Love me forever

Sometimes the love of your life is right under your nose. That’s what Pooja discovered when she fell for close friend and party co-captain Hiresh. After years of friendship, they realised the special bond they’d always shared was more than just friendship. Pooja tells us her story...

The Proposal
Hiresh surprised me by arranging a date night close to Tower Bridge, which included a 15 (!)-course taster menu at Hakkasan. I have a tiny appetite (Hiresh's Dad calls me chukli – small bird – because of it) so I was stumped by his choice. I realised he might be planning a proposal and the huge meal was so he could hide the ring in one of the plates so I demolished each dish in the hope of finding a sparkling rock… but no luck!!
Dinner finished without a proposal or engagement ring in sight, and I began to think my imagination had gotten the better of me. We strolled hand-in-hand towards Tower Bridge, stopping by City Hall where we shared our first kiss years ago.
That’s when Hiresh decided to close the chapter on our dating and open a new one to our marriage as he got down on bended knee and proposed.

The Registry
Our civil wedding ceremony was held at Moor Park. It felt so surreal walking down the aisle with my dad and the ceremony went by so quickly. Hiresh and I had written our own vows, but mine weren’t nearly as good as Hiresh’s; his words didn’t leave a dry eye in the room! After the ceremony we had drinks and canapés before heading into central London with friends.

The Big Day
We held the religious ceremony in the morning at Hilton London Syon Park, the same venue as our reception. It ticked all our boxes; it was a hotel with a bar open until 3am, which meant we could continue the celebrations into the wee hours. It had beautiful grounds, and could accommodate at least 350 people - ideal for the intimate ceremony we had in mind. We made our sacred vows inside a dark wood horse shoe-shaped Mandap surrounded by our closest friends and family.

The Details
We both planned the wedding ourselves, from start to finish. It was a great (but at times, stressful) project that taught us a lot about each other. We were keen to have lots of personal touches on the day. For instance, for our Registry we hired a party bus to take us, our cousins and friends into London after the ceremony.?We wrote our own wedding vows and had a slideshow of pictures; we even changed the seating at Moor Park to a format they’d never tried before! For our reception at Hilton London Syon Park, we chose a playing card theme (since we love playing cards on holiday – we both have a competitive streak) and designed our own table plan, table numbers (which were actual playing cards) and had chocolate playing-card favours of the King and Queen of Hearts with our faces on them! The wedding cake was finished with a topper referring to Liverpool FC’s slogan - they’re Hiresh’s beloved team.
Capturing both our days on camera was the amazing Zurihsia Studios. Anil and Beena helped us stay composed, and knew where to be at precisely the right time to get the shots we’ll treasure for years to come. We're thrilled with our wedding photos and truly couldn't have asked for a better photography team!

The bride: Pooja Mansukhani, 27 
The groom: Hiresh Rajani, 28 
Married: 2nd - 5th April 2015 
Venue: Moor Park and Hilton London Syon Park 
Photography: Zurihsia Studios