We love a good multicultural wedding – and Nimisha and Sol’s is just beyond gorgeous! When the UK couple started wedding planning, their overarching theme was to craft a celebration that honored both of their traditions – Nimisha’s Hindu, while Sol is Jewish – equally.
The pair crafted a bespoke ceremony blending both Hindu and Jewish traditions, with a Hindu priest and a rabbi co-officiating. They married under a gorgeous rustic canopy, blending the Hindu mandap with the Jewish chuppah, and we can’t get enough of the forest vibes Nimisha and Sol created with their color scheme of ivory, white, and green and candle holders, foliage, and lanterns throughout.
We also love that this wedding featured a big family dance, Bollywood-style, which everyone practiced for months – sometimes on Zoom! Photographer Roshni Patel captured the day so beautifully, and the couple’s videographer, Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Denee Motion, brought their trademark cinematic style to the day.
Read on for all the other fab details of this very special day in Nimisha’s own words…
How We Met
Nimisha, the bride: We met online! We both expanded our radius (Sol lives in Brighton, Nimi in London!) on a dating app roughly around the same week and we matched!
Offley Place
We got married at Offley Place in Hitchin. We fell in love with the venue the first time we went for a viewing. The glass ceiling, the red brick walls and the conservatory did it for us. We both love natural light and being outdoors and with Offley we got exactly that. We were blessed with glorious sunshine on our wedding day which made it even more magical.
A Multicultural Wedding
We planned the wedding ourselves! It’s our big day and we wanted to be across everything and really enjoy the process. Our main theme for all the wedding events was simply to bring about both cultures (Judaism and Hinduism) equally. We were going to become one and wanted our family and friends to feel the same. It was a celebration of both cultures and traditions!
For the ceremony, we wanted to gift our guests with a snack that was homemade. Both our mums love cooking so we decided to have a small sweet box that had one Egyptian dessert and Indian mithai and on top it said ‘From our Mums to you’. That went down a treat with everyone! I grew up dancing all my life and Indian weddings are all about dancing so of course we had a big family dance in the reception. It took months of practice with everyone in person, zoom calls, video rehearsals etc but we finally got there and everyone involved had the best time! Many said it was like watching a Bollywood movie in real life.
Hair + Makeup
I really wanted to make sure I looked like myself and not caked with a lot of make up for the big day and Natasha did exactly that. She listened to all my concerns and worked with me to give me a natural and soft glow. My hair was beautifully put together by Bonita who is the fastest hair stylist I have ever worked with!!
Dress
We both wanted to wear ivory for the wedding as that’s what’s usually done in Jewish weddings but we wore Indian outfits as usually done in Hindu weddings.
Ceremony & Chuppah
Our favourite part of the entire day was definitely the ceremony. We blended both Hindu and Jewish ceremonies into one and had a Hindu priest, Vasudev Mehta, and a Jewish rabbi on the stage at the same time. It was beautiful. We had so much fun throughout and it was very special and emotional. For our 7 vows, we invited our nearest friends and family to write our vows for us and come onto the mandap/chuppah to say it out loud. With this being a fusion wedding, we blended both mandap and chuppah and opted for an ivory, white, and green floral arrangement to match our outfits. We chose a bespoke paper cut ketubah that came all the way from the US. It’s intricate and hand painted in different shades of blue.
Our music choice
For our ceremony we had Shiv Gopal who specialises in atmospheric ceremonies. Everyone came up to us at the end to tell us how much they loved the music throughout the ceremony! For the evening we had Rahul from Divine Musiq where we had a mix of Jewish, Indian and English songs. We both love Bollywood but we also love old skool Hip Hop, RnB and Garage. As most Indian weddings, our entertainment of the night was the 10 minute dance act which involved dancing from the both of us, our Mums and their friends, our cousins and all our friends. It was spectacular!
Flowers & Decor
All our decor was taken care by Sai Mandaps and we opted for a rustic / forest look and feel. With ivory, white and green as the main colours, we had rustic candle holders, foliage and lanterns throughout the room. For our garlands we had Nikita create matching garland set with baby’s breath and white roses
Photographer and videographer
Our photographer was Roshni Patel – we loved her candid style and how she plays with colours. All her images resonated with us in that she caught the best moments in the most stylistic way.
Our videographer was Denee Motion – we just loved their cinematic style and how they captured the most integral parts of the day so beautifully. We loved working with Max who always had very helpful recommendations and was so calm on the day!
Food and cake
Our delicious food was arranged by SNK foods. Everyone loves Indian food! But we had a range of floating and live station Indian street food canapés as starters and North Indian for the main dinner. They were spectacular in noting down all the various dietary requirements we had for our guest, highly recommend! The staff – Adi and Deepak – was always SO helpful and patient with the hundreds of questions I had.
Honeymoon
We decided to go all out and booked a South African safari for our honeymoon .We started at Cape Town and stayed in The Bay Hotel, moved to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls, then Botswana for Chobe National Park and then finally Thornybush for private game safari at the Shimungwe Lodge which I cannot recommend enough. Our guide and tracker were so knowledgeable, having been at the lodge for over 25 years. We saw the Big 5 multiple times. It was the best holiday ever!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Enjoy the planning because it’ll be over so quick and then you’ll miss it. Be sure to be present on the day – catch your partner’s eye and make sure you both take a moment together to take it all in. All the people present are there for you, savour it. We made sure to get away from everyone for a minute or so to have a moment of connection as thats what’s it all about – you two celebrating together.
Nimisha & Solomon’s LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Roshni Patel
Videography – Denee Motion {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – Offley Place
Hair + Makeup – Bonita, Natasha
Flowers & decor – Sai Mandaps
Garlands – Nikita
Ceremony Music – Shiv Gopal
DJ – Divine Musiq
Catering – SNK foods
Honeymoon accommodation – Shimungwe Lodge
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
