Wedding bells for Royal family at Udaipur

WEDDING BELLS FOR ROYALS

Shivraj Singh,the scion of the Jodhpur royal family,who got engaged recently is set to tie the knot by the year-end,while Padamja Kumari of the royal family of Udaipur will also marry soon.

Splendid decorations,with the whole city decked up,gala celebrations in typical Rajasthani style,exotic cuisines,royal delicacies and a long guest list including members of the royal family,besides the whos who of the city,Jodhpur is set for a big wedding this year-end.And everyone who loves a regal wedding,is looking forward to the wedding of Shivraj Singh,son of Maharaja Gajraj Singh of Jodhpur.

Shivraj Singh recently got engaged to Gayatri Kumari,princess of Askot in Uttranchal.It was a private affair and the ceremony was held in the presence of members of the royal families and a few close friends of the families.Since then everyone has been speculating about the wedding date,however the marriage will happen only by the end of this year,as doctors are being consulted on Shivraj Singhs condition, said a friend of the royal family in Jodhpur.

Shivraj Singh,the scion of the Jodhpur royal family and an ace polo player,met with an accident in 2005 while playing a match in Jaipur and slipped into coma due to severe head injuries.He had been confined to bed since the last few years and only now has started moving around slowly, added another source.The marriage will be a traditional wedding,much like the recent engagement ceremony at Maharaja Gaj Singhs residence,Umaid Bhawan,in Jodhpur.The wedding will be solemnised at Umaid Bhawan,like most royal weddings.The guest list will include big names from politics,besides some Bollywood actors as well, added the source.

And there is going to be another royal wedding.Princess Padamja Kumari,daughter of Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur is also set to tie the knot soon. ( By Divya Kaushik Times News Network)

 

Alumni Profiles, Padmaja Kumari Mewar Udaipur

Padmaja Kumari Mewar is a paradox.

She is strongly traditional and, at the same time, boldly progressive. Her concern is the past, which keeps her endlessly focused on the future. She's both of the Eastern and Western world -- and yet she is typical of neither. Her heritage defines her, but in her family she is like no one who has come before her.
Ms. Mewar is more than just one paradox -- she is many. And yet, in her life and in her business running India's HRH Hotels, all of these strands come together seamlessly.

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Born into a family of Indian royalty that traces its lineage back 77 generations, Ms. Mewar is the latest in her family line to serve the Udaipur region in northwest India. Founded by Maharashi Harit Rashi in 734 AD, the State of Mewar, unlike other regions at the time, based its rule on the idea of "custodianship" -- the simple belief that the dewan (prime minister) of the region should act not as king but instead should act as an administrator for the state.

Padmaja Kumari Mewar Udaipur

In the 1,500 years since, custodianship has remained central to the family's mission and duty; thus, it is Ms. Mewar's charge today. An heir to the family legacy, but no longer a dewan in a traditional sense, Ms. Mewar is the Managing Director of Eternal Mewar -- a conglomerate that works to serve and preserve the region in a variety of ways, from education services to hotels and tourism to historical preservation to public health initiatives.

This transition has taken place mostly within the last 60 years. In the middle of the last century, with the affairs of the state changing, the Mewar family began acting not only as custodians to their kingdom but also purveyors of its traditions.

During the 1950s and 60s, Ms. Mewar's grandfather, Mahrana Bhagwat Singhji, re-imagined the family's mission -- extending the call for custodianship beyond the surrounding region to the world at large. Foreign dignitaries on official visits to the state were given lodge at the family palaces and educational and preservation foundations were established in the region.

Later, Ms. Mewar's father, Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar, extended these programs to include improved local health care and support for regional arts and crafts. These moves, each with an eye on the future, preserved both the region and the family.

Yet, it was another of her father's decisions -- the one that sent his daughter thousands of miles away from home to study in the United States -- that may very well have been his boldest.

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Padmaja Kumari Newar went to Northfield Mount Hermon, a private boarding school in western Massachusetts, when she was only 16. It was her father's idea.

