South Asian Weddings – Polished Makeup & Hair

The Timeline for My 3-day Fusion Wedding in Mexico

Team Polished — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:27:00 +0000

My husband and I knew we wanted to incorporate both religions into our wedding but we weren’t sure how.

Would we have the Hindu ceremony in the morning and the Christian one at night? What about having them on separate days or back to back? It could go so many ways.

Here’s what we decided to do for all of our wedding events.

Day 1

Sunday May 14 - Ganesh Puja & Haldi in Houston

We had this event in our home town, Houston. It just seemed like the best option for us. I was worried about staining different areas of the resort from the Haldi.

This was also the perfect opportunity to celebrate with those who could not join us in Mexico.

Day 2

Friday May 19 - Welcome party in Mexico from 6pm - 7pm

Just a 1 hour event with Hors D’oeuvres & drinks, welcoming everyone who has joined us in Mexico for our wedding.

A word of advice, try to schedule your photographer to take photos with your guests towards the end of the event.

Since this event was just 1 hour, us taking photos with everyone pretty much took up our entire event. We didn’t get to eat or just socialize with everyone like we planned. But on the bright side, we got that all out of the way so we didn’t have to take individual photos with everyone at our next event.

Day 3

Saturday May 20 - Mehndi & Mariachi from 5pm - 9pm

We wanted to do something a little different than your usual Sangheet. My hubby and I aren’t dancers so we were determined to do something out of the ordinary.

Our Mehndi & Mariachi event was born!

Here’s what we did at this super fun event:

– Guests could get a henna design
– Play games like loteria, poker, roulette, darts, table games
– Live music and Mariachi
– Food and drinks
– Win prizes at the end of the night

Day 4

Sunday May 21 - Barat, Wedding Ceremonies & Reception

Here is our wedding day timeline:

10:30am – Start bridal hair and makeup
2:30pm – 1st look with bride and groom in traditional Indian attire
3:00pm – 3:30pm – Barat
3:300m – 3:45pm – Take a break, grab a drink and your seat
3:45pm – 5:30pm – Hindu Wedding Ceremony
5:30pm – 6:30pm – Photos with the bride & groom
6:30pm – Cocktail hour & Lite bites for guests – this is when we changed into our Christian ceremony outfits and I changed my hair and makeup (guest outfit change is optional)
7:15pm – First look with the bride and groom in Christian ceremony outfits
7:30pm- 8:00pm – Christian Ceremony
8:00pm – Reception & dinner begins
8:00pm – Bride and groom private vows and photos
8:20pm – Couples entrance
10:30pm – Fireworks
11:00pm – Exit

Our Wedding Vendors

Bahia Mita Resort took care of the majority of our wedding from the planning, food, decor including most flowers, guest accommodations, photography and videography.

Ximena was our wedding coordinator at Bahia Mita

Cecilia was our photographer with Adventure Photos.

Vagablonde Travel took care of our travel details and room bookings for our 88 guests.

Floreria Bloom made and delivered our Varmala’s and center pieces.

Lemon’s and Mehdni took care of my bridal Mehndi on my hands and guests and my bridal hair and makeup for all 3 events.

Polished Makeup & Hair took care of family members hair and makeup.

Paisley’s and Swirls did my henna on my feet in Houston.

Dresses:

Orange Lehenga, Blue Lehenga is from Pahlki Fashion

Red Bridal Lehenga & Jewelry is from Roop Sari

White Wedding Dress is from Marry Go Round

10 Things I learned from my Fusion Hindu – Christian Destination Wedding

Team Polished — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 03:27:00 +0000

Are you in the process of planning your destination wedding? Is your wedding a fusion of cultures? Mine was! I learned so much from my 3-day Indian wedding, I have to tell my fellow brides in planning!

Here are my 10 tips to keep in mind when planning your destination wedding.

