#FirstPerson: I Planned My Destination Hindu-Muslim Wedding All By Myself!

There's something so nice about a fusion wedding- which celebrates not one, but two cultures, and when they are two separate religions, even more so! This is a beautiful Hindu-Muslim destination wedding we came across in Udaipur, and what was even more special about this one was that the bride Niharika planned everything to perfection by herself, and it did have some cool ideas! Her wedding was a 3 day celebration in Udaipur which was a perfect fusion of both the bride's and the groom's religions. So over to her as she tells us all about her dream wedding! The photos by Shutterdown - Lakshya Chawla★ 5  are as gorgeous as usual!

"Hussein and I had been dating for 4 years and we were ready to take the plunge and begin our next chapter but there was a catch – he’s Muslim and I’m Hindu. Luckily, we both have supportive families and they gave us the green light! What was challenging was planning a wedding ceremony that honors both religions ad fuses together both our traditions."

"Fortunately in both our cultures we celebrate weddings with the same functions – the sangeet, mehendi etc – so that was very easy to plan and organize. We started off with a welcome dinner on the first night followed by an after party. The next day was a colourful, festive Mehendi in the day and Sangeet at night, followed by our second after party. On the third and final day we had our beautiful and super unique wedding ceremony in the day and a reception at night, followed by you guessed it – an after party!"

"What was really great about our wedding is neither of us had to compromise or back down from our traditions. Hussein had his Haldi ceremony on the morning of the Mehndi and I also had my Haldi and Churra ceremony the morning of the wedding. Even both our outfits were typical to our culture – I wore a red lehenga with my red chura and kaleeras like a typical Punjabi bride would and Hussein wore a traditional white sherwani with accessories from his Bohri background."

"I meticulously (and obsessively) planned each detail of our wedding and I knew the actual ceremony had to be unique and completely our own. After thinking hard about what type of ceremony we should conduct – here is what I came up with."

The bridal entry

I walked in under a “pholoon ka chaddar” like a traditional Punjabi bride would. Hussein was waiting for me at our mandap after having a rocking baarat! 

The fusion ceremony

"We first exchanged varmalas after we had the juta chupai of course! Hussein then had one his uncles read verses from the Quran which were also translated to English so everybody could understand what was being read. He then asked each of us if we take the other to be our spouse – to which we both answered YES! Next we had a panditji who instead of making us circle the fire and perform the 7 pheras, explained each of the 7 pheras to us in English. The panditji then read a letter from my parents to Hussein and his parents and we performed a few rituals like my mum cleaning our feet. We then read out vows to each other which the panditji had given us and then Hussein applied Sindoor to my forehead – the most amazing feeling! We then had a ritual (which I have never seen before) where he asked me to sit in my mother in laws lap as an official “welcome to the family” and then explained the importance of the relationship of in laws and a daughter in law. He then asked my parents to pay their respects to Husseins family and asked them to take care of me as their daughter. The panditji spoke mainly in English but also recited verses in Sanskrit. At the end he got all our guests to raise their hands and collectively bless us – it was so beautiful and powerful! I was very insistent that Hussein and myself write our own vows. So we ended the beautiful ceremony  by reading our own vows to each other – there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!"

Other unique ideas:

I had planned my wedding and collected lots of different ideas for decor, outfits and entertainment for many years before I even knew I was getting married! So I wanted to incorporate as much as I could to my own wedding. 

• As an ode to our parents - I wanted to take a picture holding their wedding picture - so both Hussein and I did that. I  also wanted to recreate my Mums Bridal portrait. 

• I wanted to do something personal for my family - So I got these handkerchiefs sewn on for each of them - Mum, Dad and Brother with a personal message about how I really felt! Since they are sewn - they will last forever!

• I wanted my wedding invite to be a representation of Rajasthan - so went with this simple box with the puppets and camel, which is also reusable. I wanted the chocolates to match the box design so I got these custom made in really cool flavours including - pumpkin seed & candied Chili, Hazelnut, Fig and orange and lastly Almond, Currant and sea salt. We also added chocolate covered dates to the box as I grew up and live in Dubai - so wanted to add a touch of Dubai to the box too.

• For the champagne toast at the reception - I added the flower trail to connect both glasses - something unique and different. We walked in to an amazing line up of perfectly timed sparklers. My favourite entrance from all the functions!

• We also had various fun elements at the Mehendi including caricature artist, tarot card reader, Barf ka golas, chana jor garam and giveaways for the ladies - potlis, bangles and bindis. We entered with dhol wallas and coloured smoke bombs!  I was so adamant on a truck bar - So I got this one - it was huge and so colourful - it was our bar and said "Niharika te Husein di Gaddi"  

• For the Sangeet, the hall where we had our sangeet had its own decor and style so I wanted to amp it up with gold fringe hanging from the ceiling, the bar said "bar bar dekho" and near the bar we had a spin the wheel with fun dares like have a shot, do a dance etc. We had a basket of slippers by the dance floor too for the ladies that said " a little treat for your dancing feet" - so the ladies could swap out their heels for comfy slippers without having to go back to their rooms!

• Our hashtag was "Kapslocked" (kaps comes from both our surnames Kapoor and Kapasi) - so we had personalized straws and drink tags with our hashtag on it at all functions.

• For the wedding ceremony, I had made personalised fans made since it was in the day time and outdoors. I also had a table of handkerchiefs that said "Ladies for your happy tears, please take one". I wanted to honour and remember all the family members that had passed away so I added a table of photos of them with the message "We know you would be here today, If heaven wasn't so far away".

• I made my bridesmaids little packages with a sari, clutch bag, earrings and a few other goodies. Each of them wore their sarees to the wedding ceremony.  My bridesmaids walked after the phoolon ka chaddar holding red balloons.

• Every night for the after parties I had tshirts made too! First night mine said "Bride vibes" On the last night for my parents I had "mother and Father of three now" (since its always been my brother and me), Husseins said "sorry ladies this guy is taken", Mine had girlfriend scratched out, Fiance scratched out and had wife. And my brothers (not seen in picture) had "Don't worry ladies I'm still single".

Vendors: Bridal outfits - Various Boutiques in Delhi; Grooms outfits - Mehendi from Shantanu Nikhil, all others from Bellani S, Mumbai; Make Up Artist and Hairstylist - Deepti Sethi Makeup Artistry and Hair Design★ 4.7 , Pune; Venue - Radisson Blu, Udaipur; Decor - I planned all the decor myself - down to every detail; Photography and Videography- Shutterdown - Lakshya Chawla★ 5

ALSO READ: #Trending: Cross-Culture Weddings With 2 Ceremonies & Oodles Of Style Inspiration!