Yashika and Sanvir

How they met:

“Sanvir and I met through some mutual friends. They sent us each others numbers and we started chatting. I was part of Sitaare Dance Academy at the time and was performing at a show with the Zee Stars, I was advertising that we would be selling tickets for the show. The first time he saw me was when he came to fetch the tickets he had bought. The rest is history…”,shares Yashika.

Planning the big day:

“We have been planning our big day since February 2019, just a little over a year of planning to our wedding day on 2nd May 2020.Luckily for Sanvir and I, we had the same vision of the wedding we wanted… A Big Fat Indian Wedding…. cinema style seating, loads of food in plastic plates and cups, surrounded by our family and friends. Yes, you read right, a full cinema wedding! So approximately 1000 guests…. Give or take… random families sitting together witnessing the wedding and bonding over how they know each of us or sitting and having a meal together and not segregated by the “boy’s” and “girl’s” side. It may sound old fashioned but that’s how we witnessed weddings growing up. That’s exactly how we wanted our wedding day. “

A gorgeous portrait of Yashika captured by Prithesh Nathoo Photography.

“Planning the wedding was the most amazing experience. Looking for vendors was the easy part; making sure they were available on the day was the difficult part. I knew of vendors, but I wanted to see if there were any others that could fit our style- plain and simple. “

When it came to planning our wedding, we opted for a stress free experience. The most important aspect of the wedding was us!!!

“We had many ideas, but when it came to choosing what we actually wanted, it was so easy. We knew exactly how we wanted things to look. For us, that was stress-free. We had an entire wedding file, with a specific section for each vendor. This was so simple to keep track of appointments, payments and what needed to be done.”

“With countless obstacles, we planned the most beautiful wedding we could have dreamed of. It came with its challenges. When everyone asked how’s it going, we were so chilled and care free.It was all done months before the actual wedding. We just had to wait for the day to come… “

Unfortunately, Covid hit! And that was the end of wedding planning. We were heartbroken but we had to cancel the wedding. We knew it would happen. We just had to wait for the right time. Having the big fat Indian wedding was not in the books for us at the time.

We decided we cannot put our lives on hold any longer and decided to get registered on the 2nd June 2020. It was such a special day for us.

After all that planning, and nothing happening. This was our happy moment to be Mr and Mrs Singh.

The traditional wedding was so important to Sanvir and I as well as our families. The country opened up, we chose a date, we started planning and called all our vendors and thankfully, they were all available. Everything was going to be super small! Going from the big fat Indian wedding to the small intimate temple wedding was our best decision. We had the most amazing time during our wedding, having the closest friends and family there.

We finally had our wedding day! Our moment, me being a bride and my handsome groom.

But honestly, it was scary !No hugging, no hand shakes, no kissing ,everyone sitting far apart, wearing masks and sanitizing every 5 minutes. It was so difficult not to hug family and friends when they came to congratulate us. It had to be done just that way. We had to do it for the safety of us and our families. Planning a wedding during this time is so difficult, I get that. But the time and money you save is tremendous. We were able to live our lives the way we wanted.

My most precious memories from the wedding has to be when I saw my groom. We both were in tears -it’s finally happening! When we took our seven rounds and seven steps, there was such significance in those vows, the moment he put my sindhoor and mangalsutra on… and in being married!!!

Advice for brides and grooms to be:

I highly suggest any brides and grooms to be to make themselves a priority. Your tastes in certain things matter.This is your wedding. Take everything in as it happens, remember to smile and enjoy every minute of it. Live in that moment.

I will say this over and over again. Covid has taught us that you can have the most amazing wedding, with the least amount of people, save a lot of money and still be the happiest with an intimate wedding.

It’s not the easiest time we currently facing. Lives are being lost and the world is crying.It’s a risk for family and relatives to attend your wedding. So follow all the necessary measures that need to be taken, for them and for yourselves .Be strong, this too shall pass.