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16 Inspired: Personalizing Your Wedding DesignExplore unique ideas tailored to your bridal locale

24 The Bibi Beauty ListBibi has the top beauty picks for any climate or location

27 Sarah’s SelectsMakeup artist Sarah Ali reveals her choices for products that work best for South Asian skintones

28 The Groom’s LoungeInspired by the wedding design, grooms choose their signature look and the products to complement it

32 Lookbook: Bridesmaid DressesBridesmaid dress styles for any season

34 Bridal Beauty BoostKarma Medical Spa brings customized laser treatments to South Asian brides

36 Love, Ancient and NewDiscover age-old love stories that will inspire your heart

38 WediquetteBibi answers your most pressing bridal etiquette questions

40 Proposal: Audra and Ajay, HoustonFrom hospital to hi-tech reception

SHEETAL SHETH: After decades ofcourting each other, actress SheetalSheth married her long-time love inbeautiful Cancun, Mexico. On thecover, she wears a neon pink raw silklehnga with a wide contrasting lime border by Sahil. Black is new forbridal wear, but as an accent and notall-over color. Sheetal’s jewelry is astatement gold, pearl and meenathree-strand necklace with matchingchandelier earrings by Sona Jewelers.Her modern soft-hued bridal look has been created by Lilly Rivera for BridalGal and her flowing curls by Lena Piccininni for BridalGal.Photographed by Andy Chang.

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42 Proposal: Megha and Kush, Falls Church, VAA vibrant, colorful wedding with a touch of simplicity and sport

44 Proposal: Jyoti and Rohan, New JerseyA regal reception for a restaurant heiress and her best friend

46 Theirstory in the MakingExclusive: Actress Sheetal Sheth and entrepreneur Neil Modyshare their decades-long love tale

54 The Mood is NeonInternational model Azura Vandenberg shows her style in Shehnaai Couture’s 2014 collection

60 Dark DecadenceAs night falls, these rich looks redefine contemporary bridal and party wear

64 Designers On Bridal International designers discuss their take on bridal trends

68 Elements of DécorWedding designer Sonia Dhaliwal explains the latest trends in event décor

70 2014 Wedding Themes and TrendsWedding experience creator Sunita Sadhnani gives us theme ideas for each bridal design

74 More Memorable WeddingsFour real-life couples tell us their true love stories

78 Sweet SensationsGorgeous cakes that reflect your design

80 The Romance of San JuanDiscover the magic of this wedding destination

85 Additional ResourcesIdeas to help streamline your planning process

86 Wedding DirectoryBridal resources for the modern couple

wb1 Wedding Planning WorkbookBudgets, timeline, checklists; it’s all here to get youon your way to a perfect wedding

ALMOST TWO DECADES AGO, WITH BIG DREAMS IN A BIG CITY, A NEWLY ENROLLEDSHEETAL SHETH WAS NAVIGATING THE NYU CAMPUS AS A FRESHMAN AT THE TISCHSCHOOL OF THE ARTS. WITH HER GOAL SET TO BECOME AN ACTRESS, SHEETAL PURSUED HER PASSION WITH THE SINGLE-MINDED DETERMINATION TYPICAL OF ACHILD OF SUBURBAN INDIAN-AMERICAN PARENTS. By Ayesha Hakki

Theirstory in the

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Neil Mody was also an entering freshman at NYU,also from suburban New Jersey and also determinedto make his mark in the world. Even though he wasstudying at the Stern School of Business, as fatewould have it, the two eventually met. Initially, they started out as friends, bumping into

one another on campus, saying hello between classes, sharing a table together in the library, untilone not-so-special day in March 1996 when Neilasked Sheetal on a date and set into motion a seriesof events that would culminate with the two sharingwedding vows under a pink-streaked sunset at aMexican beach resort nearly two decades later. “We dated for about seven years initially,” says

Sheetal, “but then, for a time, we were on and off.My career started taking off and I was in LosAngeles a lot. We both had so much going on then,but we had been in touch the whole time. Duringthe past few years, I happened to be in New YorkCity a lot, so we kind of started up again.”Being an actress has kept Sheetal bicoastal for

most of her professional life. She has starred in over18 feature films and many TV shows. Her biggeststudio film to date has been Looking for Comedy inthe Muslim World, starring opposite Albert Brooks,

