Portugese Party

Celebrating their Indian roots and global lifestyle, this couple tied the knot over two beautiful ceremonies

ARTICLE BY : Nupur Sarvaiya

An accountant turned abstract artist (Instagram.com/artbyrajanseth), Rajan Seth met Neha Seth, an investment banker by day and Indian clothes designer by night, through friends on the web portal MSN. “We’ve known each other for about 16 years, when we were both in high school. We dated when we were younger, then went our separate ways. In 2011, we re-met and it felt like we hadn’t even been apart,” reveals Rajan. In 2017, he took Neha to the beautiful Cinque Terre in Italy to pop the question. He proposed to her as they sat on a secluded rock overlooking the sunset.

The vision
“Both of us are quite westernized, so a big fat Indian wedding was never part of our vision. I wanted to have lots of different personal touches to the wedding.”

The civil ceremony

“We recreated our civil wedding. I walked down the aisle to Bill Withers song ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’. It was an orange theme with coral roses and a backdrop with burnt orange flowers. We had a sand ceremony and said surprise vows to each other. Each of the close family members put sand into the vase (which is kept on a mantlepiece in our home),” reveals Neha.

The outfits
“My bridal outfits and Rajan’s wedding sherwani were designed by my brand EMNÉ (@emnelondon). For the mandhvo, I wore ‘Ivory’ ensemble. I wanted something fitting within the colour scheme of light turquoise and pink for the wedding. I opted for a pastel lehenga with backless blouse featuring threadwork. The skirt had intricate floral work.”

The wedding

May 18 saw the traditional Indian wedding. The mandap, decorated with pink blooms and suspended jars, overlooked a stunning cliff. “We didn’t have a vidhai as I didn’t want it to feel like I was leaving my family. Rajan and I left in a golf cart.” A lavish dinner followed. “My maid of honour and her fiancé hosted a fun quiz, where they asked the crowd questions about us. We then picked two winners from the winning teams to have a ‘sari off’.”

The games

“The next morning we had organized games, including dodgeball and sponge pass, for our 150 guests to mingle and enjoy. We split them into 6 teams, and picked 6 cousins to be captains.”