At a glance:

Choose your outdoor ceremony time wisely
Have an unplugged ceremony
Fake flowers vs real flowers
Hire vendors you trust
Make a photo list
Schedule private time
It’s all about what the couple wants
Don’t stress about the small stuff
Divorced parents
Getting the bill

1. Choose your outdoor ceremony time wisely

I really wanted to soak up all the beautiful sun and lush jungle around us, so I wanted to have as much of the wedding festivities in the sun as possible. But wow did that come at a cost.

We started our wedding day events with The Barat at 2pm, and wow was it HOT!

I knew it would be hot but I didn’t think it would be that hot! It seemed alright in the shade but unfortunately there weren’t many shaded areas where my hubby has his Barat.

Then we moved to the garden where we melted in the sun under our mandap. Our guests were melting.

That was rough, especially draped in all of of our heavy traditional Indian Bridal attire.

Luckily, we were in a garden area that had a little shade move in after some time. Our guests could move into the shade and have some ice cold water, watermelon and strawberry infused waters, it was delicious. Our wedding coordinator also brought a few umbrellas to the mandap to give us shade.

Thinking back, I think it would have been great to give our guests some kind of cold treat during our Hindu ceremony to cool them off.

Thank goodness for the team of people at our resort, they made it a truly seamless and beautiful experience.

2. Have an unplugged ceremony

We had an unplugged ceremony because we didn’t want everyone with their phones out in our photographer’s photos.

I recommend having a designated friend or family member to hold your phone (or use their phone) to sneak some photos and videos during the ceremony. You’ll be so happy you did!!

3. Fake Flowers vs Real Flowers

You wouldn’t be able to tell by just glancing at the photos, but most of our flowers were fake!

This was a recommendation from our wedding planner and florist.

The Bougainvillea flowers we wanted were super fragile and would quickly wilt in the summer heat.

So we went with fake flowers for the mandap, photo area and bride and groom table.

We used real flowers for the centerpieces, our Varmalas and bouquets.

4. Hire vendors you trust

Hire vendors that you trust and vibe with. I cannot tell you how important this is. Our 90 person destination wedding was a seamless dream all thanks to our amazing wedding vendors.

Our wedding planner and coordinator was provided by the resort and did an outstanding job. From the planning process to the actual events, it was all a wonderful experience.

We got to indulge in it all.

Picture this: Its your wedding day and your getting ready in a beautiful tropical paradise. When your ready, all you have to do is leave your bridal suite, walk down to your wedding event space and enjoy every moment with your closest friends and family. That’s what it was like and we couldn’t have done that without our coordinator guiding every thing for us.

The other most important vendor we hired was our travel agent, Vagablonde Travel. Let me say, my head probably would have exploded if I didn’t have Jen and Josh taking care of our guests travel details.

Vagablonde created a web page for our guests where they could choose their room and book their stay at the resort where our wedding was. They kept in contact with each guest to make sure they had their airfare booked, transportation to and from the airport, passport details and anything else they needed in regards to their travels. Did I mention we had a total of 90 people traveling for our wedding in Mexico?!

They didn’t stop there, Vagablonde also has an app that all of our guests can download that will keep them updated on their flight and transportation details, and a schedule of all 3 days of our wedding events. All these details right at the tip of our guests fingers, what a fantastic system! This made sure our guests were lounging around on the beach when they are supposed to be at an event and it kept everyone from asking us a million questions.

Thank you Vagablonde!

5. Make a List for Group Photos

Our Hindu ceremony, Christian ceremony and reception all had to happen simultaneously. Everything outside had to end at 11pm to respect the other guests in the resort. That meant we had to stay on schedule because the sun was going down.

One things I heard from my sister in law was that photos look quit a long time and cut into the reception so we wanted to make sure we were efficient in getting out photos with our guests.

Give your friend or MC and photographer a list of groups for photos and have them call out the names to keep the timeline moving.

This worked super smoothly with our 88 guests.

We also met with our photographer and planner before the events started so we could give them a list of the photos we wanted, like a group photo at each event, candid photos, getting ready photos, first look photos etc.