Studying at a college in America was a necessity, her father thought, and Ms. Mewar would only be better prepared by coming for high school as well. In the summer of 1997, her first in America, he enrolled her in the Exploration Senior Program. The transition, Ms. Mewar recalls, both at Explo and in high school, was difficult -- culturally, of course, but also scholastically.

"In the States, it's common knowledge that what you read in a book is not always the same as the way it is on the outside," she says. "When going to Exploration, I realized the style of education was completely different. I remember still thinking in terms of right and wrong answers. It truly forces you to think for yourself. You know, the whole idea of not necessarily having the right or wrong answer, I think, is one of the things that I picked up in America and I realized it is just much more closely aligned to the real world."

After high school, Ms. Mewar matriculated to Tulane University in New Orleans, where she studied international relations and minored in business. Upon graduation, she moved to New York City and took a job at the Four Seasons. Over the course of two years she worked her way from the front desk clerk to special service liaison for the hotel's most important clients.

Having grown up in a family where custodianship is key and then having worked in the hotel industry in the US, Ms. Mewar developed a unique understanding of how to serve.

"In India, it's in our DNA," Ms. Mewar said in an interview with the New York Times. "We learn it in our nuclear families from the earliest age. On the other hand, Westerners deliver a kind of seamless service that I admire. You don't see the waiter refilling your glass but it gets done."

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After her time at the Four Seasons, Ms. Mewar has returned home to join Eternal Mewar, working as Managing Director and traveling extensively to promote the dozen or so palaces and hunting lodges that make up the hotel chain.

In the past year, she's traveled throughout Europe -- to Germany, Russia, Spain, and Italy -- as HRH Hotels attempts to diversify and expand into new markets. All the while, the notion of custodianship is never far from her mind or far from the company's mission. Today, in addition to the hotels, Eternal Mewar runs schools, museums, and galleries, and also funds charities and helps support local businesses.

"We are very serious about our communities and services and the way we go about doing business," she says. "It really is a living heritage. Every family has family traditions, family heritage, and it [custodianship] is such a strong part of our identity and heritage. My father's worked very hard, and it's only fair for me to think progressively and make sure it doesn't end here. It's a great responsibility. We want to go on for another 1,500 years at least."

All eyes now on reception, likely to be star-studded

By Dipak Kumar Dash,TNN | Mar3,2011

NEW DELHI: After the big, fat wedding of Lalit, youngest son of politician Kanwar Singh Tanwar, with Sohna ex-MLA Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria's daughter, Yogita, now all eyes are on the grand reception that Tanwar is throwing on Sunday evening at a five-star hotel. Despite Tanwar's denial, there are reports that top Bollywood stars including Bipasa Basu and Malaika Arora would join the party. Those close to Tanwars said actress Manisha Koirala had attended the reception party of his eldest son.

The bride's father, Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria owns a Gurgaon-based real estate firm – SS Builders.

About the transformation of the wedding venue to a five-star venue, Rupinder Walia of DS decorators said, "When we visited the site where the wedding took place, it was a mustard and sugarcane field. We took about a month to create this ambience and brought artists from different states."

But Tanwar is not the only one to spend big on a marriage. Several Gujjar leaders from Delhi and its suburbs have hosted lavish weddings. Mercedes and BMWs have become common gifts. "An MLA's son got a farmhouse, an Endeavour and two Santros recently besides huge cash. In several cases bride's parents, who are into politics and are either sitting MLAs or ex-MLAs are gifting two Mercedes cars or a Hummer and huge quality of gold and silver," said a resident of Ghitorni.

Landless and poor Gujjars say their community leaders, who have made their fortune due to the real estate boom, are setting a bad precedent for
the rest.

"Because of this trend, even those who have nothing with them take huge loans for expensive gifts to the grooms," said Raghuvir Bidhuri, an elderly from Badarpur village.

