14th February 2023
Welcome to Real Weddings! The series where we speak to brides and grooms about their wedding planning experience: the high’s, the low’s, what they would change, and what they would recommend other couples do.
This week, we spoke to Simran, founder of Leela Events, about her intimate destination wedding to Avjeet. Here’s how their day went. Scroll down to see their incredible suppliers.
A fun yet challenging bonding experience
Our paths first crossed in 2016, we were both attending the same university where we both studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
We also had mutual friends but despite all this we didn’t actually truly meet at university. It wasn’t until two years later when I moved to London post-graduation to pursue an investment banking career that our paths crossed again.
After playing instagram tennis (liking the other’s photos until one person finally slides in the DM’s) we finally arranged to meet for dinner. Avjeet booked a romantic italian in Mayfair which now holds a special place in our hearts, I arrived slightly late as always and one thing we always remember is that I walked over to greet him and in the same sentence I also asked if he would give up his booth seat for me and take the chair… from that moment Avjeet knew I wasn’t afraid to speak my mind.
After dinner neither of us wanted to go home, so we decided to go for a walk around South Kensington and Knightsbridge, talking and admiring the Christmas lights. We were enjoying each-others company so much we barely noticed the hours pass by!
From this point on we spoke every single day, we never ran out of things to talk about and we still haven’t !
It was 4th July 2021 in London, and in the true spirit of British summer weather, it was raining!
Every year on the anniversary of our first date we go back to the restaurant we went to on our first date (Bocconcino in Mayfair), however because of covid this plan had been delayed until July when the restaurants re-opened. So we went for a lovely dinner at Bocconcino and then decided to stay out for drinks and we headed to a rooftop bar where we first kissed while overlooking the sparkly lights of Oxford street.
When we got to our table Avee handed me back a ring that he had sneakily taken from me when I went to stay with my parents during lockdown with the excuse that it meant he wanted to have something of mine to keep with him. Little did I know he wanted to use it to size the engagement ring.
He told me I could have this one back now because he didn’t need it anymore, and whilst I was confused and distracted he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him with a beautiful sparkly elongated oval solitaire set in a thin gold band. It was exactly what I wanted but I had never told him this, he just knew (with a little help from my mother). I then turned around to see his sister, along with her fiancé, had come to capture the moment and celebrate with us, they had been hiding waiting behind a room divider for Avee to pop the question!
My favourite part of the planning process was the creative and design elements, creating concepts, planning colour-schemes and of course styling all the looks – not only for myself but the entire family. In total there were ~30 people across both the bride’s side and groom’s side that wore looks styled by me on the wedding day!
When we began the planning process, I was still working crazy investment banking hours and we barely had time to truly devote to the process as Avjeet was busy full time with supporting the running of his family business and working on his property development ventures.
In September 2021 I decided to take the leap and leave my finance career to pursue my creative passions – I knew from the success of our engagement party that I had planned independently that Event Planning was something that sparked joy inside me and it was now or never if I wanted to make this happen. We took a risk and chose to not hire a wedding planner, this was a challenge I had set myself to do alone and I knew that If i could do it successfully I’d be able to turn this into a business and do this for other couples too…
In short, if this wasn’t my gameplan I would have hired a planner / coordinator and I certainly advise couples that this is the best way to enjoy your day and the entire planning process.
A FAIRYTALE WEDDING
One thing that we absolute love about Simran & Avjeet's wedding is how candid & thoughtful it is. All of their wedding pictures look like they are straight out of a movie. You can really see the little details of thought that Simran (check out Leela Events) put into planning everything, to make the days memorable. Our favourite little detail is on her dupatta below, where both their names were sewn in.
The trickiest part about our planning process was communicating with suppliers based abroad, who often didn’t speak English, but where there’s a will there’s a way! We also had to take a gamble and book our venue before seeing it in person due to the covid lockdowns.
We certainly would have benefitted from a platform like Eternity UK, it takes a tremendous amount of time and research to find reputable suppliers and for those who don’t have a professional planner / are short on time, this is a great way to make the process more efficient.
Fool Jhadi and in house designs via Auroras Collection
Paulmi & Harsh via Pernia’s Pop Up Shop
DJ Raj via Luxor Music
THE BEAUTIFUL EVENTS
Keep scrolling for more of the stunning pictures of Simran & Avjeet's events.
Enquire with Leela Events! A wedding is such a precious time in your lives, not only should the wedding be stress free for you and your loved ones, the planning process should be enjoyable too.
We will be with you every step of the way so that you and your loved ones can cherish this time and enjoy the experience with the peace of mind that all the details are being taken care of by our team.
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