6. Schedule in private time for the couple

A piece of advise a lot of our married friends and family told us was to make sure we schedule in private time for the couple.

We scheduled in 3 private times on the wedding day.

1. 1st look before our Hindu ceremony

2. 2nd look before our Christian ceremony

3. Our private vows before going to our reception

My husband and I both have talked about how special those moments were to us, because outside of that we were surrounded by our loved ones at all times of the wedding day.

7. It's all about what the couple wants

Do what you want, and I really mean that. For example, we did 2 religious ceremonies back to back, 3 first looks after each outfit change on our wedding day, did our vows privately, we didn’t cut the cake and we had no bridal party. It was awesome.

Call us crazy but we wouldn’t change a thing.

8. Don't stress about the small stuff

Don’t stress about the small things like a wedding Playlist

I stressed about the music list for each event because we didn’t want to play things like YMCA, Cupid Shuffle and other songs like that. We have a different style, plus we had 3 events we needed songs for so we needed a lot.

We created the playlist in a short amount of time, having it ready like a day or 2 before the wedding. And then? The DJ didn’t even play our playlist!! He played very similar songs in the same genre but looking back I remember there are specific songs he didn’t play.

Moral of the story, I wouldn’t have stressed about it had I known he just wanted to know our vibe and didn’t necessarily want an exact playlist to play at each event.

9. Divorced Parents

A big stresser for me was thinking about who would walk me down the aisle, my dad or step dad? I imagine there are a lot of people that deal with anxiety related to this in some kind of way and sheesh, it sucks.

You love them both and don’t want to hurt any feelings or make anyone feel left out. I get it. But just do what makes you happy.

I had one walk me down the aisle for the Hindu ceremony and the other walk me down the aisle for the Christian ceremony. Worked out great!

10. Getting the bill from the resort

If your having your wedding at a resort, be prepared to wait for the decor bill until a week or 2 before the actual wedding.

I will give you some information I would have found super helpful when planning my destination wedding at a resort when it comes to the bill.

Its not always going to be cheaper than the US
Be prepared to wait until a week or 2 before your wedding to get a close estimate for the decor, flowers and set up details you set up with your planner. I asked for the quotes at least 2 months before the wedding but we didn’t get them until about 2 weeks before our wedding. That was pretty stressful. This happened to us and a another couple we know that had an Indian wedding in Mexico.

Our Wedding Vendors

Bahia Mita Resort took care of the majority of our wedding from the planning, food, decor including most flowers, guest accommodations, photography and videography.

Ximena was our wedding coordinator at Bahia Mita

Cecilia was our photographer with Adventure Photos.

Vagablonde Travel took care of our travel details and room bookings for our 88 guests.

Floreria Bloom made and delivered our Varmala’s and center pieces.

Lemon’s and Mehdni took care of my bridal Mehndi on my hands and guests and my bridal hair and makeup for all 3 events.

Polished Makeup & Hair took care of family members hair and makeup.

Paisley’s and Swirls did my henna on my feet in Houston.

Dresses:

Orange Lehenga, Blue Lehenga is from Pahlki Fashion

Red Bridal Lehenga & Jewelry is from Roop Sari

White Wedding Dress is from Marry Go Round

Packing tips for a large Destination Wedding

Team Polished — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:07:00 +0000

Calling all adventurous lovebirds planning their dream destination wedding!

Having experienced the magic of a three-day Indian wedding, I’m bursting with excitement to share my top tips for packing and preparing for your own multi-day extravaganza.

I’m usually a light packer when I go to Mexico, usually a backpack and carry on and that’s it. Even when I travel for destination makeup appointments, I usually take the same amount of luggage, but that wasn’t going to happen for my 3-day wedding!

I was able to pack all of my large wedding outfits (4 dresses + hubby’s outfits) and take them as a carry on, here’s how I did it.

Packing Multiple Wedding Dresses

I not only had to pack 1 wedding dress, I had to pack 3 Bridal Lehenga’s that were pretty heavy plus my white ballgown wedding dress.

