Rima & Philip

I’ve always had a love hate relationship with my hair. As I grew up, my straight silky hair paved the path for some super curls. What I remember the most about my curls were how much I hated them, how much I hated being different from everybody else so I went down the path of straightening it but as I grew up I’ve come to realize that what makes us different needs to be embraced. It’s one of the many perks of growing up, you tend to see more laugh lines and wrinkles 😆 but you start to see and comprehend that it’s alright to be different and those who make you feel awful about it are the ones to change and not you .

Why I’ve chosen to talk so much about hair is because today’s bride is someone I fell in love with instantly as I came across her curls ❤️. Her curls were what made me reach out to this beauty and I’m so pumped to be seeing brides of today embracing their curls and letting it do its magic on their big days 💃.

Meet our curly haired stunner, Rima and her handsome dapper boy, Philip. Isn’t Philip such a royal name? It always reminds me of the Duke of Edinburgh and makes me want to do a curtsy 😋. This is a safety announcement to all Philips out there – If you see me doing a curtsy aimed at you, please know I’m clearly not trying to headbutt you, it’s just me being me 🤭.

For their orapikals, our beautiful kept it effortless and graceful in a pastel pink salwar suit with intricate cut work on the bodice and hem line.

When it comes to adding jewellery to your attire, it is really important that you chose the right one. If you ask me, a pair of statement earrings is all that you need to put on when it comes to bringing out the sparkle to your simple outfit. A piece of striking statement jewellery can instantly beautify your entire look and that is exactly what our belle did here with these exquisite earrings and simple diamond bracelet from TBZ, Kochi. Special brownie points for the bride choosing to go bare on the neck, allowing the simplicity of the ensemble to shine through ❤️.

To match his bride-to-be in pink, Philip chose to classic and suave in a fitted button down white shirt and grey tailored pants. There’s something so polished about Philip’s look and I love how both their outfits complete the other.

Now y’all know that I love well thought out brides. There’s nothing that fills my heart more than seeing the bride/bride-to-be steal the limelight 😍. But there’s always a special leeway for the sibling and mother of the bride to share in that limelight 🔥.

Rima’s beautiful mom and sibling were quite the stunners themselves in these exquisite ensembles. While her mom glowed in this elegant powder blue sequin worked sari from Hari Anand, her sister stole the show in a one of kind olive rust green sari paired with an exquisite sweetheart neckline blouse designed by the talented Pallavi Namdev herself. On a side note, don’t you think our stunner’s mother could pass of as her sister 😍? We sure need to bottle up this gorgeous family’s genes 😄!

I’ve spoken timelessly about the significance of red in Indian functions. It’s also easy to see why women are drawn towards this spectacular color. For her engagement, our belle took a page from this book and went with this unique earthy dusky shade of red which was done on suggestion by the very talented Pallavi Namdev. The highlight of this ensemble truly is the beautiful hand worked French Knots and zardosi that you see on the border.

While there is never going to be a piece of clothing as special as your engagement and wedding attires, yet so many of us let our outfits sit in the back of the closet. A simple way out of this is getting your outfits customized keeping in mind the desire to reuse them again. Wanting to reuse her sari was something Rima was very particular on so she asked the sari work to be kept not too ultra heavy. Pallavi Namdev sure delivered on that keeping it engagement ready  and yet ‘I can wear it again elsewhere fancy’. Quite the win win indeed 👍.

When you have such a gorgeous ensemble to adorn, choosing the right jewellery can be quite tricky. But these stunning baubles our belle chose from Sangeetha Jewellery, Kochi sure had me weak at the knees. Look at how beautifully they draw one’s attention in without taking the limelight away from her stunning ensemble.

On par with our stunner was Philip in a gorgeous deep blue Jodhpuri suit custom made from Kachins Couture, Dubai. Today there’s a lot of information available on the internet regarding outfit colors for the bride and groom. While some go with matching outfit colors others choose to contrast and if you’re choosing the latter route, you may want to put a bit of thought into it. If you’re a groom-to-be wearing a contrasting shade with your belle, you can incorporate a lil bit of your bride-to-be’s color into the detail of your outfit. You can do what Philip chose to do by keeping his pocket square a shade of red and I love the attention to detail.

Now when it comes to décor, vintage is one of my favorite themes. It is classic,  elegant and timeless and is one that’ll never go out of style. Whether it’s a touch of old school lanterns, old school play of ferns, these lovely details truly add to the special-ness of your big day. Making Rima’s love for vintage come true were the talented Dream Florists & Decorators, Thrissur who’ve done a fabulous job making their special day more special.

Keeping in mind their vintage theme, adding beauty to their big day was this beautiful custom made ring box by the crafty folks at Bouquet Tree, Kochi.

