A 3-day Indian wedding for approximately 200 guests with plenty of specific hindu wedding traditions, that would be a short summary of this amazing wedding. Henal and Akash wanted to have their wedding in Prague because the future groom to be Akash really liked the city in the past. We have started with planning about 10 months before the wedding and I admit that it was an intensive planning. Especially because we needed to secure many specific Indian traditions and that wasn’t always easy to manage in a European city.
First day was called Mehndi day. It was something like a welcome party with henna painting for women because it is typical to decorate women’s hands or legs like this for the wedding. Several artists were painting the henna during whole evening. The bridal henna was the most detailed and moreover Henal had also painted legs. This evening was held at Obcanska Plovarna restaurant, which was big enough for all the guests and also for the henna painting. It is located just next to the river so everybody could enjoy the outside terrace with the view.
Second day was designed for several pre wedding ceremonies. As these rituals are usually held in a home of bride and groom it took place in the hotel. Morning was for the bridal’s pre wedding ceremonies and the afternoon for the groom’s pre wedding ceremonies. The priest lead many traditions using a lot of herbs, flowers, aromas or even a fire and each of these things had some meaning.
The third day was the most festive day, which was actually the day of the wedding. The wedding ceremony took place at the gardens of Troja Chateau. We have created a stage with a beautiful gazebo with fabrics and flowers for the wedding ceremony. Everything started with Baraat, which is an Indian tradition. All guests from groom side were dancing with music and they were accompanying the groom. The grooms often use an elephant for the transport but we used a vintage car because that is more available in the Czech Republic. The wedding ceremony took about 1,5 hour and after that there was a lunch served inside of Troja Chateau. Afternoon was designed for a break before the wedding reception in the evening. The wedding reception was held in the National House at Vinohrady. There was a cocktail hour first. After that the DJ announced the most important members of bridal and groom’s families followed by the bride and groom. The bridesmaids, the groomsmen and also some members of the bride and groom families prepared special dancing performances. Of course speeches couldn’t be missed out too and the end of the official programme part was the cake cutting. Right after that the party started and buffet was opened.
It was 3 full days and countless hours of planning ahead but it was the most beautiful and the most interesting wedding we have ever planned. Seeing all of the colourful dresses and all of the different traditions was so interesting. And on top of that Henal, Akash and all their guests were so kind and nice.
Venues: Občanská Plovárna Restaurant, Hotel Don Giovanni, Troja Chateau, National House at Vinohrady
Photographer: Dara Rakovčik