How did you meet your Groom, and when did you know he was “the one”?Tincy’s Version: Our first meeting was very unexpected and magical as we met at a store where I used to work. I vividly remember Allan walking into the store, and I glanced my eyes into him, thinking how handsome he was. Once we started talking, I got even more attracted to him. We started having small talk first, and then, as the topic of college came up, he asked me to come to the college he was going to as I was planning to join another college. His gesture made me feel special, and I felt something different about him. I think it was love at first sight! As cliche as it sounds, our love story had a happy ending as we ended up getting married after 7 long years of friendship and dating. I still cherish him and our precious relationship and believe it was destiny that made him come to the store that day. I always joke about our first meeting as, “You came here to buy Samosas, but you got this Golgappa instead.”
Allan’s version: I believe our initial meeting was just like a Hollywood/Bollywood love story, as I first saw Tincy at a store near my home. She used to work as a cashier, and one fine day, my mom decided to stop by to get some snacks as we heard they offered some great samosas and other Indian dishes. As soon as I saw her, there was a spark or just a different feeling altogether. Maybe this is what is known as love at first sight. We started having a conversation, and since she was in the middle of deciding on which college to go to, I was trying to lure her to the college I was going to. After stepping out of the store, I knew we weren’t meant to be friends; there was something more, and the rest is history. We dated for 7 long years, and I still have the same feelings for her to this day.
Share the scoop on your Proposal Story!It was the best proposal I could ever ask for! It was so romantic and special as he surprised me by renting out the entire space and decorating the place with rose petals, candles, and signs in a heart shape and got down on one knee, popping the ring out after an emotional speech. Obviously, I said yes!! It was the easiest ‘yes’ I have ever said in my life. I adore the ring he proposed to me with as he custom-made it just for me, and yes, he did a great job! We celebrated our precious moment with his friends over champagne and took some great pictures to cherish the sweet memories forever. It was such a magical moment that I will cherish for my lifetime.
Tell us how you went about planning your wedding and your overall experience with the Venues, Hair and makeup, Outfits, Decor Theme, and all of the other important details.The overall experience was nothing but beautiful, tiring, definitely stressful, and worth every moment. The best decision we made was to hire a wedding planner full-time since Allan works full-time and is getting his master’s program done, and I am studying for my doctorate in therapy school. Tzahhia, our wedding planner, was the absolute best; she made the whole process seamless, as the main thing for any wedding is to have the right vendors and contacts. Tzahhia and her firm (Keestone Events) had great recommendations for picking the right vendors.Since our theme was around Royalty plus the King and queen look, we wanted our venue to match that. We didn’t want to go for the usual hotel banquet hall, so we came across Knotting Hill Place, which is a huge castle and basically represents what we were looking for. It was so beautiful and perfect for our big day.
How did you select your bridal lengha or wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?I had 2 wedding dresses: a wedding gown for the church ceremony and a lehenga for the reception. My wedding dress was magical, with a beautiful mermaid-style laced gown with a long train and long veil, which was perfect for the church ceremony. For the reception, I wanted something royal as that was our wedding theme. I chose to go with the maroon velvet material with golden Zardozi metal jumkha embroidery and stones throughout the lehenga, which made it look rich, elegant, and royal, the perfect one for our wedding! Initially, I wanted something in pastel color but ended up choosing the maroon lehenga, which I fell in love with.
What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?The best part about planning our wedding was the excitement of our big day and the opportunity we had to spend time with each other a whole lot in each and every process. We both cherish those moments a lot, whether it’s visiting multiple venues for the reception, reviewing each and every vendor recommended, and taste-testing the items we wanted. It was special to do it together. We were also blessed to have an amazing wedding planner, Tzahhia, and we had an instant click/bond, which helped the whole process seem easier than it looked. The sync-ups with her were great, and we still miss having those sessions along with her.Also, I would like to highlight 1 thing: during most of the wedding planning process, it’s usually the brides that handle or take control of most of the things needed. But in our case, it was the opposite; Allan was equally involved in every step of the way and, at times, used to handle most of the meetings with the vendor or wedding planner while I was busy with classes/exams. This was such a loving gesture and something I admire about him a lot.