 There’s so many elements about today’s couple that I love. I love a bride with a vision and clarity always shows up. Indubitably, one of the most appealing part of the entire wedding preparation process for any bride-to-be is finding the perfect wedding ensemble. Although, I will admit that the process of finding and choosing the perfect outfit is not always fun and easy as it might seem(I blame this on movies 🙄). If you’re not mindful, you run the risk of making an exorbitant mistake. But by keeping a vision and intention in mind, the process gets easier.

For her wedding, Rima knew exactly what she wanted. Always having a love for chikankari sarees, this besottedness for this lovely fabric, manifested into her gorgeous wedding sari custom made by Hari Anand, Kochi.  All she had to do was mention her love for chikankari and it was majestically incorporated into her special day by this talented designer. A huge shout out to every fashion designer out there making the dreams of brides come true 👏.

Now when it comes to the question ‘do brides have to wear a wedding veil ?’ the short answer is “no”. If wearing a wedding veil, isn’t something you like then you shouldn’t but if you’re someone whose on the bandwagon of people who love it like I do, Rima serves the right amount of inspiration your way 😍 by multi using her gorgeous sari as a veil.  Well thought brides need to be revered, I tell you 😉. All hail our belle 🙌.

On your special day, you should sparkle in every way possible. And nothing says sparkle more than diamonds 💎. Today there are so many choices  to  add a bit of sparkle to your D Day. Adding subtlety to Rima’s vision in white look was this beautiful intricate one layered diamond necklace and earrings with a lil sparkle of green from Kirtilal Diamonds, Kochi.

Often it can be easy to go a little overboard with jewellery and accessories and why not ? After all, there are so many gorgeous pieces to wear that its no surprise if you want to drape yourselves in them all. However sometimes “ less is more” when it comes to jewellery so try picking out a few exquisite pieces and your good to go. Keeping in mind not to draw attention away from her exquisite sari, she chose to accessories mindfully by choosing these beautiful intricate diamond bracelets custom made from Kirtilal Diamonds, Kochi.

While his princess sparkled away, our Duke(couldn’t resist 😄) was quite the dapper boy himself.  Stepping out in true Achayan form, Philip chose to go the traditional route by adorning a golden silk jubba and the traditional mundu along with the mel mundu on his shoulders.  And what a striking pair, these two make 😍.

While our couple clearly won me over, there’s another duo that really took my breath away as well. Remember our beautiful’s gorgeous mother and sister with exquisite taste? Well, if you thought nothing could top their orapikals ensembles, then time to hold your breath. Stealing my heart and taking everyone’s breath away was Rima’s beautiful mother in an elegant sky blue kancheepuram sari from Seemati, Kochi. Clearly, good taste runs in this gorgeous family ❤️. Rini stole my heart as well in this stunning silver foiled organza sari custom made from Hari Anand, Kochi. Clearly, this stunning trio’s fashion taste is one to be reckoned with 😍.

For their décor, our dashing couple chose to go the elegant and subtle route. Now nobody does subtle elegance better than Parnashala, Kottayam. If there’s one word to sum up the talented folks at this décor team, it for sure is subtlety and traditional. Lets make it two words, shall we 😇?

In the midst of all this beauty, what really caught my eye was this beautiful cake done so tastefully (PUN INTENDED😄) by Rj Cakes, Kochi. Special mention to how aesthetically the décor around this gorgeous creation looks. So many details and so much beauty ❤️.

And not to forget, their beautiful big days were captured by the talented folks at Magic Motion Media, Kochi.

 Putting together a wedding honestly is a work of art. Everybody goes through a different process and routine to reach the culmination of their envisioned big day. Just like how every wedding story is different, so are their love stories 😊. Fellow readers of Epo Kalyanam, time for my absolute favorite COUPLE FACT ❤️.

Something that always stands out to me when I hear arranged marriage is the taboo surrounding it.  And I know why for I’ve been there and I still have my qualms about it despite going down the same route myself. But what I’ve come to realize is there is no such thing as the “right” kind of marriage. All relationships take hard work and mutual respect to work out and it doesn’t matter if you go down the “old school route” or “following your heart route”. After all, love takes all kinds of shapes and form.

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True to this, our couple decided to give each other a shot and got along like fire on their first meeting. Remember when it comes to choosing a partner, there always needs to be a meld of chemistry and friendship. After all, it is rightfully said for a reason “marriage is the intersection of love and friendship” and it couldn’t be any further from the truth.

Let’s wish our stunning duo, many more years of love and friendship, shall we 😘?!

And as always, if you have any questions for me regarding this post or otherwise, you know what to do 😄. Don’t forget to show us some love on our Instagram handle @epokalyanam and Facebook page @epokalyanam.theblog. And please feel free to drop me in a message if you love what you read and see. I always love hearing from you all. Psst, by doing so you’ll be absolutely making my day 😍.

❤️,

Elza