Where’s the time for love? Where’s the time to get married? Every modern couple is swamped with work, and sometimes, doesn’t even find enough time to spend with each other. It wasn’t any different for Shaista and Kshitij, a New York- based millennial couple hailing from two different parts of India. While Kshitij belonged to Delhi, Shaista had her roots in Mangalore. So, it wasn’t just time that they were up against. But love makes things easier and of course, there’s always social media for help. So, how did it all start? Shaista gave us an inside peep into this snazzy ‘social media loving’ millennial wedding captured by Slice Of Life. Take a look...
Q. When and how did you guys meet?
Shaista: Kshitij and I met through common friends in New York in 2015. Life in New York gets very busy and we were always travelling for work. So thank God for cell phones, because we texted non-stop for 10 days before our first date. It was my birthday week and coincidentally, his as well. Also, his mom and sisters are born on the same day as me! We took that as a sign.
Q. Give us an insight into the proposal. Who proposed?
Shaista: Right from the beginning, Kshitij and I had a designated date night on Thursdays. We took turns to pick the place so we could explore all that NYC has to offer. On Sep 21st, 2017, he texted me the address for date night. I got to the restaurant and asked for our table, but the server gave me a blank look which was weird. A man then came up to me, asked me to follow him and took me to the rooftop. Kshitij had decorated the entire rooftop with flowers and candles and created an altar with a picture from one of our most memorable moments together in NYC. The rest is a blur!
Q. How did the marriage preparations go?
Shaista: We got married in Delhi. We had three months to plan our wedding from New York. Given that my family lives in America, it was of big help. But thank God, for Instagram/Pinterest because it provided us with all the inspiration and information we needed to plan this life event in three short months.
Q. How did you choose your designer?
Shaista: Believe it or not, all my outfits were chosen over FaceTime. It was always my dream to wear a Pakistani designer and for my wedding, I wanted to go with a designer who blended traditional and contemporary aesthetics. I can’t believe how amazing these people were because they were able to execute it all without ever meeting me in person. I got my outfits one week prior to my events, so zero complaints!
So, for the wedding welcome Party, I wore a Badgley Mischka. For my Sagan, I wore Tena Durrani from Pakistan. I chose Falguni and Shane Peacock for the Sangeet. And my wedding was done by Shyamal and Bhumika from India. For the post-wedding celebrations, I opted for Carmen Marc Valvo.
Q. Where did the wedding happen and where were the rest of the functions held?
Shaista: We kicked off our wedding with a welcome night for our friends and cousins at Ministry of Beer, Delhi. Our Sagan and Sangeet were at Pushpanjali farms and our wedding was held at Taj Mansingh.
Q. Give us an insight of the wedding planner, photographer and make-up artist.
Shaista: Social media played a big role in our wedding. We also had a hashtag #ShaiFoundHerRaj. The wedding planners were Riveting Events, the photographer was from Slice Of Life. The decor was done by Clique Events and I had three different makeup artists – Savleen Manchanda for the Welcome Night, Sagan, Sangeet, Jasmeet Kapany for the wedding and Gayatri Sharma did the post-wedding photo shoot.
Q. Give us a little overview of the sangeet and other wedding functions?
Shaista: We kicked off our wedding festivities with a welcome party for our friends at Ministry of Beer’s Steam Punk theme Microbrewery. We had a dress code – white for girls and black for guys. Our Sagan (ring ceremony) and Sangeet had a fairytale garden pastel theme. The wedding, though, was an ode to my Mangalorean roots with decor focus on Mogra flowers.
Featured & Internal Images: Slice Of Life
