possible, as traditional Indian weddings are such colourful affairs, so we went for bouquets that had lots of variety. We wanted them to be as environmentally friendly as possible, so we opted for locallysourced, seasonal blooms. I had a gorgeous trailing bouquet, and the bridesmaids had smaller matching versions. In addition, we had a moonring covered in matching flowers which was the backdrop for our sweetheart table during the wedding breakfast. For the confetti, I went with traditionally Indian colours of yellow and pink from Shropshire Petals.” Their two-tiered cake was provided by Llwy Pren. “We love sweet treats, so we wanted lots of different flavours,” recalls Amrit. “We opted for individual cupcakes in four different flavours, and the main cake was made up of rose and vanilla and chocolate. The decorations were really beautiful, and one of my bridesmaids had made tiny figures of us and our dog, Gelert, as a surprise gift.” “It was really important to us to remember all of the people who couldn’t be at our wedding for various reasons,” adds the bride. “I asked both of our families to supply framed photographs of family members who had passed away or couldn’t be there. We wanted to do this for our parents too as we knew that they would be missing these key figures on our special day. I used some white candles and some of the confetti to give the memory table a special celebratory and memorial look.” Rather than giving their guests food options, the lovebirds wanted to provide their friends and family with an exciting food experience. “We worked closely with our caterers, Cleverchefs, to create an East meets West family-style feast,” says Amrit. “Our guests shared their food and got to know one another, and it was phenomenal.” DRESSED TO IMPRESS “I wore a lehenga, which I purchased in Birmingham,” shares the bride. “I knew I didn’t want a traditional white dress as that’s not what weddings looked like for me growing up. However, I also didn’t want to wear the traditional red. I wanted something fairly simple that would complement my figure and skin tone. I ended up going for the third outfit that I tried on, which was perfect for me. It had beautiful intricate details and was relatively light. I wore it for our wedding in April and during the day in July. However, for the evening I splashed out on a stunning gold-studded outfit, which was much more glamorous – I felt like a Bollywood star in it!” Amrit invested in some beautiful jewellery for the big day. “I found a necklace, earrings and tikka set with peach and green stones which matched the bridesmaids’ outfits,” Amrit explains. “I teamed it with traditional bridal choora, red and white wedding bangles, which are the mark of a new bride. When our wedding got postponed in 2020, I already had my outfit ready and had splashed out on my dream shoes from Harriet Wilde, which I had my eye on from the moment Ash proposed. I wore those for our secret wedding and again for the party in July before changing into more comfortable gold heels for the evening. I also had a custom-made clutch bag from Atiya Choudhury, which matched my shoes. I plan to use the shoes and bag on our wedding anniversaries for the rest of our lives. I finished my look with hair and make-up styled by the talented Janet White-Ashby & Co.” “Ash chose a navy tuxedo with a black lapel, and his groomsmen opted for black tuxedos,” recalls the bride. “He wanted a different kind of suit to his everyday work attire, so a tuxedo felt really special.” The bridesmaids wore lehengas. “Three had green tops with gold embroidery and peach skirts while my maid-of-honour wore a different style,” adds Amrit. “It was lovely to have some variety and to have her stand out, especially as it was her birthday on our July wedding day!” TIME TO CELEBRATE “Music is really important to us, so we curated a playlist of songs that have been central to our time together, which played from after the ceremony until the speeches,” says the bride. “We hired Silver Trailer REAL WEDDINGS 37
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