Creating a flutter with your wedding cards

I remember back when we started The Unreal Bride, the wedding blog scene or rather the wedding scene online was rather non existent. There was enough content on European or US wedding blogs but hardly any pertaining to the Indian wedding scene. I am happy to say that today it has changed . The seams of the online community are bursting with brand new wedding websites and blogs and photographers and other creatives. Bursting. Very different from two years ago.

Today, we don’t have to look very far for great options related to the wedding industry. Especially the wedding invitation industry which is so over saturated with the same thing, the most important thing being the blingiest and the biggest. I don’t care how many thousands you might’ve spent on your invitation, an ugly card is ugly .Doesn’t matter if its worth two rupees or two thousand rupees. Remember, it’s all about personalisation and the effort you put into it. And , ofcourse the quality matters. So dont think you if you have a great vision, you can get away by spending half the price . Your vision isn’t going to become the reality. It takes real talent to do that.

My favourite invitation from last year has to be the one where I know a lot of effort was put in- both from the bride’s side as well as the card people’s side. I was so excited to open the card when I got it, it almost felt like a present. What lies inside?! Beauty, of course. And colours. And a bird. Totally worth the wait.

This wonderful invitation suite was designed by the girls over at createAflutter  . I can’t remember if we have ever mentioned them before but they are amazingly talented and I am proud to say they work right out of good ol’Chandigarh!

Annnnnd, if the cards weren’t enough , the little bottles of deliciousness that came with them were equally exciting. I love little bottles. I love jam. So obviously I love little bottles of jam! The flavours were totally unique (and alcoholic!) -made by The Gourmet Jar  (based in Noida).

 

What will this new wedding season bring us? Can’t be as shocking as the UFO I saw last wedding season. Oh yes,I saw a UFO with a groom in it. Why would I lie!?! I hope things are as exciting this season!

Ayesha

A year ago, we got in touch with Kanika of Bespokensemble , a wedding planner. She had read our blog and wanted to work with us and made sure we did! The first assignment we did with her was another one of those stories with a crazy story behind it. I won’t bore you with the details but know that we were connected then and have been ever since.

Our first assignment with Kanika was a bridal photo shoot with Ayesha, a complete beach baby and oh! So gorgeous. A real free spirit and so joyful to know, working with her was so much fun. We wanted to tell Ayesha’s story, right from her chilling at home with her folks and grandmum, to her love for her dog and yoga to her becoming a bride and leaving home. We shot the whole day in a couple of locations- you would think we would’ve been dead tired after the day but in fact we were invigorated and went out to celebrate after! I love that bit of my job the most-you make so new many friends !

I am only going to share some photos from the day with you because the rest are a bit more personal . These have been a long time coming, I have no excuses for the delay! These are literally a year too late! Whoops!

Photographs by Kismet Jewell Nakai

Stylist : April Sher Bhaika

Location provider and awesome assistant : Deveshi Sahgal

The person who made it happen: Kanika Sethi Babbar of  Bespokensemble

The gorgeous bride: Ayesha

The {Un}Real Diaries : Saving the best for last…

I don’t really have anymore posts in mind for the {un}real diaries, so like a good cliché loving girl, I have saved the best for last- our photos! Now, a lot of you have probably seen our photos already-they have been posted in quite a few places for which we are grateful and truly never expected! I will try and post stuff you haven’t seen but that might be easier said than done.

Before we get to that though, it is absolutely necessary to speak about our lovely photographers- Carmen & Ingo. It was love at first sight when I found them via Kate’s blog. I spent more time than usual on their blog and even though the wedding was still months away when the time came to decide-there was no question who our photographers would be. I won’t repeat the entire story here but if you want to read about how we connected , you can check it out on Carmen&Ingo’s blog right here. I would strongly suggest you read it- I have said time and again how I love random connections and this is just the perfect story to prove it! I have to say here that there are MANY talented photographers in India- and there a couple of them who I would’ve loved to have cover the wedding. I’m just saying that the choice had nothing to do with the fact that there is a lack of talent in India(I mean that is just NOT possible , is it?),it had to do with the fact that Carmen & Ingo hit the spot directly and instantly. You know that feeling , right? When you just know? It doesn’t happen to me a lot so when it happens once in  a while, I don’t hesitate to follow my instincts. I have quite literally patted myself on the back for following this instinct. A bit modest, I know, but if Carmen&Ingo lived closer , I’d pat THEM on the back. Just got to make do with what we have.

I am going to try posting photos that you haven’t seen before but if you have, what can I say? Look at them again! It’s also to give you a feeling of what the day was like- I love all the photos but I am not sure if posting 500+ photos is acceptable. I just love the way the story unfolds through these magnificent photos.

The most beautiful feet in the world (not!!!)

You know these guys by now surely- Maya whose photos I posted here and of course Rahul of Starving Artist Videos who made our most amazing wedding video here.

A dash of filmi-ness never did anyone any harm!

I love how everyone loses their inhibitions in the fun/photo booth.

That’s us with Ingo & Carmen ♥♥

Doubt if I have to say this but all the photos here are by Carmen & Ingo Photography

Find them on facebook and twitter.

There are a whole lot of photos on Carmen & Ingo’s blog post here-Love & Colour  . I tried not to repeat too many of the photos and you can find the créme de la créme in this post! Once you are done there, head over to Kate’s blog for more here-  Magnolia Rouge . We were lucky to have a third shooter accompany Carmen & Ingo to the wedding. Steffen Bottcher was in India at the same time and took some great photos of the wedding as well which you can check out here on his blog Stilpirat.

