{About Bina and Neel}

Bina and Neel have known each other pretty much all of their lives. Their families are friends, though they themselves were not in touch with each other. Through some family events they reconnected and their friendship blossomed into a budding romance! We sat down with Bina to hear all about her beautiful summer wedding at the Marriott Newport Beach Hotel & Spa.

Inside:

Details: venue, clothes, decor and more.
ProTips throughout the article: tips from couples who have gone through the wedding planning process.
Wedding professionals list: a list of all the companies involved in their wedding.

{Selecting the Venue}

We looked at several venues. We wanted an outdoor wedding, in Orange County, close to the beach. I had been to the Marriott Newport Beach Hotel & Spa a few years prior to our wedding, but not recently. And I had forgotten how beautiful it is. We scheduled appointments at several venues on one Saturday. The Marriott was our second stop; Neel and I fell so in love with it that we cancelled the rest of the appointments!

There were several other venues that met our criteria too, but some of the finer points that we liked about the Marriott Newport Beach were:

{More Venue Details}

The Rose Garden venue where we got married. We actually really liked both of their ceremony venues – the Sea View Terrace as well as the Rose Garden. It was hard to decide between them. The Rose Garden just felt right to us.
Cocktail hour was in the Atrium Court – it was a beautiful summer evening and a sophisticated space for our guests to enjoy.
Our reception was in the Grand Pacific ballroom. The Atrium Court has a stairway leads right to the ballroom’s foyer so it was easy and convenient for our guests to get to.
It felt like each event was in a unique venue, even though we were at the Marriott the entire time.

{Our Experience With the Marriott Newport Beach Hotel & Spa}

We had a very positive experience. Shanti was our initial point of contact and she was friendly, flexible and responsive to us. I’d definitely recommend this venue to anyone who’s interested – their staff really understands Indian weddings and they understand that it’s not just the bride and groom but the whole family that’s involved.

Learn more about Marriott Newport Beach Hotel & Spa on ShaadiShop.

{Our Clothes}

We did all of our shopping in India. I got my outfits from Bombay and Neel’s clothes in Ahmedabad, I found that there was a larger selection of men’s clothes there.

Ceremony Lehenga: When we arrived in India, I knew what I didn’t want more than what I actually did want. I was looking for an unconventional bridal look – with an emphasis on white and light pink/rani. I went to India with an open mind but we went in February so a lot of styles and inventory were pretty minimal as peak season (December/January) had passed.

I also focused on buying outfits that I could wear again. Believe it or not, trying to find two outfits that met all my requirements was difficult.

But, a great thing about shopping in India is the ability to customize clothes and make changes/additions. I had the tailors customize my outfits and I bought borders and beads from India and customized Neel’s dupatta and saffo to match my outfits.

Neel’s Sherwani: Neel was really open to me selecting his clothes. Before I went to India he showed me things that he liked/didn’t like. There are so many styles for men that selecting men’s clothes can be time consuming too!

Reception Gown: I wanted to wear white or red. I found a white gown that I liked and, again, since I was in India, they were able to make alterations and changes to make it more ‘me’.

ProTip: Peak season for wedding shopping is December/January. The best inventory will be at the stores at that time.
ProTip: You might not be able to bring back all of the clothes with you due to time and space constraints.

{Mehndi+Hair+Makeup}

I got my hair, makeup, and draping done by Lulu from Dolled Up By Lulu. I’ve known her for a long time and she’s done several of my friends’ weddings so I didn’t really think about working with anyone else. My mehndi was done by Lishma from Beauty by Lishma.

Mehndi – I didn’t have a particular style that I wanted.
Ceremony Hair – pinned updo.
Reception Hair – down and light curls. I wanted a long flowy look to match my reception gown.
Makeup – I had certain looks in mind that I found by researching online. My looks weren’t too different for the wedding and reception because we didn’t have the time to completely change everything.

{Decor}

The ceremony decor colors were white with blush colors i.e. cream, light pinks and oranges. Since we wore white I thought these light colors would contrast elegantly.

Since the gazebo in the Rose Garden, at the Marriott, is already so beautiful and has white pillars, we didn’t need a lot of additional decor. And we liked that simple but chic look. I really wanted to have a chandelier hanging in the gazebo which became a beautiful focal point.

Our reception colors were black, gold, and red.

{Traditions}

Neel and I are both Gujarati and Hindu our family’s traditions were similar, so figuring out the ceremony details was really easy and seamless.

{Vidai}

{Cake + Dessert}

As a semi-professional baker, I was pretty particular about the cake. I wanted a damask style cake with a couple different flavors. Beverly’s Best was one of the few bakeries that could accommodate what I wanted – a black, gold, and red cake. Black is not commonly used. The cake flavors were birthday cake flavor with raspberry mousse and chocolate ganache.

{Unique Touches}

We added some detailed touches to our wedding that really enhanced the decor and experience for our guests.

We got a cotton candy machine which everyone, especially the children, loved! The photo booth isn’t a new idea but it never gets old either! Neel, and our guests and I had a blast taking photos and we love looking at all the photos people took.

Lastly, since black and gold were part of our color theme for the reception, our DJ got us a black and gold checkered dance floor.

gold frames for the escort cards
my white and gold damask mint boxes on the reception tables
personalized lollipops at my mehndi
personalized match boxes we had out during our cocktail hour

I really liked the idea of cute details for anything that added a little pizazz. I created personalized kettle corn bags as well as personalized M&M’s displayed at our mehndi.

Myweddingstore.com was a great place to find favors for the wedding as well as the bachelor/bachelorette parties, bridesmaid/groomsmen presents and bridal shower favors.