FI and I are Indian but are both 3rd generation South African. We live together, with Luigi(our little yorkie furbaby), in Johannesburg, South Africa.

How we met:

I was out with the girls, at a local club when I bumped into my cousin that I had not seen in ages. He was with a bunch of friends and they were partying hard in the VIP area. He introduced me to some of his friends and that's when I noticed FI. He was just so adorable. We exchanged a few glances and then he came up to me and we started chatting. We had a few drinks and before I knew it, he was giving me a run for my money on the dancefloor. Something about him just felt right.

He asked me for my number that night and I obliged but by the end of the evening and after consuming copious amounts of alcohol, I really didn't think he would even remember taking it down.

The next day was a long one. I spent most of it nursing the mother of all hangovers. That evening, to my surprise, I received an sms from him. We started chatting and it was amazing. The conversation just flowed and our chats lasted hours at a time. The next weekend we met for drinks and the rest as they say, is history.

It wasn't long before we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.

OK OK...as boring as it may seem, there was no romantic proposal. Bcos of our religion, I was not really allowed to wear the ring before the actual rituals are performed so I didn't mind not having him go down on one knee.

Shopping for my ring was tons of fun and right after we found it, we went on a really romantic weekend away.

We had a traditional Indian Engagement ceremony with around 60 guests. It was an amazing day.

The cake was baked my very talented sister!

I decided on Chocolate Brown and Orange. I have always been attracted to earthy, more natural colours.

This is my inspiration board. It was created by SOONTOBECRUZ who has done a fabuolous job :-)

Edit:

This is how my mehndi turned out. I loved it!

2 nights before the wedding, we do a Mehndi Evening where we adorn our hands and legs with Henna. This is what I imagine mine to look like.

So, monograms are not very popular here in South Africa and are a fairly new concept. It's also difficult to incorporate it into an Indian wedding.

That didn't stop me from being really excited about creating our's. I've actually decided to use them on our favors and thank you cards. I showed them to FI and he really liked them.

After much deliberation and many changes this is what I came up with. I managed to incorporate the Hindu Aum sign which is a religious symbol. I used it instead of "&":

jl_kissel was also kind enough to help me out. She sent me 5 creations, but this was my favourite:

EDIT:

After playing around with word a bit I came up with this. We are using it on our favor boxes and the mint books that I will be making.

Tamil brides have to wear a lot of flowers in their hair. We have a lady to make up this whole floral arrangement, so to speak, and on the morning of the wedding she will basically attach it to my head....hehehe

Here are some pics of my recently married friends...just to give you an idea of what I mean.

After months of not being able to get a decent picture, I finally got this.

Props to the PW lady who gave me the idea to use the keyboard...(I can't remember who it was). If it was YOU, please let me know so that I can give you the credit you deserve.

Our initials are K and L so that worked out great :-) The second shot includes the initial of what my new last name is going to be.

Story:

The morning of the wedding I got a very early start. I was up at 05:30 and had to shower and wash and dry my hair. The lady came at 07:30 to start with my hair and it took just over 3hrs to complete(you'll see why). Then it was the MUA turn. The make-up took just under 1hr but it was well worth it. I got a lot of compliments for it.

Once I was done with make-up it was time to get dressed and to put on all my jewelry. At this point we were running late to meet DH and the photog for our creative shoot. We had to call twice to delay it and let me tell you, DH was not impressed. I just kept telling him that a bride supposed to be fashionably late. It's expected.

I eventually left the house at 13:15, with my sister and brother-in-law. We arrived at Botanical Gardens at 13:45 and started what turned out to be a very nerve wracking photo shoot. The photog whom we booked, brought her husband along. He is also a pro photog and so he took the pics and she did the video. He really upset DH and I as he was really rude at times and made us really irritable with all his moody comments.

Anyways, once it was over we were fine again. We said goodbye and it was back to our parents' places.

I got back to my mum's place at around 14:55 and touched up make-up and just generally neatened up a bit. Then DH's sister and 2 of his aunts came to fetch me at 15:15 to go to the venue.

When we arrived, there wasn't too many people there yet. I sat in the car with the aircon on and tried to calm my nerves a bit. Surprisingly, I was only nervous for a very short time before we walked into the hall. Thereafter, I was fine. That helped because I got to enjoy every minute and really soak in what was happening. DH, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. his hands were trembling and he wasn't being very attentive to the priest. I had to keep nudging him...lol

The weather leading up to the wedding day was miserable. It rained every day and was cold but on our wedding day, the sun made an appearance and the day was PERFECT.

After the ceremony, it was dinner and then family pics. Thereafter, off to my mum's house for a small celebration and then off to his folks place for ANOTHER small celebration and some dancing =)

We eventually left his parents place at around 11:45 and it was off to the hotel to spend our first night together as Husband and Wife.

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Here are some pics from our creative shoot before the ceremony and off the ceremony itself. Enjoy!!!

P.S: the quality is not grand in all the pics cos I had to change the resolution a bit.