As a closing note to this post and to the series, I want to say once more what I have said time and time before- let your wedding photographers be your best (and if necessary,biggest investment) at your wedding even if it means cutting out costs elsewhere. Trust me, no one (probably not even you) will remember the food or who the dj was at the wedding and that doesn’t even matter. What does matter are the emotions, the people, the joy that you felt during those days. The ONLY way you will have access to that 30 years from now will be the photographs. Make sure you get the best. Trust me, you won’t regret it.And, with that we come to the end of the {un}real diaries!

Thank you Carmen & Ingo for being as amazing as you are. x

P.S. If you have missed the earlier editions of The {Un}Real Diaries , you can find start here.

The {Un}Real Diaries : Make up & Bling

Just looking at those two words -make up and bling written together made me wonder if I should tell April to write about this since both topics are far away from my area of expertise. Now that I have started,though, I figured I might as well give it a shot. If you haven’t figured by now, make up and me are distant distant cousins who like each other sometimes and the other times, we forget about each other’s existence. Just so you get an idea , I bought my *first* lipstick a month before the wedding, and figured out the purpose of foundation.It’s true- I am 29 years old and have survived with kajal, mascara and chapstick all these years. I was (am) one of those people who’d peep in to the MAC store and wonder what actually goes on in there with all the ladies (and men) dressed up in black with these things that looked like Batman’s utility belt. It was a different world to me and kind of intimidating.

I’m not against the idea of make-up but it’s just not a priority as it is for so many people. Post wedding, I carry around a little make up pouch and feel quite ‘grown-up’.Ha! Anyway, for the wedding, I decided there would be some make up but it would have to be managed internally (read:in the Unreal Bride office) because there was NO way I was going to any beauty salon where they would most definitely paint my eyes magenta/maroon and gold regardless of the colour of my outfit. I am shuddering at the thought of that and a big poof of fake hair on my head that seems a criterion for every bride.

Thank goodness for friends who went to all girl schools and spent days and days trying out hairstyles and make up on friends.Endlessly.Who is this talented friend, you ask? None other than April! She said she would happily do my make up and boy ! was I relieved!  The combination of April + her love for make up + pinterest was the best ever!

To cut a long story short, we visited MAC, bought all the necessary condiments (?) to paint my face so that it wasn’t obviously painted (how curious is that!) and combined it with her existing stash of make-up , we were all set to go.

We did do a dry -run to test out what colours suited me and stuff. You MUST do this to know what will happen on the final day and if a certain look will work for you or not. Here is a picture of our trial run-

Erm. Best leave the wine out if you want to actually get somewhere. Clearly , I thought I was a great make up artist judging from what I did to April’s face. Let this serve as a what-not-to-do-on-your-wedding-day make up tutorial.

So,in reality the night before the wedding is when we actually did a dry run and April did a perfect job.

Thank you Mother and Amrit for the photos this day.

On the day of, everything went seamlessly- except for maybe one ‘cat’ eye becoming longer than the other (or was that the other night?) -regardless, it was rectified immediately . The make up was perfect and I looked exactly the way I wanted to. Nothing over the top but with just a little bit of drama! Here are some getting ready photos taken by a very talented friend who you all must be pretty familiar with by now- Maya Singh. She played a huge roll in video documenting the wedding so she was only ‘allowed’ to take photos right in the beginning which I am so glad she did!

Photos by Maya Singh

In case you are wondering what happened to my hair- it was a stroke of pure genius on Aprils (and Pinterests ) part where we were able to take my one side longer hair and make a really cute side ponytail situation. That was a blessing in disguise because I was sure I would have hair issues but I was wrong! Oh , joy!

Here is the picture that was inspiration for the hair-do. I couldn’t find the actual post it was linked to but if you know where it’s from-let me know!

Via Pinterest Via Victoria’s Vintage

As far as the bling goes, I like it more than I like make up , but I like silver more than gold. I didn’t want to spend truckloads on something that I would probably wear only once in my life and that is where Amrapali came to my rescue. Not very expensive, unique designs and so many things to chose from! In the end – I wore a combination of Amrapali jewelry along with some of  my Mum and Masi’s jewels. This was not pre-planned. All these decisions were made on the spot. By the end of it, I really lived up to the saying- “Something old, something new. Something borrowed, something blue.”  It was totally unintentional but not unwelcomed

Photos by Maya Singh

I guess I should end this post with some wedding day make up gyan , right? Nothing complicated to it-just remember-know what you want and stick to it. Find the right make up artist that works for you even if it means you do your own make up on your wedding. You don’t need to wear a kilo of foundation to look gorgeous.Find your style-make up wise ,jewelry wise and stick to it.

Oh,and last of all-wear waterproof mascara . xx

Read more of the {Un}Real Diaries here.

DIY Monday

Oooh! It’s Monday!!! Yay?!

What are we making today? Well, we are spray painting a bicycle in the Unreal office today but since you guys can’t be a part of that- here is a cute little project to keep you busy this week. Infact, I might ACTUALLY attempt this because I have two sets of scrabble just lying around begging to be used for some DIY type project.

If you thought foodgawker was awesome, wedding gawker is even better! This is where I found this awesome project. Follow this link to Intimate Weddings to read all the steps on how to make these cute little scrabble coasters.

Via Intimate Weddings Via Wedding Gawker

I really try and find simple DIY projects because like I have said a hundred times before-I am terrible at this stuff. I try and I try-but I always mess up. At least with something pretty straightforward -I am (kind of ) confident I won’t make a mess of it! I think these would be nice name plates at a wedding, don’t you?

Have a great week