Rima + Kapil Love Story

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How did you meet your Groom and when did you know he was "the one"?

My husband and I met in medical school in New Jersey. When I first met him, I did not think we would end up together. We seemed to have different personalities and interests. However, about a year later, as we had mutual friends, we started studying together more and became good friends. As I came to know him, we realized that we shared similar values with our relationships with our families and friends and principles in life. I really valued how much he cared for others and time he put into his relationships. We helped each other through our grueling tests and board exams in medical school. I was lucky to have someone to support me through that journey. It was actually our careers that helped us realized we were “the one” for each other. As we applying for residency, we were forced to think about our futures. This is when we realized we both wanted to continue being with each other.

Tell us about your overall experience with the Venues, Hair & Makeup, Outfits, Decor Theme, and all of the other important details.

Our planning experience was probably a little unusual compared to other couples. Two weeks after we were engaged, I was going to move to Boston for my residency and my husband was moving to New York for his. So, we started to look at venues the day after we were engaged! We knew that we wanted to be married close to where both our families lived in New Jersey. When we visited the Venetian, we loved everything about the venue. The venue had two different halls so our wedding ceremony and reception would be in two different areas. The architecture and décor of the venue created a majestic feeling. The reception hall had a capacity of up to 1000 people which was important for our large guest list. From the outdoor cocktail area to majestic staircase, the venue accommodated all our needs. We met several times with the staff at our venue to discuss our wedding details and walk through a plan. 

How did you select your wedding dress? Did you have a favorite color in mind?

In order to give myself more options, I travelled to India for my wedding shopping. Initially I had imagined a red outfit but as I tried out on several different outfits, I fell in love with an ivory/beige color. When I tried on the outfit I ultimately chose, I felt that there was nothing else I could be wearing on my wedding day.

What was the most enjoyable part of the planning process, and why?

It was probably the last few weeks leading up to the wedding. I finally saw all of the details we had been working on for the past year come together. It was also finally hitting me that I was getting married! The week before our wedding, several family members and friends from other countries and across the US stayed with us and helped us prepare. It was precious seeing all of them from my older aunts and uncles to young nephews working together for the wedding. It made the planning more exciting!

What did your guests particularly love about your Wedding?

Our guests loved being included in all the events. We made sure each event was able to accommodate different age groups and different interests. During our mehndi ceremony, we had coloring books for children and mehndi opportunities for women. Our sangeet/garba consisted of both dance and vocal performances in addition to garba to accommodate the varying interests of our guests. We also had photo booth opportunities, a live paan cart and a namkeen cart. When guests checked into the hotel prior to the wedding, they were greeted with a bag of snacks, program card and other necessities to make them feel at home. During our reception, we had a wide range of cocktails. We also had special Bride and Groom drinks that represented our interests.

Was there a really special moment in your wedding that constantly replays in your mind?

The most special moment was probably walking down the aisle on my wedding day. Despite planning our wedding for over a year and dreaming about it for even more, I could not believe that it was finally happening until I was coming down the aisle towards my fiancé. Before I entered, my nephews and nieces walked down the aisle as ring bearers and flower girls, respectively. Following this my siblings, close friends and cousins walked down. In our tradition, our maternal uncles and their family bring the bride to the mandap. My maternal uncles and cousins carried me on a doli (palanquin) that I had our decorator personally design for me. When the doors opened and I entered, I was greeted by hundreds of people who were equally excited for this day. I will never forget that feeling of walking towards the most important stage of my life and having all of my loved ones there with me.

For events other than your ceremony, please tell us as much as you would like about the decor, style, dances, and all the special details.

My husband and I promised each other that we would come with a surprise performance for each other. During the sangeet, I did a dance performance which included a mix of several different songs, some with my close friends and others alone. He was completely surprised and blown away! On the other hand, I did not know what to expect for his performance. To my surprise, he sang a few romantic Bollywood songs and not only did he blow me away but also all of the audience! It was fun to be able to do something for one another and we still talk about these performances! 

I am Gujarati and my husband is Marathi. We tried to incorporate our cultures into our wedding events. For our wedding lunch, the menu included both Gujarati and Marathi dishes to symbolize the unity of our cultures as well. During our reception, cousins from both of our families danced to a Gujarati song and Marathi song! During our parents’ speeches and our own speeches, we spoke in each other’s languages welcoming the other family. Our wedding was truly a representation of two families and two cultures coming together.

During our reception, we had a fire show on the dance floor to entertain our guests! We also had a huge dessert assortment known as “The Viennese” and consisting of several pastries, chocolate fountains, hot zeppole, ice cream cart, coffees and more. Our guests were absolutely in love with this!

Do you have any words of wisdom for Brides-To-Be?

Your wedding day will always be one of the most special days of your life! Planning can definitely be overwhelming especially when you have been planning for so long and want everything to go perfectly. But remember that regardless of how the actual day goes, even if a detail is missed, no one will probably notice and it will still be one of the most special days of your life! Try to enjoy the little moments in the wedding as much as you can. You have already done all the planning so it is your time to now enjoy it!.

Anything else you want to tell us? We'd love to hear all about your other details! (jewelry, mehndi, venue, cake, bouquets, etc.)Early on during our engagement, one of my best friends came up with a hashtag for us: #RikapTheMoment. We had signs during our events encouraging guests to use the hashtag. We also created an Instagram account “Rikapthemoment” owned by our close friends. They reposted all posts that used our hashtag. During our reception cocktail, we displayed all of these pictures and people loved seeing their posts make it to the big screen! I can still look back to those photos and remember the events. 

Both my husband and I are physicians and we wanted to incorporate this in some way. For our reception favors, we gave out bottles with mint candies. The bottle was labeled “Rikap Pharmacy” with instructions to take 1 for eternal happiness and prescribers as “Rima & Kapil.”

My husband also enjoys photoshop and graphic design. He created a logo that included our names and wedding date. We included this logo on our wedding pamphlets, table seating cards and a projection of the logo during this reception.

Through these small touches, we wanted our guests to get to know and remember us as a couple!