Introducing “Vows & Rishtas”: A Wedding Planning Blog
Why did I want to start a wedding planning blog, almost 6 months after our wedding? | February 16, 2023 | 6-7 minute read
Photo Credit: Flashing Lights Photography
In September of 2022 my husband, Rohan Virmani, and I celebrated our wedding. It was a 5-day affair, combining Sri Lankan Tamil and Indian Punjabi traditions, as well as both Catholic and Hindu religious wedding ceremonies, into a colorful celebration of love, togetherness, and pure dance-till-you-can’t-feel-your-feet-anymore fun.
While we aimed to give our many guests a truly grand experience, we also worked in our own personal touches at every event and created intimate moments of individuality unlike any other wedding ceremonies either of us had been to before - things that were uniquely #RohLani. We designed the entire wedding creative ourselves and found unique ways to honor our loved ones who couldn’t be with us. From our playlists to our signage to a custom-made game that stumped Rohan before he could enter the mandap - our wedding was a combination of both ‘high-end and homemade’.
And we did all this on what we considered a very reasonable budget for a large, Toronto based, South Asian wedding, and within a comparatively tight, 9-month schedule - all thanks to our wonderfully supportive & excited parents & families, an awesome bridal party, talented vendors that we chose with great care, our own brand of quirky creativity and an innumerable number of Google Sheets (actually I am still totalling the exact number of sheets, upon request of my bridesmaids).
Photo Credit: Flashing Lights Photography
#RohLani2022
5 days (+ pre-events)
All over the GTA
Catholic & Hindu ceremonies
Punjabi & Tamil traditions
One love
Cut to today - when we have been married for almost 6 months already! Time flies when you’re having fun being married to your best bud and divvying up closet space. All the while I have meaning to start recounting the adventures of planning our big, desi wedding.
Truthfully, I wanted to start writing about how we pulled off our wedding plans within the budget and the timeframe we did a while ago for a few reasons. I knew what we planned was somewhat of a rare feat (as many people keep telling us) and over the last few months I have had quite a few people, who are now in the midst of planning their own weddings, seek out advice upon attending our events and experiencing all the unique signature touches we worked in for the enjoyment of our guests. After intensively planning our wedding for most of last year we have much knowledge we are happy to share with other brides and grooms to be!
Furthermore, we worked with outstanding South Asian vendors throughout the GTA (greater Toronto area), many of whom we are proud to now call friends, and thought it was worth recounting our experiences of working with them. They deserve more praise than a few Instagram tags, and Rohan and I think the careful decision-making processes we used to assemble our dream team could be valuable to someone else who is searching for the right vendors too.
Also I feel like sharing my experiences with some of the more emotional parts of bridal preparation, some of which many other women go through - like self-confidence issues while wedding outfit shopping (in my case, as an exceptionally tall woman that frustrates many South Asian retailers) to planning for our big day knowing my Appa (who passed away in 2018) wouldn’t be there to walk me down the aisle(s). Perhaps my personal preparation can be of help to someone else who is getting themselves ready too.
And on top of everything - I thought a wedding planning blog would also be a fun, unique way of sharing the treasure trove of wedding photos and video content from our celebrations with our family and friends. We are excited to receive the rest of our official photos from our fantastic photographer, Romi of Flashing Lights Photography, which will be proudly displayed throughout this blog - providing the vibrant visuals to my mind-voice narration.
Plus - what better way is there to relive one of the happiest times of your life than revisiting all the detailed excel sheets you kept along the way? I don’t know any other way to celebrate.
So here we go… Introducing - “Vows and Rishtas” - named in honor of the Virmani (V) and Rabindran (R) families becoming one when Rohan and I exchanged our sacred marriage vows (twice) and we celebrated together - strengthening many existing relationships (rishtas (rishton if you’re formal)) and forging new ones along the way that we are extremely grateful for.
So stay tuned - I look forward to taking you behind the scenes of how we planned #RohLani2022 and I hope this blog helps someone make their own wedding day(s) dreams come true with a bit more ease and joy along the way.
