Katherine & Dave

Khwabon ki Haveli

An Award winning wedding for DEI

A 100 year Haveli at Sohna Road

A perfect love story requires a perfect wedding too. Katherine & Dave, A couple truly in love for the past 6 years, living in America decided to have an Indian wedding. They got in touch with us three months prior to the wedding. At Designer Events Inc. our choices for wedding planning are determined by the story of the couple and their lifestyle. This wedding was planned at a 100 year old haveli – The Haveli at Sohna road, a symbol translating into their love, connection and commitment that transcends beyond the measure of time. It was an extremely close and intimate wedding with only 60 guests. It was only the people who truly mattered to the couple and the people who had been a part of their life in every sense. This wedding was planned entirely over WhatsApp and we met the couple the first time the day prior of their pheras. Working at a 100 year old Haveli was definitely challenging, but overcoming those challenges and getting everything together on the day was the most special dream that we lived together. Both are believers of destiny. Their official anniversary is 26th October 2012,and 26th October is also Kaveri Vij (co-owner of Designer Events Inc.) birthday. We (Designer Events Inc) had recently done an event at the Haveli and it seemed as if destiny brought us together. On connecting these dots, the bride wanted no one except us for this wedding. And now when we look back it was the most memorable wedding of our lives. It was our Serendipity wedding! And this love story is not only about them, but about us too.

From the Couple

We video chatted with Kaveri, who was our guide and savior through the whole process. We gave her an outline of how we envisioned the ceremony, including pre-ceremony snacks/drinks, the Baraat, ceremony, and reception. It started very much as a loose collection of ideas and desires. Not having visited the space, it was difficult to envision the optimal way to set everything up. Thanks to Kaveri’s knowledge of the space as well as willingness to go back and evaluate the space on her own, we were able to create a timetable and setup that worked out perfectly! When you think planning an international wedding in three months while traveling full-time, what might come to mind is:how did you do it?

It was all thanks to a remarkable team of people, and the most hardworking, dedicated and flexible wedding planner imaginable! Kaveri went above and beyond for us: being available at odd times, making suggestions, giving us options, finding us a caterer when we could not taste test, finding and booking all of our entertainment, taking our ideas (that we had no clue how to translate into reality)and materializing them. There were many challenges while planning the wedding over WhatsApp, but luckily we had Kaveri and the Designer Events team working diligently to make our dreams come true. After giving them our initial vision, Katya shared pictures from her Instagram and we emailed photos to show various components we wanted through our event, including pots flowing with flowers, hanging strings of flowers throughout the house and on the trees, a mandap covered in flowers, and photos of us during our travels. After getting an initial design and setup with Kaveri and team, Kaveri actually visited the Haveli for us and ensured that all of our plans would work out as planned. She made everything come together, from finding a place to set up the dining area, to the location for the mandap and stage. Speaking of stages – we knew from the start that we wanted live performers for the event. We didn’t have time to see or meet the performers in person. Luckily, Kaveri was able to send us dozens of options – from singers to dancers! We narrowed down our options from there.

One of the biggest uncertainties we had was picking a caterer without actually tasting the food. We had our thoughts for how the dishes should look, but had no time to taste the food nor see the actual setup. We put full faith in Kaveri’s recommendation for a caterer she knew and trusted. Him and his team came through with flying colours – the food was some of the best Indian Food we’ve ever had, the service was top notch, and everyone left full and happy. In addition, the setup was perfect.

Making the vision of the couple come to life by
Designer Events Inc.

A destined wedding for Designer Events Inc. or we also like to call it the Digital wedding at Designer Events Inc. When Dave and Katherine got in touch with us, this seemed like a dream wedding we wanted to be a part of. It fit the philosophy of our company very well a boutique wedding with all the frills but a limited guest list. We couldn’t have wished for more. On booking the wedding and being all excited about it, we started the planning process. 3 months, 3 WhatsApp voice calls and 1 WhatsApp video call and infinite WhatsApp messages is what it took to plan this dream day. We planned, designed and executed the décor for this wedding. After understanding the expectations of our couple, the team got down to the ground work. The day was planned by having the guest welcome, the baraat, welcome of the baraat, the pheras and an endless array of entertainers for the guests, which was followed by lunch after which all the guests released flying lanterns, which ended the wedding events. The first step was to come out with a broader timeline and then start filtering the choices for each aspect.

The welcome

The couple wanted an elephant for the Baraat, but on having restrictions on using elephants in Haryana, we decided to go the traditional way of having a horse with Shehnai Walas for the procession. Everyone was welcomed by a traditional arti and tikka and a rose petal shower which was planned from the terrace that overlooked the entrance. This was decided because during a conversation with the bride, she had once mentioned that she loves autumn and the way the leaves fall. This was our inspiration behind the idea for the guest welcome. The pheras were the first thing on the agenda, as the couple wanted everyone’s attention on the rituals. And once the pheras were over everyone could have fun specially the couple.