What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?I believe our reception venue at Knotting Hill Place and the theme/decor of the event was such a standout. We still receive a lot of compliments and questions about inspirations or vendors we used to have our wedding showcased that way. I believe this was the most unique, royal, and beautiful decor that we have seen till now, it definitely was way above our expectations. And the venue itself has the royal castle vibe, which is unique by itself compared to having it at a hotel or resort. Most of our guests had a lot of inquiries about the venue to host other events there.
Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?Aside from the whole day itself, I believe Allan’s surprise gift was the most special moment for me. Since I love to include a lot of flower decorations, as you can see in our lovely pictures, I wanted to have a ceiling halo filled with flowers. But when I heard the price of the following, it was insanely expensive, and I didn’t move forward with it. Allan always loves to surprise me with a lot of gifts and goes above and beyond to get stuff done, and he did just that. Without my knowledge, he worked with our wedding planner to get the ceiling halo with a lot of flowers and kept it a secret until the wedding day. When the hall was revealed to us, I was shocked and surprised as it was the most beautiful thing that I’ve seen in my life. It made me feel so loved and wholesome (this moment is captured in our video highlight and pictures).
For events other than your ceremony, please tell us as much as you would like about the decor, style, dances, and all the special details.In terms of the decor, we wanted it to be a Royal theme with the look and feel of a King & Queen (Allan always wanted this, King AJ). We had a dedicated color palette to match our theme where we would be on the dark shades of the colors chosen, and our immediate family members would be on the lighter. Tzahhia (wedding planner) did a great job in gathering all the information together and creating a presentation that had breakdowns of the colors to be used, the layout of the head table, sweetheart table, tablecloth colors, items needed on each table, and the overall decor of the venue. Since we wanted it to have the King & Queen look, we had specific items related to it, such as crown-shaped candles, gold chairs, throne-style chairs for the bride/groom, cold sparks, and smoke layers for our dance performances. Since I love to have a lot of flowers incorporated, we had it included on every table, and every flower was fresh/live. The flowers matched our color palette, and Belle Decor (our florist & decor vendor) did an amazing job of making our vision come to life. When creating our invitations, we created our own custom monogram of ‘TA’ with the royal look; our invitation was very classy and had crowns on each page; it basically gave our guests an initial preview of what to expect on our big day. We also included a custom dance floor, which had our monogram highlighted in the middle, which was a standout. I believe our outfits were beautiful as well, as they matched our theme, and we definitely looked like a King & Queen. My lehenga had a lot of custom work and was designed with maroon and gold, and Allan’s maroon Tuxedo complimented it very well.
We had a lot of dance performances by our cousins and relatives, which stole the show. We were very impressed and surprised by the level of work they put in, as everybody was cheering during every performance, and we loved it. Allan and I had a bunch of surprises for each other with our first dance, which was so romantic, and we surprised the crowd with our moves to ‘Naatu Naatu’ and ‘Jimmikki Ponnu.’
Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?I have a couple of tips or advice which might help for any Brides-to-be:
BEGIN YOUR WEDDING PLANNING EARLY! You might always think that you would have all the time in the world, but trust me, time really flies super fast when it comes to wedding planning. We are glad that we started a year before, which helped us a lot as there are numerous things to do, from selecting the venue, which in this day and age gets booked really quick, to reviewing vendors, picking the color and theme, and so on. The earlier you start your planning process, the better.
Hire a full-time wedding planner. This was the first thing we did as for a couple who works full-time and goes to school, this is a no-brainer and a lifesaver. Having the right wedding planner goes a long way as they handle basically everything from scheduling sync-ups, providing the top vendors, all communication to the vendor, budget, and everything on the wedding day. We believe it was worth every penny to have a wedding planner on board, so unless you have the time to go through everything yourself, having somebody take the load/stress off your plate is the best way to go.
Teamwork is dreamwork. This isn’t only your wedding, a wedding is about 2 people, the bride and groom. Make sure you include your hubby in the whole process; not only does it help you to get things done, but it also gives you quality time together, and you will feel special, plus a lot more love on your big day. I didn’t have to worry about that as my hubby basically takes care of everything along with me. <3
Join us in celebrating the beginning of more adventures, and may love to continue to inspire us all.
styleTraditionalBallroomRomanticseasonSummercolor
DJ: DJ Riz Entertainment
Reception Venue / Photo Booth: Knotting Hill Place