Part 2: Mehendi | Shonan & Adesh

This is post #4 in the series. Read the series from the beginning starting here.

20^th December, 2014.

The day Shonan and her family had been excitedly anticipating was finally here. And needless to say, it was beyond extra-ordinary.

The bride’s family wanted to run a theme across all three levels of the garden at Madhuli Apartments – traditional Mehendi décor with splashes of vibrant colours, and a dash of quirky – and that is exactly what the decorators gave them.

Embroidered umbrellas, flower rangolis that cascaded down all 3-levels at the staircase, dabbas as centrepieces and candles that were lit once the sun started to set – Nazneen and Taskeen of the decor team had outdone themselves and the bride could hardly believe how picturesque it all looked.

It was like stepping into a mela, with a puppet show in one corner, a live-bangle maker in another, pottery-making, naariyal paani stands and enough activities to keep guests of every age entertained.

The photobooth, though, stole the show that day.

Typically, guests take 1-2 photos and have them printed to take home as a souvenir. Today, though, guests were seen walking out with stacks of 12-15 pictures with them – each!

Shonan later recalled, “The photobooth guy was amazing. He got all the props, while we asked Nazneen to put up the backdrop as we wanted it to blend in seamlessly with the rest of the décor. She got us those colourful frames and the pink bicycle, just like we asked for!” The photobooth vendor did more than his part that evening. He hadn’t anticipated the barrage of photograph requests that came his way, but he wasn’t going to say no to a single guest. He accommodated all of them and as the guests moved towards the second-tier of the venue, where Brij Holi celebrations were to take place, each of them carried a stack full of happy memories in their hands.

Up next: The Brij Holi

Images courtesy: Stories by Joseph Radhik

The team behind the Mehendi:  Decor by Nazneen Gamadia of Creative Concepts (+91-9820045100) assisted by Taskeen Poonawala (+91-9920315675)  ||  Photobooth by Arun Party Instant Photographer (+91-9619143144)  ||  Entertainment arranged by Jyoti Lalwani (jyolalwani@gmail.com)