Mehndi Menu

Hi everyone
As explained on a previous post, the mehndi ceremony is a chance for my family members and closest girl friends to enjoy an afternoon of lunch, music, dance and having mehndi (henna) applied if you wish. Or you can just watch me get mine applied which will take a few hours!

This will take place in Zari Restaurant, Ifield, Crawley

As part of the afternoon, lunch will be served to all of our guests. All that we ask is that when you RSVP you indicate if you would like the meat option OR the vegetarian option.  We do not require you to pick specific dishes as we have already done that, but we did think that some of you may like to see the menu so you can decide which of the two choices you would prefer.

Menu Option 1: The Meat Menu

Popadoms and Selection of Homemade Chutneys

Starters:

Individually Served Mixed Appetizer Platter

 Vegetable Samosa

Lamb Sheek Kebab

Malai Tikka (Chicken)

Main Course:

Butter Chicken

Cardamom Masala Mutton

Served with

Bombay Aloo

Five Lentil Blend

Bread Basket Selection

Pilau Rice

Dessert:

Chocolate Mousse

Menu Option 2: The Vegetarian Menu

Popadoms and Selection of Homemade Chutneys

Starter:

Individually Served Mixed Appetizer Platter consisting of:

 Vegetable Samosa

 Assorted Pakoras

Fruit Skewers

Main Course:

Paneer Makani

Vegetable Chettinad

Served with

Bombay Aloo

Five Lentil Blend

Bread Basket Selection

Pilau Rice

Dessert:

Chocolate Mousse

We hope this helps. Please contact us directly if you have any queries regarding the menu or would like any information on kids choices.

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Travel Directions

Below are the instructions to find the venue, whether arriving by car or via train.

For satellite navigation or GPS systems, please input TN16 1QN.

Getting here by car (M25 from the West)

Leave M25 at junction 6 and travel south on A22 for one mile to roundabout at junction with A25. Turn left onto A25 and proceed to Westerham. Continue on the A25 through Westerham village and the course entrance is on the right approximately half a mile out of Westerham going east in the direction of Brasted.

Please note that some satellite navigation systems will direct you to turn right into the Golf Club before the main entrance.  Please ignore these instructions. You should only turn right into the Golf Club via the main entrance which clearly states "Westerham Golf Club" in big writing!  Once you have turned right, just continue driving straight up all the way up to the top of the hill.  Do not follow the signs to the training suite, just keep driving straight up!

Getting here by car (M25 from the East)

Leave M25 at junction 5 onto A21 and exit onto second slip road (A25) signposted to Westerham. The entrance to the course is about half a mile out of the village of Brasted, on the left, about half a mile before you get to Westerham Village.

Getting here by Train

The nearest train stations are Sevenoaks and Oxted, and they both have taxi ranks (approximately 10 minutes by car).

Please do get in touch if you have any travel issues or any queries and we will do our best to help xx

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Accommodation Information

Hi everyone!

Hopefully if you are viewing this post, it means you are coming to our wedding and looking for a place to stay so you can party all night!

The wedding is taking place in Westerham Golf Club, and if you would like to stay the night after the wedding, there are plenty of Hotels and B&B's in the area.

Kings Arms Hotel, Market Square, Westerham TN16 1AN
Email: kingsarms.westerham@oldenglishinns.co.uk
Website: www.oldenglishinns.co.uk/westerham/
Tel: 01959 562990

The Grasshopper Inn at Moorhouse, near Westerham, Kent, TN16 2EU
Email:  info@grasshopperinn.co.uk
Website: www.grasshopperinn.co.uk
Tel: 01959 563136

Days Inn Sevenoaks, Clacket Lane Services, M25 Westbound near Westerham TN16 2ER 
Email: sevenoaks@daysinnrc.co.uk
Website: www.daysinn.com/Sevenoaks 
Tel: 01959 565789

7 Hotel Diner, London Road, Polhill, Halstead, Kent, TN14 7AA
Website: www.7hoteldiner.co.uk

Tel: 01959 535 890

Here are some B&B's:

Great Moretons, High Street, Westerham
Contact Carolanne and Pete Webster on 01959 562048 or robertson_carol@hotmail.com 
Website: www.westerhambandb.co.uk


Park View, High Street, Westerham 
Contact Vikki Buckley on 01959 564969 or email 
contact@parkviewcottage.com.
Visit the http://www.parkviewcottage.com/


The bridal party will be staying in The Bakery Restaurant in Tatsfield:

http://www.thebakeryrestaurant.com/

Although there are not any more guest rooms available there, we would really love it if you would join us the next morning or afternoon (Saturday) for a drink or a bite to eat before you depart! 

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Mehndi Ceremony

My mehndi ceremony will be celebrated on Wednesday 5^th August 2015 and is a chance for my family and close girl friends to celebrate before the wedding takes place. I thought it might be a good idea to explain the order that the ceremonies happen so you know what to expect as I have had a few questions about what actually happens!