I took them all as a carry on. There was no way I was having any of my dresses thrown around under the airplane!

How did I do it?

1. Vacuum seal bags
2. Garment bags
3. Buy an extra one way seat for your dress

Vacuum Seal Bags

These were amazing and I don’t know if I could have done it without these babies. I bought a few of the Hefty Vacuum Seal bags for my dresses, size large was perfect – XL was way too big – and a few medium sizes for my everyday clothes.

I put each outfit in her own vacuum seal bag, I tried to put the shoes and jewelry in the bag too, but that wasn’t working. So instead. I put the shoes and jewelry in my backpack with my makeup, toiletries and a medium size vacuum seal bag with every day clothes. I realize I could have put my everyday clothes in a checked bag, but its always a fear that something will go missing or not arrive, so I carry as much as I can with me!

I only had 1 pair of short heels and the rest were sandals. My shoes weren’t going to show since my Lehenga’s covered my feet, plus everything was in grass, so why be uncomfortable in heels?

Garment Bags

Garment bags were also super important.

1 Garment bag held 2 of my vacuum sealed bridal lehengas.
2nd Garment bag held my 2 ceremony dresses (also vacuum sealed).
the 3rd Garment bag held all of my hubby’s wedding outfits

So, here’s what that means:

My carry on will cover 1 garment bag and then my extra plane seat for my dress will hold the 2nd garment bag.

Worked like a charm!

I was even able to carry a personal item, which allowed me to also take a backpack with other important items like my bridal jewelry, makeup and shoes.

Hubby’s outfits weren’t nearly as large as mine, they all laid nice and flat in 1 hanging garment back. So all in, we had 3 garment bags for our wedding outfits plus hubby’s suitcase and my backpack each for our daily clothes and other things like shoes, toiletries, jewelry, bathing suits etc.

Buy an additional seat for your dress

We flew South West, so I know for a fact they allow you to purchase an extra plane ticket for your wedding dress. I will say, initially they told me no on the phone but after speaking for a little while longer it turns out that they do allow it!

I did have to purchase that extra plane ticket over the phone so they could notate my account. If I would have tried to purchase it myself online or through the app, South West wouldn’t have known that was for my dress. They would have cancelled it due to thinking it was an accidental double booking. Its super important to do that over the phone. I bought that extra ticket a few months before our wedding.

I called Southwest about a month before my to confirm my extra dress ticket and they confirmed it was under my account.

I don’t know if South West over booked and sold our seat but when we got to the check in counter, I had a emailed receipt but he couldn’t find it in his system. I’m not sure what happened but after about 20 minutes the clerk was able to get us a ticket for that additional seat. When we got on the plane, it was a full flight and there was not a literal seat to put my dress in. I did have to fold it up and place it with the carry on luggage above, which was no big deal for me.

Honestly, starting off our wedding festivities with the check in clerk not having confirmation of our extra seat was a stressful start to the day but we made it through and all of our luggage made it!

A bunch of other stuff we needed to bring

Our guest count was about 90 for our Mexico wedding and most of them were staying at least 3-4 days so we wanted to bring some useful items for everyone. We brought things like sunscreen, mints, dry snacks, liquid IV, makeup wipes, safety pins, nail files, moisturizer, pain killers and put it all in a cute welcome bag (check out the blog on our destination wedding welcome bags).

We also designed some flyers for each day so everyone knew the details of each day and explanations of each ceremony.

My hubby and I didn’t want to do a traditional Sangeet, we wanted to do something different! And it was the best time ever!

We called it Mehndi & Mariachi.

We had 2 henna artists doing designs on our guests, lawn games, table games, poker, fake money with our names on it, loteria, darts, food and of course music, think of it like a garden party – all over looking the ocean. 10 people with the highest amount of our fake money won prizes!

With all that being said, that meant we had a ton of stuff to take with us to Mexico. Our first thought was to ship everything, but it turns out that checking multiple bags at the airport was going to be much cheaper!