Barbers, who play a key role in these marriages, seem to be making a fortune. "There has been a huge change in recent years. Earlier, we used to get cash gifts of Rs 1,000 or less in a marriage. Then people started giving us motorcycles. Now, we even get cars as gifts," said Vinod Kumar, a barber from Ghaziabad.

Lavish Indian wedding celebrations continue

Royal Wedding, Lalit Tanwar with Yogita Jaunapuria at Delhi

March04, 2011

A helicopter was among the gifts for the groom in what is being described as one of India's most expensive weddings.

The week-long nuptials of Lalit Tanwar to his bride Yogita Jaunapuria are lavish and attended by thousands.

The pair married at a family farmhouse on Tuesday - the groom reportedly wore a garland made of bank notes and received the helicopter as a gift.

On Thursday the families hosted a community reception. Celebrations are set to culminate this weekend in Delhi. Thousands of people - including Bollywood stars and politicians - have been invited to attend.

Mr Tanwar's father Kanwar is a hugely wealthy city politician from the ruling Congress party - while the bride's father is an influential former Delhi politician - making the arranged marriage a perfect power deal.

The exact details of the ceremony - which consists of four functions over a seven-day period - have been fiercely disputed. "I don't understand why there is so much hoopla about this marriage," Kanwar Singh Tanwar told the Times of India.

"All estimates of this marriage in the media are speculation." In the Indian Express, he was quoted as saying: "True, a Bell 429 helicopter was given but it was a simple wedding."

Extravaganza

Thursday's Indian newspapers say that the wedding was celebrated with 100 dishes and 12 giant TV screens to broadcast proceedings.

The Hindustan Times reported that 2,000 guests were invited to the pre-wedding ceremony last week and each was given a silver biscuit, a safari suit and $500 (£307) in cash, while at a different ritual the bride's family welcomed the groom with gifts worth $5m (£3m).

There was even a reported gift of $5,500 (£3,381) for the groom's barber.

The Hindustan Times says the ceremony has been held at the right time - because this week the government announced plans to introduce a bill before parliament which limits the amount of food that can be served at weddings - estimated to account for nearly 15% of the country's total food-grain waste.

Estimates as to the cost of the extravaganza vary hugely. The Times of India calculated it to be at one billion rupees ($22m/£13.5m), while the Mail Today said that it was around $55m (£33.8m).

The celebrations are due to culminate on Sunday with a VIP reception at a five-star hotel in Delhi - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to attend.

Plan a Regal Wedding in Udaipur

By Sharell Cook for About.com Guide

By Sharell Cook, India Travel Guide

Many girls dream about being a princess on their wedding day. If you're one of them, you can't get much closer to living the dream than a wedding in Udaipur at the City Palace Complex, where the Mewar royal family still resides. And who better to organize the wedding than the royal House of Mewar, and the event planners of their HRH Group of Hotels.

The Mewar royal family were the pioneers in the concept of destination weddings in India, and have been at the forefront of organizing these weddings for over a decade. Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur, Chairman and Managing Director of the HRH Group of Hotels, explains that initially there was a great deal of opposition against holding weddings away from home in India. In order to sell the concept of destination weddings, they had to stage mock marriages. Now the bookings are flowing in.

Foreigners have also become very interested in the idea of getting married, royal style, in India. According to Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar, he's been holding regal weddings for foreigners in Udaipur for around seven years now.

So what makes Udaipur such a standout destination for a wedding in India? Foremost is the setting. Known as the city of lakes and palaces, Udaipur really is one of the most romantic places in India. It's not just marketing hype. Udaipur is an incredibly charming city. A lot of this charm comes from its beautiful, regal palace buildings -- and the best bit, you can get married in them!

The Zenana Mahal  The City Palace Complex Udaipur Photo by Eternal Mewar

Contemporary wedding venues, they are not. However, their uniqueness and historical importance makes them very sought after. These venues offer couples the opportunity to truly live the royal fairy tale on their wedding day.

