Amrit and Ash met during their second year of university. “We were put into a group together in one of our seminars and slowly got to know each other,” says Amrit. “We eventually started dating the following summer. We have the same sense of humour and connected through music. We would often give each other recommendations, and when I had a radio show at university, Ash would send requests in. Once we graduated, we saved up and went travelling around the world for four months. We knew we wanted to be with each other forever, so we decided to move in together. Ash is from North Wales and I’m from the Midlands, so we agreed that wherever one of us got a job, we would move there. Ash got a job in Cardiff, and the rest is history.”
Ash proposed in 2019. “We had not long bought our own house, and everything felt settled,” shares the bride. “He took me back to our university, where there is a beautiful manor house in the grounds. We walked for about an hour in the freezing February wind. I love trees, and Ash kept stopping to admire them. I was on tenterhooks thinking, ‘is this it?’ but he didn’t ask! We walked back to the manor, and I was admiring the view of the fields when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there he was on one knee with the most beautiful ring! He quickly asked me to marry him, and I laughed and said ‘yes’. It wasn’t exactly a surprise as we’d been together for seven years and I was highly suspicious when we arrived for the walk, but it was wonderful. I couldn’t stop staring at the ring and didn’t stop smiling for weeks!”
The happy couple booked their wedding for July 2020. “Due to the pandemic, our big day was postponed, and we were in limbo,” explains Amrit. “The whole country went into another full lockdown in January 2021, and when wedding venues opened with a limited capacity, we both decided we’d had enough of waiting. We booked to get married at Castell Coch in April 2021 with just two of my bridesmaids as witnesses. We surprised everyone by telling them we had gotten married! It was a magical, romantic way to do it, but we were really excited to have a big party with our friends and family in the summer.”
Amrit and Ash gave their guests wildflower seeds as favours. "It was really important to us that our wedding was as environmentally friendly as possible," adds Amrit. "I know from talking to friends that many people leave bulky wedding favours, so I wanted something that would be useful. Many of our guests have planted their seeds and have already told us the joy they feel at seeing their flowers grow. These also doubled up as our place names which saved us from having to order more items or waste card."
"Instead of flowers, we asked our florist, Catherine Gray Flowers, to source plants from each of the countries that our tables were named after," explains the bride. "Each was placed in a pretty pot and were used as gifts for the wedding party. I was keen to inject as much colour into the wedding as possible, as traditional Indian weddings are such colourful affairs, so we went for bouquets that had lots of variety. We wanted them to be as environmentally friendly as possible, so we opted for locally-sourced, seasonal blooms. I had a gorgeous trailing bouquet, and the bridesmaids had smaller matching versions. In addition, we had a moonring covered in matching flowers which was the backdrop for our sweetheart table during the wedding breakfast. For the confetti, I went with traditionally Indian colours of yellow and pink from Shropshire Petals."
"It was really important to us to remember all of the people who couldn't be at our wedding for various reasons," adds the bride. "I asked both of our families to supply framed photographs of family members who had passed away or couldn't be there. We wanted to do this for our parents too as we knew that they would be missing these key figures on our special day. I used some white candles and some of the confetti to give the memory table a special celebratory and memorial look."
Rather than giving their guests food options, the lovebirds wanted to provide their friends and family with an exciting food experience. "We worked closely with our caterers, Cleverchefs, to create an East meets West family-style feast," says Amrit. "Our guests shared their food and got to know one another, and it was phenomenal."
"Ash chose a navy tuxedo with a black lapel, and his groomsmen opted for black tuxedos," recalls the bride. "He wanted a different kind of suit to his everyday work attire, so a tuxedo felt really special."
The bridesmaids wore lehengas. "Three had green tops with gold embroidery and peach skirts while my maid-of-honour wore a different style," adds Amrit. "It was lovely to have some variety and to have her stand out, especially as it was her birthday on our July wedding day!"
"Ash thought he had lost his shoes," laughs the bride. "When we arrived at the venue the previous day, I handed him a bag with his shoes in and said: 'Take these to your room.' On the morning of the wedding, he was getting dressed and realised he couldn't find them; he looked around the entire venue, the grounds, the cars and was about to drive back to our home in Cardiff (40 minutes away) when my maid-of-honour came to gently ask me if I might have seen them. I told her that I'd given them to him in the kitchen, and lo and behold, there they were."
Amrit and Ash's friends and family made the day perfect. "My dad's speech was phenomenal, and all of the guests commented on how wonderful it was," adds Amrit. "He used a really unique concept, and it was so lovely to hear him talk about us from his own perspective. There wasn't a dry eye in the room!"
Bride's and bridesmaids' dresses
Bride's choora
Bride's clutch bag
Bride's necklace, earring and tikka set
Bride's shoes
Cake
Catering
Ceremony music
Confetti
DJ
Entertainment
Flowers
Groom's suit
Hair and make-up artist
Photo booth
Photographer
Venue
Videographer