Ghadi ceremony

This is the ceremony where two children will hold a special decorated vessel containing holy water on top of their heads.  They will then be welcomed by my mum who will shower them with rice and place a sweet in their mouth.  They will then hand over the Ghadi to my mum and receive a small gift in return.

Mandhvo/Pineapple ceremony

Four men, which in my case will be my four uncles, will place pineapples in the four corners of the room. This is meant as a symbol of protection from evil no matter where I may go. One by one they will symbolically undertake an understanding that they will protect me from harm. 

Sathiyo

A heart symbol will be made out of coloured rice, and a sopari (nut) will be placed in each of the hearts.  These will be made under two chairs that Mike and I will sit on to symbolise, peace, love and harmony. 

Ponkhva Ceremony

Mike and I will be brought into the room under a protective shawl known as a bandani.  This will be held by my four bridesmaids.  We will then take a seat on the chairs on top of the hearts that were made with the rice.

This ceremony is all about bestowing blessings on us.

My mother will place a “chandlo” (a dot) on our foreheads to represent good luck.

The holy water from the ghadi will be placed on our feet

Coloured rice will then be thrown over us three times to symbolise blessing us with happiness.

Finally (the best bit!), a sweet is placed in our mouths to wish us sweetness in life

Guests can participate in this ceremony and get involved feeding us and throwing rice over us!

Credit: IndianWeddings.com

Saapatia

This is all centred around 2 small decorative covered clay pots. They are filled with:

Lentils – symbolising abundance and nature’s bounty

Silver – symbolising wealth

Sugar – symbolising sweetness and harmony

Turmeric – symbolising good health

These saapatias are placed in front of Mike and I and we must break them by stepping on them. It is said that the first person to break the sapatia will rule the house so get cheering!

Lunch will then be served after this ceremony has taken place

Mehndi

This will involve me having henna applied onto my hands and legs.  This symbolises happiness, prosperity, love and strength in marriage. Mike’s initials will be hidden inside my mehndi design.  I will keep the mehndi on my hands and legs overnight to ensure the colour has time to develop.  Legend has it that the “darker the mehndi the deeper the love".    Until my mehndi disappears I will also be excused from doing any household chores. (The MOST important point - I will be up in the middle of the night re-applying it!!)

Credit: pinklotusevents.files.wordpress.com

Female guests will then have the opportunity to have mehndi applied to one of their hands if they would like it.

I hope this explains some of what you might see :-)

Nadia x

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Meet our Photographer

So after deciding on our venue, I think I spent even longer picking the photographer. I have joint a couple of wedding facebook groups and I can honestly say I have no idea how I would have planned this wedding without facebook!

Mike and I both knew that after picking the venue, the next most important thing that we didn't mind spending a bit of money on was our photographer.  However much I try to tell myself that I won't be one of those brides that has an extravagant wedding, I soon came to realise that things are expensive, and it is really obvious how the cost of things can add up. However, to me its about choosing wisely what we spend our money on, and our photographer was next...

I know that in years to come, these will be the items that we have to look back on. They will also be the items that future generations look at, just like us both looking at our parents wedding album.  Besides, there will also be so many things happening when I am not looking and I would love to be able to see everything and also see everyone's faces!  We are also hoping to have some family there who are not from the UK so capturing them on our special day is really important to us.

So how did we pick the photographer? Well I took my time with this...quite a long time in fact.  I first got lots of recommendations from people and also asked my friends who have had recent weddings who they had used.

I really don't like being badgered or being pressed for a decision so anyone that I contacted who continuously messaged me asking if I had made a decision I dismissed. I can't deal with people like that.

I kept a few websites bookmarked of people that I thought had some nice pictures.

In the end I got busy at work and didn't really make a decision, as by the end of it, photos just looked like photos!

One day I saw on a Kent Facebook group a photo taken by James, and it was genuinely the only time I actually had a "wow" moment. There was something distinctive about his photos. He was described as relaxed and non obtrusive which is the style of photography that we knew we would feel most comfortable with.  We really didn't want a staged photographer who was just going to get in our way and keep stopping us.

When I contacted him I found him relaxed, honest, informative, very helpful, and there was something distinctive and modern about his style. Oh and he is funny as well....bonus!!

In the wedding bubble where you end up picking people and praying that you have made the right choice, little things really help put my mind at ease.  James posts funny things on Facebook, isn't MIA and so I trust he won't do a runner or let us down. You can see he is passionate about photography and gets excited about lenses/cameras.....that's definitely passion and not just a job to someone. His photos are also some of the most creative ones I have seen.

So there we have it James Heffernan from FunkyPixel Photography is our photographer :-)

Give his page a like as our photos will be on there first :-) 
https://www.facebook.com/FunkyPixel?fref=ts

Hopefully you can say hello to him knowing his name now!

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Possible Wedding Reading

So we won't be sharing many details about the ceremony as we do want most of it to be kept under wraps and just shared on the day with our family and friends.  However, there are a few things that we are happy to share, even if it is just to get peoples opinions on.  I am fully aware that I know a lot of very talented and intelligent people!

Wedding readings......well where to start? Some are really mushy, some I don't understand, some talk about Shakespearean love and some have such long words that I had to look up what they mean.