Let's take a look at some of the regal venues that are available in Udaipur, for weddings of all sizes:

Udaipur Wedding at Jagmandir Palace 

Jag Mandir is situated on an island in the middle of famous Lake Pichola, in Udaipur. It was built in the 17th century and used as a pleasure palace by the Maharanas of Mewar. This makes it an ideal venue for a wedding.

Wedding in Jag Mandir courtyard, Lake Pichola, Udaipur

Extensively redeveloped around a year ago as a complete destination for weddings and other events, Jag Mandir is likely to become one of the hottest regal wedding venues in Rajasthan.

Accommodation is provided in seven suites. To pamper the mind, body, and soul, there is the Panghat Spa and Salon. Other facilities include an all-day cafe, restaurant, and bar.

The superb lake setting also makes Jag Mandir high on romance, and adds to the feel of exclusiveness. Wedding guests are ferried to the venue by boat.

Depending on the size of your wedding, you can choose from a number of locations inside Jag Mandir to hold the ceremony and celebration. The main courtyard, fronted by large marble elephant statues, is pictured above. However, Jag Mandir also has a garden courtyard and lawns where you can get married under the shade of well established trees. There are separate purpose made areas for the stage, buffet, bar, and band.

Large scale weddings aren't a problem as Jag Mandir has, in the past, comfortably held events attended by 5,000 people!

Udaipur Wedding in Manek Chowk

Manek Chowk, which fronts the entrance to the Palace of Kings in the Udaipur City Palace Complex, is the perfect regal venue for a grand wedding of up to 1,000 guests.

Manek Chowk, City Palace Complex, Udaipur Photo courtesy of Eternal Mewa

Constructed by Rana Karan Singhji during the period 1620-1628, Manek Chowk was used for public meetings, ceremonial processions, horse cavalry, elephant parades, and other festivals. To this day, the Mewar royal family still hold festival and special celebrations there.

Manek Chowk and its beautifully laid out Mughal style garden is perhaps the most recognizable part of the Udaipur City Palace Complex. Its lavish events have captured the attention of the media across India and the world.

A wedding in Manek Chowk, surrounded by the magically illuminated palace under the stars, is exactly what royal fairy tales are made of.

More information about getting married at Manek Chowk.

Udaipur Wedding in Zenana Mahal

Zenana Mahal, the Queen's Palace, is an integral part of the Udaipur City Palace Complex. It was built in the early 1600s and has witnessed innumerable royal weddings.

Zenana Mahal, City Palace Complex, Udaipur

Zenana Mahal makes a spectacular wedding venue for up to 500 guests, particularly at night time when it comes alive under the glow of candlelight. Table scattered with flowers, and central fountain add to the magic.

The main courtyard of the Zenana Mahal, known as Laxmi Chowk, was restored and developed as an open air venue to mark the millennium celebrations in 1999-2000. Adorning the courtyard is the Chowmukha pavilion (pictured to the rear of the above photo), resplendent with magnificent chandelier that also casts a warming glow.

Udaipur Wedding in Mor Chowk 

The Mor Chowk

The ornate Mor Chowk (Peacock Courtyard) is often referred to as the most spectacular courtyard of the Udaipur City Palace. The Maharanas of Mewar held exclusive dinners there.

Today, Mor Chowk makes a exquisite venue for an intimate wedding of 20-50 people. Guests can be seated in traditional Indian style, or be served on tables.

One of the most exciting aspects of Mor Chowk as a venue is the entrance. To access Mor Chowk, it's necessary to pass through Badi Chitrashali Chowk with its mesmerizing views, or take the "tunnel" entry from Manek Chowk.  

For more Wedding destinationin Udaipur visit 

http://goindia.about.com/od/gettingmarried/ss/udaipur-palace-weddings.htm

Courtsey photo by: Eternal Mewar

Two-love:Tennis Star Mahesh Bhupati and Bollywood actress Lara Dutta pose after their wedding ceremony in Goa

Sunday, Feb 20, 2011

Panaji: Tennis-star Mahesh Bhupati and Bollywood actress Lara Dutta exchanged wedding vows in Victorian style at the sunset point of the erstwhile Portuguese fort of Aguada near here on Saturday.

