I had been to Udaipur about 15 years ago on a family holiday and immediately fell in love with the city. Udaipur has such a beautiful landscape with the Aravalli hills surrounding the tranquillity of Lake Pichola and the unique Indian history and regal architecture was sure to create a wonderful setting for our wedding and festivities.

Ashir and I visited Udaipur in 2008, he had never been to Rajasthan and I wanted him to see what a beautiful place Udaipur was. We were only there for 2 days and were planning to see 3 venues. We heard about Devi Garh at the last minute and thought we would take a quick look at the venue just for comparison purposes to the other 3. As soon as we arrived at Devi Garh and stepped into it grounds we both loved the venue and knew it was the perfect place for us to get married. The history and restoration of the fort was combined with modern interiors and such was this contrast we both immediately knew that this was a special venue which would reflect both our personalities.

As we were organising two weddings in different countries in just 6 months, we knew a wedding planner would be invaluable. Anita from Tania-Tapel was the perfect choice. Anita had many years experience in organising Indian weddings in the UK, so she knew what British Asian brides required for their big day and the added advantage was that she was based in Mumbai, which was 1 hour's flight to Udaipur. From early on Anita knew the type of wedding we wanted and once that trust was established it was relatively easy to plan the wedding through Anita. We practically planned and organised the wedding through email and photos!

Once we decided that a wedding planner would be invaluable for us we set about researching and finding the right planner. Ashir found Tania-Tapel and once we read the reviews and had spoken to Anita we knew she would be the right person for us.

As Anita was based in India she was in the same time zone as the Venue, which avoided unnecessarily time delays in relaying information about our requirements at Devi Garh. She was also able to source the best photographer, make-up and mehendi artist from Mumbai. Anita was always listening to our suggestions as well as drawing on her experiences and communicating to us what she felt would and wouldn't work for a wedding in India. She made sure we did not over look small details, but also kept in mind the overall feel we wanted for our wedding. Anita worked really hard and was very quick and responsive on email despite the time difference. She really saved me a lot time, effort and stress. I would definitely recommend having a wedding planner, especially if you are having the wedding abroad

For the civil ceremony, I wore an Ivory asymmetric two-piece outfit with gold and silver embroidery and Swarovski crystals. It was a fusion eastern/western design which had a slight A-line skirt and a one shoulder boned corset. I wore silver shoes with diamantes, my bouquet was a simple hand held with 20 ivory roses accented with diamantes. My matching jewellery was made and designed my Mona Vora along with my outfits.

For the Indian ceremony, I wore a deep red 2 piece outfit with a fishtail skirt and boned corset. To give my outfit a Rajasthani look, the skirt was heavily embroidered with 6 different designs while the corset was simply edged with a matching border. My wedding jewellery was made and designed by Mona Vora along with the outfit.

Although I had input into all my outfits changing the style, cut and complete colour to make them my own, I had the most input on my reception outfit. I explained to Mona from Mona Vora the style, design and colour that I wanted and she made a rough sketch, once I was happy we chose the material that I liked. The result was a full length Aqua blue dress, with a square neck, deep 'V' back, fitted ruched bodice and full skirt. The dress had Swarovski crystal straps and a front panel on the skirt covered in crystals.

Ashir took into consideration what colours l was wearing as we both wanted to compliment each other and after much deliberation opted for outfits by Amara in London. The material and comfort factor was of key importance to Ashir as he wanted to keep as cool as possible in the heat of the day and was aware that he would be arriving on an elephant which was a complete surprise to me!

We had 150 guests as wanted a intimate personal wedding. We were lucky to have so many of our close friends and family from all over the world fly out to India for our wedding

We wanted a small outdoor wedding ceremony with our close friends and family. It was a simple setting in white with red and pink roses.I think it was an extremely memorable day for our friends and family as many of them had never been to India or Udaipur. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and thought it was an amazing wedding. Some have even commented to us that "it was the best wedding they had been to"! For me, the most surprising moment was seeing Ashir arrive at Devi Garh on an elephant!!

Describe the reception - how was the setting decorated, did you have a theme?

The reception was also outdoors at Devi Garh overlooking the Aravali Hills, there was a beautiful sunset as everyone sipped champagne, watched the fire eater and mingled before dinner. For the sit down dinner, the tables were simply set with white linen, blue orchids and white roses centre pieces in tall vases. The surrounding trees were decorated with fairy lights

At the Champagne reception - champagne, beer and juices were served For the dinner, we decided on Rajasthani thalis to be served along with wine, beer and soft drinks. Our cake was made by Devi Garh, it was a 3 tier chocolate cake covered with vanilla butter cream. The cake was decorated with blue orchids

Our first dance was "You do something to me" by Paul Wellar

We left India the day after the wedding and flew to the Phi Phi Islands off the cost of Thailand for 3 days, we then travelled to Vietnam for 1 week, then flew onto China for 1 week and lastly flew to Japan for 1 week before we returned back to London. Ashir planned and organised an amazing honeymoon for us

Bride name	Sonal Patel
Groom name	Ashir Patel
Date of wedding	Civil Ceremony on 20th March 2010
	Indian Wedding and Reception on 4th April 2010
Venue	Devi Garh, Udaipur
Wedding Planner	Tania-Tapel. www.tania-tapel.com
Bride's Dress	Mona Vora
Groom's Dress	Amara www.amaralondon.com
Photographer	Cory Goldberg