone at ease and are able to capture so much raw emotion, we are just so thrilled with the results

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

We honestly couldn’t be happier. At the beginning we weren’t sure whether to go for Miki’s video as well (as we are both normally a bit shy on camera) but the video is just wow, and we both get emotional every time watching it ! Ash is so amazing at capturing little moments throughout the day, his collection of pictures really is incredible and we’ve had so much fun sharing them with family and friends because everyone features and there’s just so many interesting things going on in all the pictures

Tell us about the moment you saw your wedding photos for the first time?

The moment we saw our highlight video for the first time was only a week after the wedding, and we were on our minimoon in Tel Aviv. We were just so completely blown away that we couldn’t believe what we were seeing ! Everyone said it was like we were stars in a movie ! We might be biased but we honestly think it’s the best wedding trailer we’ve ever seen. The first time we went through the wedding pictures was also just fantastic, we had to do it in stages because there were just so many great moments and we wanted to take the time to really appreciate them all.

Where did you find your suppliers? (Blogs, magazines, recommendations?)

Blogs, magazines, recommendations from friends, wedding fairs

Can you describe your wedding in fewer than 10 words?

An Indian / English fusion wedding experience

Your wedding style or theme:

We lived in Singapore together until just before the wedding and we were lucky enough to experience a lot of SE Asia together. So, we themed our food with an English Picnic, Asian Canapes and an Indian Wedding Breakfast. Then we went for rustic country theme decorations and a SE Asia scuba diving theme for the table seating.

What’s your top tip for saving money?

Pri’s brother did an amazing job at creating flyers, programmes, placecards and wedding favour notes! He and his partner spent we don’t know how many hours, we are both eternally grateful!
We wanted to have high quality food from around the world which was personal to us, so we were lucky that we managed to find a single caterer (Saffron Culture in Bromley) who was able to create it all so brilliantly.
We also opted not to go for a wedding planner or organiser because we wanted to have more control over the day and to save a few pennies

… and which elements of your wedding are you glad you spent more on?

We went over our budget in a few places, but our day went so well that we have no regrets ! We both felt that certain areas were worth investing in because they really help create the memories – the venue, the photography & film and of course the food !

Where did you buy or source your wedding stationery – or was making it a labour of love?

We worked with a designer at Ginger Lime Design who helped create personal wedding stationery for us. It was still a labour of love though to make sure everybody had the right invites !

Did you fall in love with your wedding dress?

The English wedding dress was absolutely magical, and the bride got her wish – the groom was welling up as she came down the aisle. It was a deeply emotional moment seeing Pri in it and something of course we will never forget.
And then…. There was wedding dress number 2 !
In an Indian ceremony the bride also makes her entrance last, but this time the groom is hidden behind a veil. There is an incredible moment when the veil is lifted and we get to see each other for the first time. My jaw dropped when I saw Pri – and that moment is one of the highlights of our video !

Wedding dress designer and bridal boutique:

English Wedding Dress: With Love Bridal, Bromley
Indian Wedding Dress: Shyamal & Bhumika.

Tell us about your accessories: jewellery, shoes and anything else!

Priyal made a pendant to hang from her bouquet with her mum’s picture in it.
The Indian Jewellery was from Sokora

And what did the groom wear?

English: Aquascutum suit, Favourbrook Waistcoat
Indian: A mint green & gold wedding Kurta with a ruby red velvet Dupatta

Beautiful bridesmaids: what did your best girls wear?

The girls were coordinated for the English ceremony in Sage dresses. For the Indian Ceremony they were free to choose – as the more colour the better !

Hair and make-up – did you DIY or hire a professional?

We hired a professional as there were 3 quite different looks which would have been very difficult to achieve alone. It also really helped to speed things up so Pri could enjoy more time with the guests

Describe your wedding flowers. Who arranged them for you? (florist details would be lovely please)

We went for Peach, cream, sage and plum red colours. They were done perfectly, and the decorators were really skilled at carefully reusing flowers from the Mandap for table decorations

General styling – did your venue need much decoration?

We tried to have as much of the wedding outside as possible as the venue has such beautiful grounds. In the evening we went for the ceiling drapes in the Marquee which really made a difference to the feel of the room, and of course dressed the tables

Crafts and makes – tell us about any homemade elements of your wedding… did you enjoy them?

Priyal made the chalkboard signs that we used to direct guests around the venue which were fun. Whenever we go diving we always enjoy how creative the site names are (like “Malang rock” – meaning lonely rock because it’s just sticking above the surface in the middle of nowhere!) so we went with dive sites as our table names and put a collection of our different diving photos at each table with diving pictures we took. Dan found a company called Mapsery which restyles Google maps and did good quality printing for the table name background.

The wedding cake: what kind of cake did you choose and why?

In Singapore there’s a great bakery that does cakes that look like modern art oil paintings in bold colours that we really liked. Pri managed to find someone to recreate it in London and we were really happy with the result.

Entertainment: any musical recommendations, surprises or treats?

We had great music throughout as we have so many talented family and friends. We had Dan’s family friends playing violin and cello for our entrance, Dan’s uncle played classical guitar during the book signing and Dan’s friend from university (Joe Murgatroyd) played a couple of jazz sets during the canapes which were just fantastic.
In the evening we had RV Sounds as the DJ who was great as he took time to work with us on the playlist before the wedding to make sure he covered what we wanted.
The biggest surprise was Pri’s speech ! I encouraged her to do one if she wanted but she never admitted to it until the announcer called her up first and she took the mic !

Words of wisdom: share your best piece of advice for other couples:

Grooms it really helps if you involved as much as possible, as on the day the bride will be busy getting ready and it helps to share out the tasks. Book your venue and photographer first. Book videography for your wedding – it really is worth the investment. Make time in your day to get the shots you want. Just enjoy your day and try not to
get stressed out. Plan as much as possible as it will make your actual day as smooth as possible. Have a meeting with your venue to discuss the plan of the day. Just do what makes you both happy, don’t worry too much about what other people want or think. Just keep going it will work out on the day. Don’t down three vodka shots after
your first dance, it doesn’t look good in the pictures and you may get a drunk picture posted on Instagram!

What’s the best thing about being married?

We’ve both felt like we’ve been married for a long time ! I’m still in awe that I get to call Pri my wife, and we know that we are in it together until the end

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Photography & Video: Miki Studios https://mikistudios.com
Catering: Saffron Culture www.saffronculture.co.uk
Flowers and Decorations: First Impressions http://www.firstimpressions-uk.com/contact-us
Venue: Braxted Park www.braxtedparkweddings.co.uk
Indian dress: Shyamal Bhumika https://www.shyamalbhumika.in/
English Dress: http://www.withlovebridals.com/
DJ: RV Sounds https://rvsounds.com/
Jazz music: Joe Murgatroyd and group
Indian Jewellery: Sokora https://sokorajewels.com/
Table accessories: DPR Wholesalers dprwholesalers.com
Cake: Anujas Healthy Delights https://anujashealthydelights.com/
Hair and Makeup: Caz Hair and Makeup https://www.cazhairandmakeup.com/
Table Plan: Mapsery https://mapsery.com/