“We had a memorable time at the wedding. Looking forward to the rest of our lives together,” the celebrity couple said in their message after the wedding.

Bhupati, 36, and Lara, 32, had a specially decorated shamiana set up for them on the premises of a five-star hotel near the Candolim beach on the 16th century fort.

The wedding was out of bounds for the media, but sources said it was a grand affair.

Lara, a former Miss Universe, wore a white gown while Mahesh was in a black suit, the sources said.

Bollywood actors Ritesh Deshmukh, Raveena Tandon, Dia Mirza, Priyanka Chopra, Celina Jaitley and Boman Irani and designers Wendell Rodricks and fashion model Sheetal Malhar were among 200 invitees who attended the wedding.

From the sporting field, Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes, along with his wife Ria Pillai, were among the invitees.

The couple, after registering their marriage in Mumbai, had flown to Goa, where they had a ‘Sangeet' at Club Fresh, a hang-out place on the Candolim beach.

The ‘Sangeet' was an all-night affair, as Lara and Mahesh jived to some recent Bollywood numbers.

The five-star resort hosting the wedding has offered a menu of Goan food, Sushi and Thai cuisine for the guests.

(sourced:PTI)

Wedding bill heads for $10m

By Frances Morton 
Sunday Jan 9, 2011

In the end, it ended like they all do - he does, she does ... and then they were wed.
But, at almost $10 million, the nuptials of an Auckland doctor and Chicago billionaire yesterday became the biggest and most expensive wedding New Zealand has seen.
Former Auckland Diocesan School for Girls student Pooja Chitgopekar married Vikram Aditya Kumar before about 500 guests at the Formosa Golf Resort.

Vikram Aditya Kumar and Pooja Chitgopekar
had about 500 guests at the Formosa Golf Resort.
Photo  Herald on Sunday

Along the way, an Auckland street was shut for a Bollywood dance-style party while guests at the reception were entertained by international acts imported for the occasion.
London-based dance group RDB performed, along with the King of Bhangra pop music, Daler Mehndi, and Signature, a Bhangra dance act that took out second place in Britain's Got Talent.
The bride, wearing a strapless dusky pink gown of tiered chiffon, and groom, in a grey and white pinstriped suit, burst through a white screen to make their entrance at the reception.
Proceedings began with a toast of Dom Perignon champagne followed by speeches.
The venue was decked out with two container-loads of Indian decorations from Mumbai including engraved thrones for the bride and groom and a sculpture of Ganesh, the Hindu elephant-headed god.
Vikram's father Shalabh Kumar, chief executive of electronics firm AVG Advanced Technologies, told the Herald on Sunday he had been "inventing this wedding" since his son was a toddler. He said the bill for the wedding ran into the "high seven figure" mark.
"I'm contributing a lot to your GDP. I think the Department of Tourism should give me a commission."
Nearly three-quarters of the wedding guests were from overseas.
American ladies with blonde bouffants in jewel-toned gowns mingled with Indian women in dazzling gold and silver encrusted saris while security men with earpieces and dark shades kept a watchful eye on proceedings.
Four priests officiated over the formal Hindu wedding ceremony at a marquee in the grounds of Formosa on Saturday, one year to the day after the happy couple met in New Zealand.
Shalabh said marrying Chitgopekar was his son's "dream come true". Chitgopekar was born in England, attended Auckland Diocesan School for Girls, trained at Auckland University medical school and won the title of Miss India Earth in 2007.
"She's a high achiever," said Shalabh of his stunning new daughter-in-law. "She's essentially an Indian actress who is not an actress, but a doctor."
Chitgopekar and Kumar's union is being filmed by the Indian television network for the reality show My Big Fat Indian Wedding and will be broadcast to 150 million viewers. It is also set to become a feature film.
By Frances Morton