The rituals

We made sure the Pandit Ji had a mic and spoke English so everyone understood the mantras. We created a special Phera box – with some munchies, vows, a fan to beat the heat, a small potli with rose petals to shower on the couple and a bell to ring post every phera. Every item in the Phera box had a personalized note explaining its use. The munchies were also tagged with “Her Favorite” and “His favorite” as personalization is what drove this wedding. We had handmade pin wheels which we later stuck to the Phera box, as it represented the windmills of Amsterdam, which is their most favorite country. The colours of the box were orange and red being their favorite colours, and the also the overall theme of the wedding. We had designed and shown picture of every look of this box on WhatsApp along with an exhaustive budget sheet for the couple’s approval. The guests enjoyed being a part of the ceremony by ringing the bells, listening to the pandit and showering rose petals post their nuptials. We had also arranged for traditional Rajasthani umbrellas for every guest to beat the heat.

The food

The most critical part of any wedding, it was extremely difficult to lock this one. They wanted traditional Jain food and a good spread as well. Working in the industry for 4 and half years we knew a lot of caterers, but we chose a person who was more than a caterer but a food connoisseur. As it wasn’t only about the taste but also about the display, the story and all Indian weddings are all about the food. We had a specially curated menu – with all our couples’s favorite dishes. The entire menu was prepared with no onion and no garlic, with an interesting East meets West preparation. There were dishes like mushrooms and paneer which guests couldn’t believe were prepared without onion and garlic. The set up was a vintage take on modern India with props like typewriters, sewing machines and Cycle Rickshaws.

The decor

This wedding was our bride’s floral dream which she had dreamt of since she was 16. When we asked her what she wanted for her special day – the only input she gave us were some pictures from Pinterest. But the only thing that she kept on repeating was that she wanted flowers everywhere and that lilies were her favorite. So this was it, it was supposed to be a floral wonderland. But we decided to let the essence of the Haveli be alive, and designed the décor in a way that added more character and persona to each corner rather than the typical flower, flower everywhere not a scent to smell. We created small corners with their own personality. The living room spoke a different language as compared to the courtyard. The antique Rajasthani centre table in the living room had a long stubbed centerpiece from one corner to the other with floral elephants around them, and the central courtyard had a mesh of Rajnigandha strings ending with roses. We decided on using traditional Indian flowers – roses, marigolds and rajnigandha and added the contemporary touches with lilies. The colour theme was their favorite colours – red, orange and white. We incorporated their want of an elephant with small floral elephants all around the venue. We hung Indian dream catchers and florals on the trees and kept the mandap the highlight of the venue. The signage’s in the venue were the poems that the bride had written for the groom. The agenda for the day was designed with a lotus theme, as they were our grooms favorite but we didn ’t use them in the décor. The linen was all white and gold – to ensure a bit of “ westerness ” they brought along from America. But we Indianised the linen by using a traditional jaali for the linen. Post the Indian rituals, the couple had planned to exchange vows that they had written. They wanted to do this at the Mandap in front of all the guests, however we suggested a more intimate ceremony with just their nearest and dearest. We decorated the terrace of the Haveli for the couple to exchange their vows and have another location for pictures. There wasn’t a single place in the Haveli which did not have florals. From the place where guests entered to every possible place inside – we had florals do the talking and enhance the Haveli. We added pictures of the couple from all different parts of the world for the guests to see their journey till date.

The ending

All’s well that ends well. The last for the day was releasing of flying lanterns. The couple were standing on the terrace and all the guests were in the lawns; it was truly a magical sight. We even personalized the matchboxes for the guests to light the lanterns. There wasn’t an element which we left without a story from the bride and groom. There wasn’t a single place in the Haveli which did not have florals. From the place where guests entered to every possible place inside – we had flowers do the talking and enhance the Haveli. We added pictures of the couple from all different parts of the world for the guests to see their journey till date.

The little details

We used bright Rajasthani safas for all the family members to ensure we stayed close to traditions. We bought a rich brocade safa for the groom to match his shervani and to ensure he looks like royalty. They both wanted a boutique palace wedding and we ensured it by planning these little details. The bride did not have parents and no one from her family attended the wedding, so we had the grooms sister carry the phoolon ki chaddar on a bed of rose petals finding her way to the mandap, the final walk into a new life. The bride wanted a vintage car for her Vidaai, however because of the space constraints and the non-possibility of having a vintage car inside the haveli, we had the groom pick her up to take her inside. We made sure she lived her Bollywood dreams and canned the vintage car idea without being upset about it.

Challenges faced during the execution & how they were over come

The execution of this wedding wasn’t as easy as the planning was. Being located in the middle of a village was one of its biggest challenges. But we used the local support of the villagers to our support and overcame each one. We had labor with us, but without the help of the local villagers this wedding wouldn’t have been possible. Instead of shutting them out us made them acquaintances and used them to our strength. It was a global wedding with local wedding execution.

