A Surprise Vow Renewal for a 25th wedding anniversary, organised by Sunil for his wife Sejal…
When Camilla, the events planner at Squirrels Nest, contacted me to see if I would be the celebrant for Sunil and Sejal , my immediate thought was “are they Star Wars fans?”. The date they had set was 4th May, and what a marketing success that was, “May the 4th be With You”. Had it been a themed wedding, I would, of course, have been delighted (I already have a Princess Leah costume ( 🙂 ).
The reality was even more delightful…
Sunil had booked a week at the glorious Squirrels Nest Treehouse Retreats for he and his wife’s Silver Wedding Anniversary. She did not know where they were heading.
She also did not know that Sunil had arranged for the Squirrels Nest private caterers to come in every evening and cook their meals.
She also did not know that he had been liaising with me for several months and sharing his beautiful and unique love story so I could create them an intimate and very private vow renewal/re-wedding, which we called “I Still Do and I Always Will”.
She did not know we had arranged the perfect photographer to come along and take informal and fun photos of them getting ready and me delivering their ceremony
She also did not know , He’d bought a new ring and planned to go down on one knee and ask her to marry him again
And she did not know he had bought her (with the help of their teenage daughter) a beautiful and absolutely perfect, wedding dress.
Now , if that is not earn him a “Most Romantic Man of the Year” award , I don’t know what does!
Twenty-five years ago to the day, 9 short months after meeting and falling in love , they had a very lavish, absolutely gorgeous and very traditional Indian arranged marriage for about 1000 guests! Sunil wanted something more organic, natural and intimate to share his ever growing love, gratitude and appreciations of his absolutely stunning wife, Sejal. And he organised it, with a little help from the right people (his daughter, Laura and Camilla from Squirrel’s Nest and Me), to perfection. Even the threatened rain didn’t materialise until much later
I cant wait to see the photos taken by Laura and Camilla and those taken my amazing photographer friend Livia.
When they arrive I will write a part 2 and tell you more about this perfect intimate venue and our beautiful couple, Sunil and Sejal.
Congratulations Mr and Mrs Popat , I look forward to being invited back to arrange your 50th!
