If you're a big Bollywood fan and are planning to get married soon, then you ought to incorporate some Hindi film masala into the biggest event of your life- your wedding. From playing Raj Malhotra at the sagai to being Geet Dhillon at the roka, the new- age brides and grooms are leaving no stone unturned at making their wedding the best memory ever. And, to help you realise your dream of that ultimate Bollywood wedding, we have former TV actress-turned-wedding planner Pooja Ghai listing 5 ways to plan the perfect Bollywood wedding.
Pooja, who left her lucrative acting career to be the MD of Tranquiil Weddings- now a wedding planning giant, has handled the weddings of The Biyanis, The Dhoots, Wadhawans and feels there's a little bit of Bollywood in every wedding. But, she swears by some must-follow mantras for such weddings, here's a look at them!
1. Send pre-invites As per Pooja, Bollywood type weddings are ideal for the high-heeled and big fat wedding aspirants since they involve a lot of expenditure, courtesy the fashionable and chic details which need to be kept in mind. Because you'll be having a big wedding, it's best to create some noise before the same and what better way of doing it than sending pre-invites, as they go a long way in preparing guests for the kind of wedding you have thought of. Pre-invites can have a filmy style of asking guests to block their dates. For instance, a Hum Tum kind of introduction on how the couple met, in a lyrical manner.
2. Weave a theme One can organize a thematic function for every occasion - a 50s and 60s themed song and dance for the Mehendi; 70s and 80s costume do with retro music for the Sangeet. A Cocktail evening with belly dancing - throw in a couple of firang babes and western music, and you're done! Serve fun fusion cocktails and mocktails like Paan Mojito etc.
3. A grand feast Food plays the most important role as far as the Indian wedding guests are concerned and these days, people expect it to be both traditional and exotic. To make the food a little filmy, ask the bride's close family members to feed the groom's immediate family members by literally stuffing their mouth with mithais. (Believe it or not, this is the usual practice among Marwaris and these days it's getting extended to other communities as well because of the high drama and associated with the practice.
4. A golden Mehendi Arrange for mehendi songs from all the old films you can think of. Ask old aunties from both the sides to open the Pandora 's Box of tales and narrate love stories and naughty anecdotes of their times like Zohra Sehgal did in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Fun activities like impromptu dancing competitions to hiding the groom's shoes much before the wedding, making him sit on hidden poppadoms as showcased in Bollywood epic drama Hum Aapke Hain Koun can become the life of the pre-wedding days. 5. Bollywood sangeet Engage dancers from well-known academies like Shiamak Davar's or another famous name and hire a good choreographer to perform in-between your family members' acts a la Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. If it's a poolside function, arrange for some dummyfake (paid artists) guests and push them into the pool to add to the excitement.
6. Don't have a tear jerking bidaai Don't let your Bidaai be a dampening affair by allowing the cliche 'babul ki duwayien' kind songs to play in the background. Instead, go for fun Bollywood songs to play at the end of the grand affair. Don't forget to hang a 'Just Married' placard in the front of your car like 60s Bollywood classics!
7. Or, opt for a destination wedding You can also choose a romantic destination like Bali, Maldives, Mauritius to go for the perfect sunset wedding on the beach, even Goa isn't a bad idea for the at matter. Once can invite real film artists (higher the budget, the more famous guests can be on your list), musicians, singers for sangeet. Sky is the limit if you have the moolah and inclination to splurge. Have a happy wedding!
Source: Times of India
BDST: 1629 HRS, OCT- 11, 2015
Edited by: Sharmina Islam, Lifestyle Editor
