Madeleine + Zanak - Indian Ceremony by Nina Claire Photography - Together Journal

We wanted something classic and timeless that would represent both our cultural backgrounds.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We’re both doctors. Zanak grew up in England, and Maddy grew up in Tasmania. We moved to Queensland a few months apart in 2020/2021. We love having adventures together, our favourite thing to do together is a road trip! Most of our favourite memories are from very early morning drives (getting a Maccas coffee on the way, of course)! to our next adventure. We both enjoy reading in the early morning. We live together on the Sunshine Coast with our two cats in our new house. We love going for early morning walks and spending the morning having coffee at the beach.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We met at a doctors’ society event when Maddy first moved to Queensland. We hit it off really well that evening but Zanak thought Maddy had a boyfriend so he was too scared to make a move.

We ended up having cocktails on the beach the next day because Maddy was meeting up with some of Zanak’s friends. Little did she know that he was skydiving onto the beach. Safe to say, she was very impressed.

We liked each other straight away.

Maddy’s first impression of Zanak was that he was really funny, she had just watched Bridgerton so she really like his British accent, she also thought he was extremely handsome.

Zanak’s first impression of Maddy was that she was beautiful and that she was very clever and funny/witty. He liked how easy it was to talk to her and that everything flowed really nicely.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding. (theme, key styling elements, florals, colour palettes etc.).

The most important thing was that we wanted a really intimate elopement that we could show our families and friends after, since it was so difficult to bring them together, as they’re literally on opposite sides of the world.

We wanted something classic and timeless that would represent both our cultural backgrounds. We wanted the Australian ceremony to be black and white with a European feel.

We wanted the Indian ceremony to have traditional elements such as the bright reds and pinks, and it was important that we had a fireplace for the marriage ceremony. A traditional element for the Indian ceremony is to exchange flower garland,s so we knew we had to incorporate that.. Another fun element is that the couple needs to step into rice on each of the seven traditional laps (saat phere) around the fire.

Zanak led the first four laps around the fire, Maddy led the final three; this symbolised our joining as one.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee, etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

The beauty of our location really set the scene for our wedding, the grounds were stunning and made for an amazing backdrop. The stonework, grounds and fountain were stunning, the pool with the towering trees was perfect for our Australian ceremony. We otherwise kept the decorations simple as we felt the location didn’t need any additional features.

Our florals – particularly Indian garlands were beautiful and added just the right pop of colour. Our simple tulips for the Australian ceremony were perfect and just what we wanted.

Maddy’s Indian outfit added the perfect amount of colour to our Indian ceremony and brought the traditional Indian feel to that ceremony. Maddy also wore traditional Indian jewellery. Some of those were borrowed from Zanak’s sister Trisha, who lives in England. Zanak’s Indian outfit had traditional hand embroidery. This outfit was an Indo-Western blend and took on the shape of a suit while also keeping to Indian styling and materials.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

We think the team we had behind us made everything so much easier! We couldn’t recommend them enough. We would encourage other couples to get the extra help that we had. Their vision and styling helped so much.

We got some inspiration from looking on Pinterest, although it was hard to find any examples of weddings quite like ours! Indian weddings tend to be massive family affairs that go on for multiple days and involve many people. There also aren’t many examples online that we could find of Indian/Western blend weddings. We, for that reason, had to use our imaginations and creativity, with the help of our amazing team, to dream up our perfect wedding. We couldn’t be happier with the result.

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

Nina was amazing, she completely captured the emotions of the day and has given us some beautiful memories to look back on and show our families and future kids! She made us both feel very comfortable and confident. She has such an eye for light and colours, and we’re beyond thrilled with how our photos turned out.

Ben (our celebrant) was amazing and great at helping us relax; he also really helped ahead of the wedding with prompts for us to write our vows. He gave a lovely speech that he wrote from the memories we provided to him. That was really touching and a highlight of the wedding.

Our videographer from Allume was lovely and again made us feel so relaxed, we love our wedding video, it captured little parts of the day that we had forgotten!

Our cake was delicious and made egg-free (Maddy is allergic), which was great! It was beautifully decorated and fit the theme perfectly.

Our coordinators from Elope brought everything together and suggested the other fantastic vendors. Emily had amazing suggestions and really pulled it all off seamlessly.

Everyone involved was fantastic. We had a really small team, but they each played a crucial role. We couldn’t recommend them enough.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?

We had two ceremonies to represent our cultural backgrounds. Both of our Indian ceremony outfits came directly from India and were handmade for us. The red lehenga that Maddy wore is a traditional wedding colour for Gujarati Indian people. She had to custom-order a matching veil. The supplier was amazing and so friendly to work with. They provided regular WhatsApp updates, which were very much appreciated. Zanak’s Indian outfit was a Bandhgala or jodhpuri, it was ivory with champagne/rose and gold embroidery to complement the colours in Maddy’s Lehenga. Maddy wore simple but traditional Indian jewellery, some of which was borrowed from Zanak’s sister.

For the Australian ceremony, Maddy wore a simple satin ballgown style dress by Nicole Milano, bought from White Lily Couture in Brisbane, she had a veil with floral designs at the bottom. Zanak wore a classic black suit to fit with the timeless, European feel.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Maddy’s engagement ring is again fitting our timeless and classic style, it’s a round solitaire diamond with a simple gold band. It has a tulip petal design that houses the diamond. Maddy’s wedding ring is a simple diamond band, Zanak’s is a gold patterned band. We bought our wedding bands together, which was a really special moment in the lead-up to our wedding. We wanted classic styles that we could never tire of, and we both love looking at them every day.

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

Photography, the venue and the videographer were all really important to us. We really looked forward to having stunning photos to treasure, we plan to watch the video on our anniversary.

This has definitely paid off for us, we couldn’t be happier with our choice.  The photos are probably our favourite part and we look at them every day, we’ve put them up in frames around the house.

We also prioritised getting the wedding rings we liked best, as these are a daily reminder of our love for each other.

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

The night before, we stayed apart, Zanak slept in the pool house, and Maddy slept in the main venue. We both snuck into each other’s accommodation to leave special gifts and letters. That was a really magical moment and added to the excitement of what was to come the following day. We didn’t see each other from then until the ceremony, although Zanak left hints that he was thinking about Maddy by leaving her hot chips and coffee in the morning, which really helped her getting ready process!

During the Indian ceremony there is a part where the bride and groom exchange sweets, Maddy had made these sweets prior to the wedding, Zanak bit Maddy’s finger accidentally during this exchange, which was actually a big highlight because it was very funny and broke the tension.

It rained during the Australian ceremony which we really liked because we’ve had rain for all of our big relationship moments – our first proper date, our engagement, it also ended up raining on our honeymoon (thanks Cyclone Alfred).

We also found out right before the wedding that Maddy is pregnant! She’s currently in the second trimester, and we can’t wait to welcome our baby!