My in-laws had a few old – like 20 years old – suite cases they didn’t use anymore so we filled those up with the welcome bag items and then we purchased a few rolling duffle bags from Walmart for the games.

On our way back, we only had to bring half the amount of bags back since we gave out all the welcome bag goodies. We also gave some stuff for our family members to bring back in their bags making flying home much easier than getting their.

The airline attendant at the ticket desk asked if we were moving when we were heading to Mexico

That’s all my packing tips for you!

I hope these make packing for your destination wedding much easier!

Our Wedding Vendors

Bahia Mita Resort took care of the majority of our wedding from the planning, food, decor including most flowers, guest accommodations, photography and videography.

Ximena was our wedding coordinator at Bahia Mita

Cecilia was our photographer with Adventure Photos.

Vagablonde Travel took care of our travel details and room bookings for our 88 guests.

Floreria Bloom made and delivered our Varmala’s and center pieces.

Lemon’s and Mehdni took care of my bridal Mehndi on my hands and guests and my bridal hair and makeup for all 3 events.

Polished Makeup & Hair took care of family members hair and makeup.

Paisley’s and Swirls did my henna on my feet in Houston.

Dresses:

Orange Lehenga, Blue Lehenga is from Pahlki Fashion

Red Bridal Lehenga & Jewelry is from Roop Sari

White Wedding Dress is from Marry Go Round

4 Tips to Go by When Getting Hair & Makeup Ready for Your Destination Wedding

Team Polished — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 10:07:00 +0000

A destination wedding is the ultimate way to combine adventure and romance as you tie the knot in a stunning locale.

Now, let’s talk about something crucial – your bridal beauty game, specifically your hair and makeup. You want to look and feel fabulous on your big day, right?

Well, it takes some planning, especially when you’re getting hitched far from home.

In this guide, we’re going to give you 4 essential tips for nailing your getting ready process for your multi-cultural destination wedding.

Whether you’re jetting off to a tropical island, a charming European city, or some other dreamy spot, these tips will help you shine as you say “I do” in paradise.

1. Getting Ready for each wedding event

Give yourself more time than you think you need – be ready early so you aren’t stressed and pressed for time.

I made sure my hair and makeup were completed with about 3 hours before each event.

Then I had time to eat, put on all of my jewelry, drape my veil, get shoes on and enjoy all of those special moments with my family leading up to the wedding.

My goal was to not feel rushed in getting to each of our events and I feel like I achieved that goal!

2. Ask your seamstress to make your top (choli) clip-able in the back

I really wish my wedding day lehenga choli clipped in the back.

We had our Hindu ceremony at 3pm then we ran off and changed into our Christian ceremony outfits. After baking in the hot sun it was so hard to get my Lehenga top over my head without messing up my hair and makeup.

If I would have requested my seamstress to make it clip able in the back, changing would been so much easier.

I highly recommend you ask your seamstress to make your Choli clip-able in the back!

3. Make sure your Bridal lehenga isn't too long

I had all of my lehenga’s altered but they were so heavy! Once I had everything on and I had to hold my skirt up as I was walked around.

I wished I had gotten all of my skirts shortened just a little bit more.

I was also wearing flats the entire time, my feet didn’t show so I wanted to be comfy!

4. Try on your jewelry and hairstyle before the wedding

I chose to add in hair extensions for my wedding day hairstyle. I went with a Rapunzel like side braid so I needed the extra length and thickness.

What I didn’t think about was trying on my earrings and necklace with my desired hairstyle.

On my wedding day, my earrings kept getting stuck to my braid and I couldn’t get it unstuck gracefully. My earrings were just long enough for the bottom of them to get caught on my braid without looking like its caught in my braid.

I just had to ignore it and keep my cool, I was afraid if I pulled my earrings off that it would mess up my hair.

If I had tried it all before the wedding, I would have chosen different earrings. But this is the type of thing you might not think of in the midst of all the wedding planning.