So I have found 2 or 3 readings that  I like (which I won't be sharing!!), and they are ones that I do feel mean something to us both.  They are simple, and to the point...much like this Dr Seuss quote which I love:

However, I really don't want to have a fully sentimental type of ceremony. We don't declare our love for each other publicly as that really isn't us as neither one of us likes PDA. So it stands to reason that at least one of our readings is going to be something not so mushy to make us giggle and lighten the mood.

The trouble I have found is finding something that represents us both...which isn't written by us. I am definitely not a poet or a writer! The best poem I wrote in school was....There was a cat, who sat on a mat, who then got really fat for eating lots of rats! So...yes......I definitely can't write my own! And yes I was so proud of it that I still remember it :-)

So rather than just reading something out, I have decided to attempt to personalise a reading I found online to reflect us both. I know that most people just find a few readings to read out, but I do really want everything that happens to personally represent us in some way so here goes:

He always leaves the seat up 

And his socks all over the floor

The bookshelf overflows with unused cook books 

His clothes don't make the drawers 

She's not so clean and tidy 

And she likes her food 

If you question why she needs more onesies 

She soon gets in a mood!

He's a very active person 

And complains of aching limbs

She prefers lazy days 

But he'll still try dragging her to the gym! 

He’ll go and dive with great white sharks

With no fear of a bite

But she’ll get rid of spiders

As they give him a fright

She's thoughtful when he looks at her 

A smile upon his face 

Will he look that good in 50 years 

When his dentures aren't in place?! 

He says he loves her figure 

And her mental prowess too 

But when gravity takes her over 

Will she charm with her IQ? 

She says she loves his cooking

And getting breakfast is a must 

And of course she thinks he's handsome 

Which in her eyes is a plus! 

They're both not wholly perfect 

But who are we to judge 

He can be high maintenance 

And she can hold a grudge! 

All that said and done 

They have lots of fun together 

And I hope as I am sure you do 

That this day will last forever. 

He'll be more than just her husband 

He'll also be her friend 

And she'll be more than just his wife 

She'll be his soul mate -till the end.

So anyone that is better at writing than me (which is most people!), please do let me know if you think it could be made better!  I have pretty much changed most of the original, apart from the last few verses just so the reading is genuinely about us. The original can be found here: Original Poem - He never leaves the seat up

Equally let me know if you think it sounds ridiculous! I won't be offended..:-)

I think that will be all we will be sharing in terms of the readings as I do want the rest to be special for everyone in attendance.

Also please do subscribe on the front page to get new posts by email if for some reason you do actually read this, I am then going to stop spamming facebook :-)

Nadia xx

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DIY Save the Dates

Mike and I have had our wedding venue booked since about April time, but I actually decided not to bother handing out Save the Dates. In my head I was just going to tell people when the wedding was and ask them to keep it free. This is exactly what I did, I told some people to their face and text others and just expected them to write it down somewhere or put in on an electronic calendar.

It was only when Mike asked me to remind him of our wedding date that I realised people would not remember the date no matter how much I thought they would!!! Especially as most people don't use electronic calendars and probably didn't even have a 2015 calendar when I told them the date...oh and lets face it other people have more going on in their life then remembering our wedding date!!

I got some quotes for Save The Dates and they were (in my opinion) a little bit of a rip off and not very "us".  Every time I get a quote for anything wedding related I am always astonished at how much things are....which then results in me considering leaving teaching and entering the wedding business! As I was still not sure on whether they were needed, I did not feel comfortable shelling out lots of money - in my head I now compare every wedding related expense to the cost of inviting another person to the actual day.  If it comes anywhere near to that cost I triple think about it as both Mike and I would definitely prefer to be able to invite another person to the wedding and not spend unnecessary money on things that I really don't think people would care that much about.  Saying that, as we are having a summer wedding and a lot of people book holidays, I decided to make my own! I am not creative at all and if I was I could probably have done a job that was 300% better...but its the effort that counts right?!

Our first decision was what to put on the Save The Date...and it was a choice between a picture of Mike and I (which is what Google Images told me most people have on theirs!!) or something else. I didn't particularly want people staring at a picture of us pinned to their fridge so the next option was Penguins! I love penguins...I have penguin pyjamas, socks, slippers, salt and pepper shakers, calendars... and Mike even took me to feed penguins which was one of the best experiences ever, so that was an easy decision for us.

So off I went, went backwards and forwards with a design, chose my fonts, printed them off on some card and Mike and I cut them up...

We stuck a little bow in the corner and there we have our final save the dates! They aren't professional, some are cut wonky, but we did think about the design and everything was done by us without using a single template! Dare I actually say that we preferred these to the quotes we had from "professionals" as there was something satisfying about knowing that we had done the hard work. We even had somewhat heated discussions over which shade of green to choose! (which was pointless as they all printed out the same anyway!!)

So apologies if you receive a wonky one, our guillotine was a bit blunt and neither of us can cut straight, but here's our final versions printed on cream card!

PS Emerald green and gold is our colour scheme as well :-)

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