but her cult indie hits – starring roles in the classic,groundbreaking films, ABCD and American Chai –have garnered Sheetal much attention and loyalfans. Her vast body of work includes two films starring opposite Lisa Ray (I Can’t Think Straight andThe World Unseen), with the latter winning Sheetalthree Best Actress Awards in the circuit. She has alsodone ad campaigns for well-known brands such asReebok and Chi Hair Systems. Most recently,Sheetal was cast as the voice of Anandi in Life of Pi,and her latest movie, The Wisdom Tree, about science meeting art meeting mysticism, has justreleased earlier this year to strong reviews. Neil, who remained in New York City after his

graduation, went on to a career as a software consultant and today is the CEO of nRelate (nrelate.com), a content discovery platform that nowserves 100,000+ online publishers worldwide andwas recently acquired by IAC.“We got back together about two years ago,”

explains Neil. “We’ve always had distance betweenus, living apart and so many different things, but I justfelt we were at the place where it was the right timefor us to take the next step. Sheetal was the only girlin my life I ever really thought about marrying.”

Resources:

Photo / Video: Fine ArtProductions

Mexico Planner:Destination Weddings,

Amarjit Keshav

DJ: Manish Goyal (DJ Babyface)

Hair / Make-up: Pavros Olivarez

Fireworks: Hugo Olivares

Henna: Veronica de la Paz

NJ Decorator: Elegant Affairs

Caterer (NJ): Moghul Caterers

Design / Giveaways:Rachana Sheth

Caketoppers: Danielle de Luna

Live Painter: Katherine Gressel

Live Percussionist:Crystal Vargas

Making

Produced by Ayesha HakkiPhotography by Andy Chang

Wedding photos by Amish ThakkarFashion by NZK Designers, NJ

Sahil, Chicago and NJJewelry by Sona Jewelers, NJ

Makeup by Lilly Rivera for BridalGalHair by Lena Piccininni for BridalGal

Location: The Home of Rashmee and Shalley Pathak

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In Time: Sheetal is wearing a chiffonsharara ensemble with a long tunic byNZK Designers. This Pakistani weddingattire is accented with Swarovski®

crystals, dabka and thread embroidery.Neil’s groom attire is a silk western-cutsherwani by Sahil worn over a dhoti, alook popular in Southern India.

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Pure Luxury: This page: Sheetal relaxes in a silkankle-length tunic with silk trousers by NZKDesigners. The dupatta is block-printed with goldmotifs, while the tunic is further enhanced with goldresham embroidery. Her gold chandelier earrings areby Sona Jewelers. Opposite page: The velvet choliis enhanced with an embroidered tulle long vest worn over a silk embroidered lehnga by Sahil. Themulti-strand gold necklace by Sona Jewelers wornas a headpiece gives this ensemble flapper appeal.

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From his initial thoughts of planning his proposalto the time it actually happened took Neil a fewmonths. “It’s more work than I thought. There’s a lotof different things to plan,” says the newlywed.Sentiment is important to the couple, and the two

go out of their way tohonor the milestonesof their shared history.After first consultingwith Sheetal’s parentsand asking for theirblessings, Neil set tothe task of arrangingthe perfect proposalfor Sheetal. “I proposed on the

anniversary of our firstdate. That was March

7th. Sheetal was living in Los Angeles atthe time, and I had planned to surpriseher at her place there.”

Unbeknownst to Sheetal, Neil flewout to Los Angeles and had plans togreet her in her apartment on bendedknee surrounded by flowers, mementosfrom their past and tokens of theirfuture, including a custom-designeddiamond ring. As he was running aroundLos Angeles buying and preparing for hisimpending proposal, his cell phonerang. It was Sheetal.

“Hey! How are you? How’s your day going?”“Hey! I’m good. Just busy at work, the usual.”“Yes, I was talking to him on the phone as I was

driving to my appointment,” adds Sheetal. “Andthen… I saw him on the street. So I asked him,

‘Where are you?’ And he replied, ‘I am inNew York’ and I’m like, ‘I think I see youright now; how are you in New York?’ Ipulled over and he looked completelyaghast that I saw him. I still had no ideathat he was going to propose to me; Ijust thought he was surprising me forour anniversary because he does thingslike that. So it was really funny.”With friends all over the country andfamily all over the world, Neil andSheetal decided on Mexico as thesetting for their destination wedding. Neil says, “We werelooking for a place that would beeasy to travel to and one thatreflected us as a couple.” Thecouple chose La Isla MujeresPalace located on an island off thecoast of Cancun. With only 62rooms offered at this intimateresort, Sheetal and Neil were ableto buy out the entire property andfill it with their wedding guests.

