How This Bride Planned & Budgeted Her Lovely Intimate Roka At Home

With the pandemic still being around, a lot of us have to make the hard choice of keeping things intimate and safe, or going all out while still keeping precautions in mind. A lot of us might wonder how to budget our roka correctly, after all, there are more functions to follow after this. Having an intimate roka at home is a great option right now, but something intimate doesn't necessarily mean one has to cut corners. It can be done well if the budgeting is done right! Here is a bride who gave us the lowdown on how she went about budgeting her lovely roka at home! Over to Nidhi now, who had her roka with Amartya in a sweet ceremony.

Meet Amartya and Nidhi

Amartya and I met about 5 years ago at MBA school. Initially we were just college committee members but as we worked alongside, we became really good friends. 2 years passed by and our friendship grew stronger by the day. And as soon as our college was over, we realised that "US" had to happen! Due to our jobs, we both were in different cities but we still maintained our 2 years long distance relationship and made it a point to meet each other regularly. We never had to pretend with each other and infcat, within 2 months of dating we had decided to marry as soon as we had our careers settled. And here we are after 2.5 years into the relationship.... Getting rokafied!

From The Bride-to-be:

We had initially planned our ceremony in the month of April but all plans were cancelled due to the 2nd wave. Finally we were able to organize our roka and ashirwad ceremony at my home with a close set of family and friends. With the covid restrictions and limited resources in place, we still managed to pull off a grand event at home.

• Guest List: around 30 people
• Tentative Budget

Catering and Cake	30000
Groom's Outfit	15000
Bride's Outfit	40000
Favors	35000
Flower Decor & Buffet Layout	15000
Arrangements for Guests	20000
	155000

 

There were other costs such as staff expenses, gifts for the groom and bride's family, etc which have been excluded from above.

 

 

• Outfits

We decided to wear light coloured outfits as it was an at-home ceremony but at the same time we didn't want it to be a dull show. The bride's outfit was from Pakeeza Plaza, Chandni Chowk. The groom's outfit was from Manyavar.

• MUA and Accessories

I did not hire a professional makeup artist as I did not want to look over the top so my really close friend Aishwarya Nambiar, did my makeup. I wore antique kundan earrings of my grandmother to match with my outfit.

• Catering and Cake

We hired a caterer as both Punjabis and Bengalis are big foodies. There were 5-6 types of snacks and around 10 dishes in the main course. For desserts we had many options but the show stopper was the cake that I got made from my childhood best friend Muskan Chopra, who is a professional home baker. I was extremely particular about the color and design of the cake - It had a gradient shade of white and blue with fresh flowers at the top. The cake was from @crumblydelhi. 

• Return Gifts/Favors

We gave cute little wooden hamper baskets to our guests which had a couple of knick knacks. The hampers were arranged from a nearby seller who deals in wedding hampers and baskets. 

• Decor

To match with our home's white and red decor, we added fresh flowers - lilies and carnations. Basically there was a flower backdrop, entrance decoration, as well as trolley decoration for the cake. Apart from that we added a personalized touch by keeping a portrait of us which Amartya (groom) had sketched himself. We also had a buffet table layout in the balcony area with candles and flowers. The flower decor was from Flower & More.

• Photography

Again, no professional photographer! Our dear friend Milind Misra, had his own professional camera and did a fantastic job for us. 

• Arrangements for Guest

There were other costs such as making stay arrangements for guests travelling from outside of Delhi which included their stay, food, consumables, and other expenses.

Vendors: Venue: Bride's Home; Bride's Outfit - Pakeeza Plaza★ 4.5 , Chandni Chowk; Groom's Outfit - Manyavar★ 4.7 ; Home Decor - Flower & More; Cake - Crumbly Delhi