Location: This Haveli was located in the middle of a village, which was a very big challenge in terms of executing the event. Every time any stuff would come in, the village head would have to grant permission. It was an extremely time consuming and cumbersome as sometimes he wasn’t available to do this, and no one else was entitled to give this permission. On day 2, after getting annoyed by this permission, we requested him to come and sit at the venue to grant permission, as this was delaying our process of execution. We gifted him a hookah, which surely helped in melting the ice.

Way to Haveli: Explaining all the guests the way was the most difficult part. Google maps would sometimes get you just at the right location and sometimes would take you miles ahead. And the challenge was the Haveli was inside the village, where as a guest no one would imagine and would mostly turn their cars if they didn’t know the way. So, we hired local village people on a daily wage, dressed them up in the traditional Rajasthani uniform and make a human chain from a point till google maps would get the cars. We trained them to greet the guests and escort them till the haveli. It became more like a planned traditional welcome for all the guests.

Horse in the Baraat: As the haveli was a midst a village, too many villagers surrounded the Baraat. As a result of this the horse was extremely jittery and wouldn’t climb the road leading to the Haveli. It was something, which was beyond our control but was embarrassing at the same time. We found a village lady who worked at a horse stable close by who helped us in calming down the horse and brought him inside. We rewarded her with some clothes later on.

Space management: The Haveli was restored for a staying perspective and not for hosting weddings. The next big challenge was to use the space in the best possible way. We split the day and they are as very accurately, and tried to divide the crowd as much possible. For instance -We covered a dried up water body to make a performance stage for the performers, we guided the couple to renew their vows at the terrace, we dedicated a time for group photos and made a photo list so there was no chaos at the mandap. We got a longer wire for the genset and parked it at outer wall of the Haveli, to ensure no space taken inside for the same. We used the space dedicated for genset to convert into a green room for the performers; this also helped us keep the performers separate from the main guest area.

Water: The Haveli had ample water to ensure a comfortable stay for 4 people, and now we had to manage this too for the use of washrooms. No water tanker agreed to come to the haveli due to the distance. We got a set of village families fill water for us in the big tanks they had over a period of three days which solved this problem for us.

Convincing the couple on taking decisions without personally experiencing it was the biggest challenge

WhatsApp might be a selling point, but it had a lot of challenges with it. Not seeing or experiencing things made it very difficult at times to convince the couple to make certain decisions. Entertainment and décor were relatively simple as it was about showing something as a sample through a picture or a video. The most difficult was to convince them over the food. However, the only way was to ensure they trusted us with our choices and they did. It was more of a trust wedding, they trusted us with all our choices and recommendations which made it even possible for us to plan this.

Ensuring the Privacy of the couple: The couple’s were afraid of villagers barging in on the day of the wedding. We planned to hire security but the village head advised us to go ahead with the local village care taker as he knew the people personally and they would listen to them. We immediately made this decision and the couple enjoyed their privacy on their special day. However, the village people were so keen on seeing the couple’s that post the wedding that day, we had the village people come to the haveli to bless the couple one by one. It was a superlative experience for the couple and one they hadn’t experienced ever in their lives.

Managing Valet Parking: Most cars were self-driven, but we had arrangements for valet, but the constraint was space for parking. There were also expensive cars and we were worried of any damage to them. However, we found an empty lot which one person rented to us and also guarded the cars for us the entire day.

Trouble with Livestock: Cattle was a big hurdle during the set up, since we could not close the main gates as the structure and furniture and props were to be brought in. And during this the cattle would come in and start eating the flowers. We finally had to request a village boy to take them out of there and into a nearby field.

Back Kitchen problem: The area we had dedicated for the back-kitchen during the recce, had some technical problem on reaching. We had no solution to this and the food couldn’t be prepared inside as the Haveli kitchen was way too small. The Haveli care taker offered his house’s porch to build a back kitchen as that was the closest house to the haveli.

Drivers Food: The caterer had his measured amount of raw materials for the food preparation, which was over by the end of lunch as there were a lot of additional people eating the same food apart from the guests. The driver’s food was organized at a nearby Dhaba, and as fate would have it the Dhaba didn’t open on that day. The care takers wife volunteered and bailed us out of this situation. She made food for them in no time and helped us with this too.

The wedding day came and went by in flying colors after crossing all these hurdles one step at a time. It was a joint effort by our team and the village people, everyone told us not to interact with them as they might not really converse. However, sometimes it’s about trusting the resources that are available to you. This wedding wouldn’t have been possible without the local village people.

Wedding Planning and Decor – Designer Events Inc.
Photography – Mahima Bhatia Photography
Catering – One Fine Meal
Entertainment – Arjit Unplugged
Phera Boxes – Gold Leaf Design