“During our wedding, every person at the resortwas our guest. That was the best part. They introduced themselves to each other; they becamefriends. There were no curfews, no limitations; wecould do whatever we wanted. The staff was reallyattentive and took care of us. It was perfect,”remembers Sheetal.“The joke of the weekend and the theme of the

wedding was “Finally!” because some of the peoplewho were there have known us for 18 years, like ourcollege friends who knew of us dating from the beginning.”The wedding was a meticulously planned event,

with each detail thoughtfully chosen by the couple toreflect their history and lives. They spread their ceremonies over the course of a four-day, three-nightstay. A Mehndi / Mexican-themed welcome dinnertook place on the first night, followed by a familypuja and Vegas-style pool party the next day. Fridaynight saw a Sangeet / Raas Garba and the wholeweekend culminated in a sunset ceremony on thebeach followed by a reception where guests danceddeep into the tropical night on the beach, completewith fireworks. Sheetal says, “Everything that we planned, down

to the décor, the stuff we gave away, the events, thegames, the food, the drinks, the music, the peopleinvolved – all were deeply personal to us… from different areas of our lives. We are vegetarian andwe wanted most of the food to be vegetarian. I sentdown a number of family recipes to the chef [at theresort], and he was able to create all of the food forus. Each meal was a different theme and cuisine.We brought down a lot of Indian spices, chai and

Wedding and Reception Designer: Jorge Vega Umana

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Embrace: Sheetal wears a long velvettunic with train over a chiffon gharara byNZK Designers. The tunic is accentedwith beading and Swarovski® crystals and brings an ethereal elegance to thisPakistani ensemble. Neil wears a western-cut silk jacquard sherwani over pleated silk trousers, also by NZKDesigners.

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Time Out: Gowns are makinga strong entrance into bridalwear, such as this NecklaceGown with a tri-toned, layeredtulle circle skirt and fitted,embroidered bodice by Sahil.The ‘necklace’ of the dress isenhanced with rhinestones,beading and thread embroidery.

snacks so we could have those during the events.Those little touches made a very big difference.”With activity happening around the clock with

the 130 guests in attendance, Neil says his favoritepart of the wedding was the actual ceremony.“During the whole wedding, everyone was doingsomething or another – it was a party after all – but Iremember during the ceremony, everyone was quietand I was looking out at all of our family and friends,all together in one place. It was really touching.” The ceremony was of particular interest to both

Neil and Sheetal. “We sat down with our family andthe priest – who was a family friend – and really wentthrough the ceremony. We kept the things that wereimportant to us and changed the rest. We took outthe things that were archaic, man-made orchauvinistic. We changed it to be equal andrepresentative of our beliefs. When we didthe Saptapadi, we wrote our own vows. Eachof the seven steps we took was more reflective of us. We even shared the pheraswhere we went around as equals; in twopheras Neil was the lead, and in two pheras Iwas the lead. The people attending the wedding said that it made the ceremony feelmore honest and real.”After their return from Mexico, Neil and

Sheetal hosted a reception for 450 people atthe Doubletree Hotel in Somerset, NJ. Although thisevent was much larger, the couple added their personalities to the event such as bringing in a livepercussionist to accompany the DJ and an artist tocapture the night on canvas. The ballroom was litwith deep blue light and accented with vintagedécor. A video of their Mexican ceremony wasshown to the guests who weren’t able to make thedestination wedding. Sheetal advises, “In the process of planning a

wedding, there are a lot of people who want to beinvolved. They all love you and want the best foryou. It’s great to hear them out, but at the end ofthe day, it has to be reflective of who you two are.”Neil adds, “Everything doesn’t have to look like

other weddings. We tried to make our wedding a bit different from everyone else and more of areflection of us.”Today, with all of the fervor of planning behind

them, Neil and Sheetal are settling into their newNew York City apartment and adjusting to their lifeas a married couple. With travel still in both of theirwork schedules, and Sheetal still going between LAand NY, the couple makes an effort to spend quality time with one another whenever they can. “One of our vows was to continue to surprise

each other, so that is important to us. We want tothink of it like we are still dating. We want to keep it fresh and real.” After being together for already half of their lives, it still seems as if their journey is just beginning. ø

“OUR ADVICE WOULD BE TO KEEP HAVINGFUN NO MATTER WHAT... HAVE EACHOTHER’S BACK AND LOOK OUT FOR ONEANOTHER, AND MAKE A POINT TO TAKECARE OF EACH OTHER – THAT’S THE MOSTIMPORTANT THING.”

Falu and her husband Gaurav Shah serenade the couple at the Sangeet.

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