Neel & Nupur Mumbai : When Neel ‘Patta’oed’ Nupur!

Drunken revelries have their own charm, right? We agree! And one such drinking escapade led work colleagues Nupur and Neel talking on how they could never find like-minded people, people who they’d like to spend their time with! Post this meeting, they happened to meet again in the same week for dinner and ended up talking for six hours – a turning point in their relationship as just work colleagues. It became a plot twist that made them reconsider their relationship – that they should be more than just workmates! “We just clicked,” says Nupur, the bride. 

In 2017, Nupur was working in Hong Kong. When Neel decided to meet her, he did not make any excuses to his parents. “Neel told his father that he wanted to visit his ‘girlfriend’ and make a decision on whether this was going to be it for him. I was very impressed because he didn’t believe in lying about his Hong Kong visit – I think his not “hiding” me from the parents was the most romantic thing anyone ever did for me!” – Nupur. 

The Proposal

“At the end of his Hong Kong trip, we were just enjoying our last evening together when he popped the question and I said YES. This was later followed by a formal proposal in Mumbai’s Intercontinental hotel’s Dome roof-top where he went down on one knee and put a ring on it. He has photographers sneaking on us. I honestly never knew Neel was the “proposal-type” guy until he actually took me by surprise – I thought it was a casual wine and dine that he invited me to.”

The Wedding Planning

The wedding planning, the bulk of it was done by the couple. The softer aspects like managing the caterers, pandits, etc. were left to the parents to handle. “ I was super particular about everything. We were clear that we wanted a fun wedding that did not involve standing on a stage for 5 hours.” – Nupur. 

“It was quite hectic, to be frank, and I don’t advise anyone to do it with a stressful work schedule. I had tons of panic moments before the functions began.”  Since the couple did not have a wedding planner, it was really tough to coordinate with all the different vendors. Eventually, they hired an intern from an event management college to help them out in the last month before the big day.  

“I also got a terrible back injury a month before the wedding which made it difficult to take on the last-minute wedding responsibilities.”

The Mehendi, Wedding & Cocktail

The mehendi function was hosted at Nupur’s apartment clubhouse. This was then followed by the wedding and the cocktail cum reception. 

“Our pheras ended at 8 and it was followed by an evening of dance and live music. I removed my heels and danced in my lehenga! It pissed a lot of older women too.  The cocktail reception was a blurry night. We had DJ Abhishek and Percussionists Chickeen Masala who made sure the party went on till 5 am. Neel and I also danced to a Bhojpuri song as part of our performance.” – Nupur.

Best moments from the Wedding

After the cocktail reception, we saw videos of Neel and I dancing to Sapne Mein Milti Hai. We were too smashed to even remember it happened. 

My bua and jijaji did a full naagin and sapera sequence. My bua is probably 65. 

My 4-year old niece thought I didn’t have enough makeup on during my mehendi so came with her plastic makeup kit and started doing her thing on me.  

After my bidaai, Neel and I came back to the venue to join our friends in the dancing. We were supposed to head home.

News from Behind the Scenes

For her makeup, Nupur went ahead with the same MUA and hairstylist who did her hair and makeup for her Roka ceremony in 2017. “I loved Sonali Sagar (MUA) and Vidya Patkar (hair stylist)  work and they understood my taste so I didn’t want to experiment too much!” – Nupur.

Photography Review

“Sahirsh Rizvi and team did a fabulous job at taking pictures and capturing the craziest, most emotional and blurry moments of our wedding functions. Some of my aunts gave her excellent content with their dupatta-on-head dancing.” 

Tips for brides-to-be

1. Do not spend a lot of time picking your outfits – Go with what appeals to you and looks best on you. If you follow what numerous blogs, designers and other brides are endorsing, you will be spoilt for choices and probably end up choosing something that is trendy but not necessarily goes with you. 
2. Always stick to your budget – Weddings are an expensive affair. Plus you wanna be able to spend on other things like your jewellery – something you will wear multiple times and pass on to younger generations.  
3. Always go easy on your hairstyles. You don’t wanna get a headache from all the accessories.
4. Give your parents the freedom to decide things that mean a lot to them – It’s a big day for them too. In my parents case, it was the guest list and food. 
5. Ideally, take a month off from work before the wedding and spend a lot of time with your parents. You will miss living with them.
6. Wear comfortable shoes. I wore shoes under a gown to my mehendi because I wanted to enjoy the evening without cribbing about my feet aching. Trust me nobody can see your footwear under a gown.  

The Dream Team

Photographer – Sahrish Rizvi and team

Bridal wear – Wedding lehenga from Kalki in Mumbai and reception gown from Seema Gujral in Delhi. My shoes were from Jimmy Choo (a gift by the groom. I am obsessed with footwear so he made this happen for me.)

Groomswear – Wedding sherwani and reception tuxedo – both from SS Homme by Sarah and Sandeep. 

Grooms’ saafa was a gift from my father. 

Makeup artist – Sonali Sagar

Wedding planner/decorator – Zest Events and Samani Decorators