TALES OF AN ANITA DONGRE BRIDE by Veena Rayapareddi

When I met Timo in November 2011, I was living in New York as a successful online advertising executive. I moved to US from India after my MBA. It was all meant to be and it was as if he moved to New York from Sydney just for me. The day he landed and we met we knew we are meant to be together forever!

In the first week of March, we decided to get married on April 20th, 2013 in New Zealand as it has beautiful nature and endless landscapes and would be perfect for our intimate wedding. Now the question comes if 6 weeks is enough to make all the preparations. We both being extremely efficient as our career in online advertising requires us to be, we did it perfectly and everything was decided and organized online in 10 days – Flights, accommodation, photographers, church, music, cake, wedding dinner, marriage license, spa, make-up/hair, flowers, honeymoon, jewellery and the most crucial item on our list.. Anita Dongre Bridal Couture.

One of the big and exciting decisions for a wedding is what we are going to wear on our special day. I started searching for bridal attires with white and some red. Sydney has no market for Indian wedding dresses and I know if I want to get the best I have to tap India.

I looked at the blogs, popular sites and contacted a few top designers whose collections I liked. When you are trying to find something from a different country, you are dependent on the internet and communication, a prompt response and attention to detail is mostly appreciated. That’s what I received from Anita Dongre’s staff.

Being from the online industry, I was impressed that they have an e-commerce site which helped me to pay smoothly. Since it was an urgent order, they understood and promised me it will be delivered on time. I asked them if I should send my measurements by e-mail and got impressed again that they said ‘ let’s get on Skype.’ They showed me exactly where to measure and it was just as easy as meeting them in person.

We went back and forth regarding some custom embroidery and design I wanted on the blouse and the dupatta. For every change I made, they sent a revised sketch for me to approve and then I just had to wait for them to deliver the final piece. It was that simple and easy.

For being such a calm and effective bride, by the end of March I panicked a little. ‘What if I dont’ get it on time and if I have to make alterations’? At the same time Timo and I were completely confident. Knowing the personal care and humbleness of Indian nature, we knew no matter what, it will be delivered and they will take care of it. The dress arrived on April 9th and I tried it on at home. It fit perfectly and I didn’t had to make even a small alteration. I was very happy.

Timo preferred not to see the dress before the wedding. In his tradition it’s bad luck if the groom sees the bride’s dress before the ceremony. I had to hide it all the way to New Zealand. He left for the church 10 minutes before I did. The church we got married was built in 1880 and is on the edge of Lake Tekapo surrounded by the snow peak mountains. The lake is always turquoise in colour.

On our wedding day, the weather decided to suddenly drop to 4 degrees C and started to drizzle. It was 18 degrees the week before. I could have been worried that it wasn’t a picture perfect day but it couldn’t have been more perfect. Because of the rain in fact it made the whole day so dreamy and magical as you can see in the pictures. When I arrived at the Church and Timo first saw me in my dress he was mesmerized and told me later that he had tears in his eyes as he felt he was the luckiest man on earth. The Priest said to him “Isn’t she a beautiful bride!”

I couldn’t have made a better choice with my dress. I wanted a simple look and some simple work on my dress, a little antique looking and some heavy jewellery. I have received so many compliments on how gorgeous and beautiful the dress is. Even received compliments like ‘you look like a Maharani/Goddess’. I will cherish this Lehenga and will wear it many more times and would want to pass it on to my kids for them to cherish it and pass it on to their kids.