Our Wedding Vendors

Bahia Mita Resort took care of the majority of our wedding from the planning, food, decor including most flowers, guest accommodations, photography and videography.

Ximena was our wedding coordinator at Bahia Mita

Cecilia was our photographer with Adventure Photos.

Vagablonde Travel took care of our travel details and room bookings for our 88 guests.

Floreria Bloom made and delivered our Varmala’s and center pieces.

Lemon’s and Mehdni took care of my bridal Mehndi on my hands and guests and my bridal hair and makeup for all 3 events.

Polished Makeup & Hair took care of family members hair and makeup.

Paisley’s and Swirls did my henna on my feet in Houston.

Dresses:

Orange Lehenga, Blue Lehenga is from Pahlki Fashion

Red Bridal Lehenga & Jewelry is from Roop Sari

White Wedding Dress is from Marry Go Round

A Reception Look That Sizzles

Team Polished — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 11:23:00 +0000

Hold onto your seats, lovelies! We’re diving into the wedding reception, and trust us, it’s a whole new level of glam. Brace yourselves for a vogue-worthy journey into textured creams, luxurious beads, crystals, and feathers that’ll have you swooning.

The Lehenga Magic

Out with the old, and in with the new – for the reception, our bride slays in a textured cream lehenga that’s basically a fashion editorial waiting to happen. Heavy, fabulous, and downright extra – it’s the kind of lehenga dreams are made of.

Reception Makeup Look

We turned up the heat with eyeshadows that redefine sultry, paired with an intense liner – the kind that makes her eyes the main event. But that’s not the end of our bold journey. A dash of deeper blush, a luscious red lip, and voilà – bold, beautiful, and unequivocally fabulous. The vibe? Think sexy, think modern, think reception goals.

Hair Enchantment

The curtain rises on a hair transformation that’s straight out of a fairytale. Those once cascading curls take a detour to a romantic wispy updo, adding an air of whimsy fit for a fairytale bride. But what’s a fairytale without a touch of magic? Cue the tikka, harmonizing effortlessly with her sparkly necklace, because in this story, the bride doesn’t just sparkle; she dazzles.

Our bride was the epitome of grace and beauty.

The textured cream lehenga, the bold makeup, the fairytale updo – it wasn’t just about aesthetics. It was about how these elements came together to create a look that made her feel like absolute royalty. Every step, every twirl, she carried herself with the confidence of a queen, and that, my friends, is the real magic of a bridal makeover done right.

Featured in...

Maharani Weddings
South Asian Bride Magazine
&
Deepicka Mehta Photography Blog

Vendors

Photo/Video: Deepicka Mehta Photography
Hair & Makeup: Polished Makeup & Hair
Bridal Bouquet: Flowers Deluxe Houston
Bridal Gown: Panache by Sharmeen
Bridal Jewelry: Highness Collection
Venue: Balmoral Lagoon
Henna: Heavenly Henna by Fiza
Couple Sruthi Kamprath & Harroop Mand

South Asian Bridal Shoot in Paradise

Team Polished — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 14:25:00 +0000

Step into a Texan paradise at Balmoral Lagoon, where our bride shines in a crystal-studded lehenga, and royal red dupatta. Who knew a tropical paradise was so close?!

The Makeup Look

Alright, let’s spill the tea on our bride’s makeup – a mix of earthy browns and neutrals to make those features pop. And, can we talk about that dark nude glossy lip? Such a vibe!

Our airbrush makeup is what’s giving her that radiant glow, and let’s not forget those lush lashes. She is radiating beauty in the sun!

A Timeless Bridal Hairstyle

We went with a down and gloriously curly, a timeless yet modern choice that complements her enchanting lehenga.

Our beautiful bride and groom are ready for their fairytale wedding ceremony moment.

Can you see yourself getting married in this tropical destination?

Featured in...

Maharani Weddings
South Asian Bride Magazine
&
Deepicka Mehta Photography Blog