This 2020 Wedding Planning Story is Must Read-Smita & Ravi

Love and wedding planning are two important things in a person’s life. To get it right is a task. Here’s how Smita and Ravi got their love life and wedding planning just right.  

How did you guys meet and decide to get married? 

We went to the same undergrad but never got to know each other at college. We knew of each other but our paths never crossed!  After college – He moved to New York for Film School, I moved to New York for work. We never crossed paths yet again. Finally, he moved back to India in 2014 to work in media and film. I moved back to Mumbai to start an ethical clothing brand. We met at Mondegar Cafe through common friends. It was great to connect with someone who had similar interests…but sadly we lost touch after that meeting!

2 years after we met again in Mumbai. This time so much had happened (Both our startups failed to take off) and we decided to raise a toast to life and it’s misadventures. We met often after that, trying to explore Mumbai and its culture.. .but not that often. We wanted different things at different points..I wanted to pursue my MBA, he wanted to take off and travel. We loved each other’s company but it wasn’t until another two years, that we would find ourselves wondering – is there more here? Once we knew, it was clearer than anything else. We wanted to be with each other for good. So why wait – let’s get Married!

How did you get your wedding planning right?

We knew we wanted an intimate wedding and our wedding planning was done keeping that in mind. We had our closest friends from different countries and we wanted to show them a good time so we chose my hometown – Cochin. A wedding that would give people an experience of the beautiful city yet leave time for them to explore on their own and definitely time for us to celebrate together, that’s exactly what we wanted. We had a DIY Mehendi at my home, a last-minute sundowner with friends who flew in earlier, at Olam by The Lake and a Telugu evening ceremony at BTH Sarovaram followed by a Malayalee temple ceremony at my village temple.

In addition, we gave them itineraries for what after – a trip to Munnar or Alleppey and helped them arrange subsequent travels. Our guests also didn’t have to worry about carrying gifts from their cities/countries since we had set up a gift registry to buy us the gifts we want online, which would get delivered directly to our home. 

I sought help from Giant Events who helped me plan the two wedding ceremonies and did a great job! We enlisted them quite late because I thought we could do everything ourselves, but it adds up and can get pretty crazy without help. We wanted to enjoy our wedding so we got in professionals to make sure the ceremonies went well! Everything else was managed by us and our families and friends. Right from arranging the Priests, all the wedding paraphernalia, wedding photographers, arranging travel and stay for the guests and the events like Mehendi. We sourced alcohol from friends, which was a great idea, because we got wines from different countries – Italy, Germany, Japan to name a few! My brothers were like my pillars – couldn’t have done my wedding planning without them and my cousins, aunts, uncles. It was a full-fledged family affair!

How did Wedding Wishlist help make Wedding Planning Easy?

Ravi and I created a website on Zola which shared our story and the itinerary. We couldn’t integrate a wedding registry that worked for India and that’s when we discovered Wedding Wishlist. It worked perfectly – We knew we wanted one so that we could suggest gifts that could be used to set up our home together! We didn’t want duplication, nor did we want to tax folks with wondering what to get us. We made it simple – blessings, gifts from our registry, or Cash vouchers (I know, we were a bit too honest but we wanted to use it for our honeymoon!)

Initially, we didn’t think people would use it but they did, which was a pleasant surprise. I also liked the complimentary Wedding Planner notebook which I depended on heavily in my wedding planning phase as well as the Thank You Cards. Thanks to Wedding Wishlist for the support in adding a warm touch to our most special day!