Real Wedding | The Richmond Hotel
Over the years we’ve been privileged to coordinate a handful of Indian weddings. We honestly LOVE them but, beyond saying they are full of dancing, colour, belly laughs and delicious food, we have always struggled to explain what actually happens to the many genuinely interested people who have asked.
So…when Paige offered for us to be able to produce a Real Wedding Blog of her and Ravin’s incredible wedfest, we literally jumped at the opportunity to say YES!!!
We’re beyond thrilled to be able to now share this with you. Although we don’t always do this, we asked Paige for a few brief words and what she provided us was so incredible we had to share it with you word-for-word. So this is written by the bride herself, Paige Adey ❤️
{User warning…it’s a given you’ll soak up all of these beautiful pictures but trust me, this is one you’ll want to actually read too so go and grab yourselves a glass of wine or a cup of tea and enjoy }
The 3 days were an absolute whirlwind of excitement, fun and love.
Day 1: Sangeet
Traditionally an event for only women, in modern times this is just used as an extra day of partying and celebration.
The Sangeet is filled with music and dancing, and traditionally, members of both families would perform for the couple. As we didn’t want to put this pressure on the guests, but we still wanted to include something similar, we decided to do a dance-off between myself with my bridesmaids and my husband with his groomsmen. We each rehearsed secretly (and very last minute for both groups) and performed these in front of all the guests on the night. It was such a fun experience and all the guests absolutely loved it! The highlight of the night was after this when we all moved inside and some of our friends who had travelled from India taught the whole group some dance moves and we spent the next hour taking turns dancing in the middle.
Photographer – Liam Hughes | Venue – Our House | Wall Decorations and outfits – bought from India | White ottomans, festoon lighting, cocktail tables – Olympic Party Hire | Coloured ottomans and cushions – Bought from Target | Henna Artist – Presha Khan – Happy face & Art Tan – M & Co style Bar
Day 2: Traditional Indian Ceremony & Reception
The second day was an early 4am start to get ready for the traditional Sikh wedding ceremony called the Anand Karaj.
Ravin and I spent the night apart, with me staying at my parents’ house, and I am so glad we did, as it made seeing each other all dressed up in our traditional outfits so much more special. The ceremony was held at Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) in Glen Osmond at 9am.
Our guests were asked to arrive first and wait outside the temple to greet the Groom and his family. This was followed with an exchange of garlands between the 2 families, as a sign of the coming together as one, and the event was blessed, before guests were welcomed into the dining area of the temple for some morning tea (catered by us). Guests then made their way up to the temple to take their seats and the Groom made his formal entrance into the prayer hall. Once all guests were inside, I made my grand entrance, escorted by my parents. As I walked down the aisle I was absolutely blown away by the feeling I had. It was so special to be able to experience this part of my husband’s culture. The Anand Karaj ceremony lasted for 1 hour and after it concluded we and our guests made their way into the Adelaide CBD to The Richmond Hotel for a lunch reception.
The Richmond Hotel was the absolute perfect venue for what we wanted this day to be. It was relaxed, beautifully decorated, and the chefs and function staff helped me to create a menu that was slightly customised in order to bring a bit of Indian fusion to the food offerings. Earlier in the day we had dropped off several metres of floral garlands, which the team had draped from the wiring around the venue, and it looked even better than I could have imagined! Though this reception didn’t have any formalities like a traditional reception would, it was so nice to work with a venue that is so flexible and has so many inclusions.
Photographer – Johnst Photography | Ceremony Venue – Gurudwara in Glen Osmond | Reception Venue including catering – The Richmond Hotel | Floral Garlands – Wyld Orchid | Signage – Hey Sweet Peach | Makeup – Mandy Nash | Hair – Mania mania hair
Day 3: Ceremony and Reception
The final day of our Wedfest was where all my childhood dreams came to life. This day was very much a modern western wedding, full of love and family. After inviting all of our extended family, friends and work colleagues to the first 2 days of celebrations, we decided to keep this final day more intimate, with only immediate family and close friends, and a total of 55 guests. The sun was shining and the Gardens looked stunning (as usual!). For this day I chose white, emerald green, gold and dove grey as my colour scheme, and we tied this through every aspect of the day. With lush white florals and greenery for my bouquet, the arbour and all other floral arrangements, but for my bridesmaids I chose to have them with just bouquets of greenery. This was the best decision I made as it saved me SO MUCH, but was so effective against their white dresses.
The reception to follow was held under the stars outside the Botanic Gardens Restaurant. I hired gold cutlery, Gold pots for the flowers, used grey table linen and designed my own menus that were customised for each guest. We repurposed the arbour for the ceremony behind the bridal table to create a stunning backdrop for our photos throughout the night.
Photographer – Love Fool | Ceremony Venue – Botanic Gardens | Celebrant – Vintage Love Ceremonies | Reception Venue – Botanic Gardens Restaurant | Accommodation – Pullman Hotel | Hair – Mania Mania Hair | Makeup – Olivia Colombo MUA | Groom Suit – Myer | Groomsmen Suits – Peter Shearer | Ties/socks – OTAA | Dress – Bridal on Pulteney – Zavana Bridal | Veil – Bridal Emporium | Bridesmaid Dresses – BNKR | Bridesmaid Earrings – Country Road | Flowers/gold vases/arbour – Wyld Orchid | Festoon Lighting – Mosaic AV | Acoustic Guitarist – Chris Vanderhaak | DJ: Luke Telford | Candles and table plan gold frame – SOIE Events | Tables/Bar – Sash Events | Signage – Hey Sweet Peach | Menus – Etsy template that I redesigned | Bonbonnieres – Piccolos of Bird in Hand with individual thank you notes | Gold Cutlery – Gold cutlery & Champagne towers | Cheese Cake – Bought from Foodland and styled by my mum – flowers provided by Wyld Orchid
Q. Was it challenging to blend two cultures in a way that felt you?
We actually didn’t face too much trouble blending our 2 cultures, except when it came to the food for the lunch reception on day 2. We knew we wanted something with an Indian flare to it, but without going to an Indian restaurant, we weren’t originally sure how to do this. As I work at The Richmond Hotel I knew how flexible our chefs and team are, and thought I could take advantage of this. My husband and I sat down and looked at the menu we had and a few of our favourite Indian snacks, and created a menu we thought would be achievable for our chefs (considering they had no Indian background) but would still impress our guests. The team took this on board entirely and absolutely smashed it out of the park!
Q. What was the most fun part of your planning?
I think the most fun part was travelling to India 5 months before the wedding to purchase all of our clothing and accessories, as well as lots of decorations. I was lucky enough to be able to design my sangeet dress from scratch after falling in love with some fabric, and my Anand Karaj outfit I fell in love with the moment I saw it. I even had my mother in law pay the deposit before we went over, and I just had it fitted when I got there.
Final words…
I honestly couldn’t fault a single thing about my wedding, and we are both so thankful that we chose to have 3 days of celebration. Not only did it allow us to bring in some of the incredible culture that my husband’s background has, but it also meant that we had time to enjoy every moment with our friends and family, without it being over so quickly.
Thank you so much Paige (& Ravin) for sharing your incredible celebrations with us.
Xx
