We met 10 years ago at a friend’s 22nd birthday party and we were instantly attracted to each other. Unfortunately I was leaving for London the following weekend and Nav was planning to move to Singapore for a year for work. We stayed in touch as friends and reconnected when I moved back from London. After six months of dating Nav asked me to move to Hong Kong with him.
Quite early on we realised that neither of us had felt this kind of chemistry before — we really fell for each other. We still feel that chemistry and we know we’re meant to be together — as corny as that sounds. We’re still living in Hong Kong.
Our lives are pretty stressful with work and Nav doing his MBA (he even had to do assignments and exams throughout the week of our wedding and honeymoon!) so in our downtime we relax by going to the beach with our dog or hiking.
It was on one of those hikes that Nav proposed. We were flying home to Australia the next day for Christmas with both our families. We went to a spot he wanted to show me that overlooked the whole of Hong Kong, then he got down on one knee.
As we were having two wedding ceremonies, I did a lot of research on Indian wedding styling and then developed the layout from Etsy suppliers. The idea was to incorporate both Indian and Australian aspects into each event to ensure both cultures were represented. We wanted it to be fuss-free and to focus on the celebrations and everyone coming together.
We put our efforts into the cultural elements, the music, the food and the alcohol and splurged on the videography and photography because our wedding is something we want our children to be able to look back on and watch in 10/20/30 years.
All our Indian outfits were bought on a family trip to India in October 2019, before Covid hit. My sister-in-law shopped for her wedding at the same time so we spent an entire week going back and forth to different shops in Punjab. Each piece is one of a kind and that’s what I love about Indian clothing.
My white wedding dress started to get made when we landed in Sydney, two weeks before the wedding. I know many brides would find that stressful but I trusted Mariam and knew it would turn out amazing. Sometimes you just have to trust your suppliers, they’re the experts — just make sure you do your research when selecting them or get recommendations from friends.
One thing that didn’t go to plan was when the DJ accidentally played the full version of our wedding song (Elton John’s Can you feel the love tonight?), with Pumbaa and Timon from The Lion King speaking over the top. It was actually hilarious. We were just so thankful that Covid hadn’t interrupted our plans, despite last minute cancelled international flights, transiting through countries to get to our own wedding, navigating hotel quarantines… The small things that didn’t go right just didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
Photographer: Bek Smith | Videographer: Moon & Back Co | Groom’s Attire: Raja Fashions | Bride’s Attire: Mariam Seddiq | Bride’s indian ceremony dress: Purchased in Punjab, India | Indian ceremony location: Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara, Revesby | Reception location: Himalaya Pakistani Indian Restaurant, Rockdale | Catering: Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara, Revesby | Second wedding location: Mindaribba Weddings | Flora: Blooms on Darby | Makeup + Hair: Sarah Laidlaw | Celebrant: Lillian Lyon lyonheart.com.au | Groom’s shoes: Dolce & Gabbana | Bride’s shoes: Roger Vivier | Bride’s jewellery: Gifted from parents in law | Rings: Bee’s Diamonds | Bride’s fragrance: Black Orchid by Tom Ford | Groom’s fragrance: Sauvage by Dior | Marquee: Included in venue hire | Catering + beverages: Fennel + Co Catering | Band: Jackson Broadway Music | DJ: DJ Vinny | Dhol drums: Vijay Bhasin Music | Cake: Kathryn Chu
