The Great Hall // Nandini & Unmil

Real Weddings

May 1

Nandini & Unmil were married last fall in an elaborate, Eastern Indian wedding at the Great Hall in St. Paul. Being married to an Indian man myself, I always dreamed of a large Indian wedding, but had the typical Minnesota wedding instead. {Obviously I wasn’t a planner then!} It was so fun to live vicariously through Nandini!

The 420-guest event was a beautiful mix of her northern Indian and and his southern Indian roots. The baraat {groom’s processional on a horse} from Mears Park was such a joyous celebration of his family and friends.

We placed their stage and mantap toward the center of the room and circled the gold chiavaris around them to allow for better viewing for all. Since the couple move about the stage, there really wasn’t a bad seat in the house!

Their traditional ceremony under the mantap was gorgeous {and yes we had to get special permission for the open flame!}

Once the ceremony was over, guests moved upstairs for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres while we flipped the room. Forty-two tables flipped within the hour – not bad!

Guests were treated to a family style meal of northern and southern Indian specialties. Sounds easy enough but this was no easy task! The nationally recognized chefs were flown in from New Jersey, so much coordination between the local catering kitchen and the wait staff was required.

Indians are known for their desserts so the pistachio crusted cake, cupcakes in flavors of rosewater and mango, and traditional sweets were a huge hit.