Jaime and Teemir
Bride and Groom: Gujarati Hindu and Gujarati Jain
Ceremony: Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
Reception: Sheraton Cerritos
Photography: Randery Imagery

How did you decide on these venues?

• We wanted a winter wedding and therefore an indoor ceremony
• Wanted a non-hotel venue
• I was looking at city halls or community centers and the Performing Arts Center popped up in my search
• No too far from an airport: my husband and his family are from the Bay area so we wanted it to be convenient for them to go to/from the venues

The Cerritos Performing Arts Center is beautiful. There are long windows surrounding the lobby – where the ceremony took place. And even though it was winter it was a beautiful sunny day and the sunlight was coming in.

Those stairs with the glass railing are beautiful as well as the stairs that I walked down for my entry.

The rep there was so knowledgeable about Indian weddings. They knew about the horse, the fire, and the mandap. That was not only helpful but I felt very comfortable.

We tried to do the reception there too but it was a lot of DIY – outside chairs, tables, silverware etc. – so we decided to do it at the Sheraton Cerritos because it is literally right next to the Performing Arts Center and a lot more convenient to have a reception there.

Share a little about how you pictured your wedding.
Everything turned out exactly as I wanted it to. My wedding was the last in my family as one of my siblings got married in 2006 and the other in March of the same year I got married so I didn’t care for it to be a big production. Teemir and I didn’t want to go crazy or stress over it. Every bride is different and has her preferences.

I spent most of the time on the things that were most important to me like the entertainment, food, music and outfits. Things that were lower priorities I spent a little time on but once I found something that fit what I wanted at a price within our budget – I went with it.

Did you shop in India?
Nope, I bought the clothes at our local “Little India” in Cerritos. If anything the clothes were the most stressful part. I recommend asking friends and looking up Yelp reviews to decide where to buy your outfits – especially if you’re going to custom order clothes. Unfortunately, the store I went to messed up our clothes and to make things worse they gave us a hard time about fixing them. I had to pay a lot extra to settle with a completely different outfit from their store since they wouldn’t refund the price I paid. They never even said sorry. My husband had to demand a refund and buy his outfit elsewhere.

What role did your and Teemir’s parents play?
Our parents were really chill about things. They told us certain things they each needed/wanted in the ceremony but other than that they were really relaxed and let us do everything how we wanted.

Do you have any wedding planning advice?
-Know what you want. For instance I prefer doing things myself so I didn’t hire a planner to plan my events, just a day-of planner to make sure things were organized. And I didn’t enlist the help of a lot of family or friends because I wanted them to enjoy the day.
-That said, take it one step at a time.
-Don’t reinvent the wheel. My brother got married earlier in the same year. We liked a lot of their vendors so we used the same ones, since they already knew my family. They gave us a good deal and we referred them to several other family/friends who also ended up using them too.
-Hire vendors who work well with each other. They will already know the flow of things and ends up being beneficial.

How did Teemir propose?
In Napa Valley on my birthday weekend. We planned a weekend with my friends and cousins. He remembered that I had said, at one point, that after I get proposed to, I’d want to be surrounded by my family so he thought it would be the perfect place to propose to me.  He had arranged for everyone to take a tour of the winery and in the middle of it he proposed.

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