Kumuta and Avinash’s celebration ultimately played out over the course of three days, and not all events were held at the One&Only Desaru Coast. On 13 May, they hosted a pre-wedding party at Kumuta’s family home in Seremban with chinoiserie decor and Chinese pastries, followed by a mehndi painting session. “Family and friends come to give their blessing and splash you with turmeric water–it’s really fun. I was having chats with everyone, catching up with family members,” says Avinash. On 14 May, in the early morning, they held a traditional Punjabi wedding at Gurdwara Sahib Mantin, a Sikh temple a half hour from their family’s homes. “It’s a very sacred, very old and powerful temple,” the groom says. “That ceremony was beautiful, and meant a lot to my side of the family.”
And finally, on 15 May, they had their Hindu wedding at the resort, which included a pre-ceremony cocktail party, the ceremony itself, then dinner, a reception, and an after-party. While they had, of course, reserved plenty of time and energy for tradition, the sharing of some events was pretty contemporary.
“The pre-wedding ceremonies are usually done separately, the bride’s side and groom’s side, but we thought, why separate it? The pandemic had already split everyone,” Kumuta says. “Our parents were modern enough to want to combine it, and everyone grew closer–not just immediate family, but relatives too, could introduce themselves.”
Deeply consider local holidays
When rescheduling their wedding, the couple planned around their photographer’s availability for May 2022, and were pleased he could accommodate them over Vesak, a holiday weekend in much of Asia that celebrates the Buddha’s birthday. “I thought, ‘This would come in handy for everyone that’s based in Malaysia and even for people traveling from abroad,'” Kumuta reasons. What they hadn’t thought through, though, was the drive between their hometown and the coast of Desaru.
“After the gurdwara, we all had to rush back home, get changed, and take this huge drive to One&Only” for the welcome dinner, says Avinash of the 14 May schedule. Technically, it should have been a two-and-a-half-hour drive, “but I think everyone was traveling for a long weekend getaway, and it took ages, five or six hours.” They didn’t arrive until 8:00pm, but thankfully the dinner they’d planned at the resort for the wider group was very simple and casual.
“Easy-breezy by the beach, no theme. Whenever people came in, they could just sit down and enjoy delicious seafood,” says Kumuta. “It felt so good for everyone to have the sea breeze and stretch their legs after a six-hour drive.”
Stick to your aesthetic
The bride had a very specific vision for their decor scheme, but received plenty of pushback from her planner and vendors, who were used to vividly colourful Indian weddings and the use of artificial flowers that won’t wilt in the equatorial heat. “I loved muted tropical colors, subtle–soft pink, cream, at most a coral–and I wanted heliconias, dropping down the back of the stage, moving with the wind. My lehenga was a dusty pink, and my family’s outfits were champagne gold or soft pinks,” Kumuta says. “I remember [the florist, Donce Fine Floristry] telling me these colours might look very faint or not pop against the sea, but I was very stubborn. I said, ‘No, I’m sticking to it!’ I wanted that feeling of lightness.”