How they met
Aditi, an architect from Rajouri Garden, and Karan, a product manager from Faridabad, met at a friend’s Holi party in 2022 and bonded over a shared hatred of loud music. Two years later they were planning a sangeet.
Planning the wedding
They planned it themselves over eleven months with a day-of coordination team. Aditi kept a shared spreadsheet with every quote; Karan handled the vendor calls. They fixed a ₹30 lakh target using the budget calculator and ended about 7% over.
The ceremonies
A combined mehendi and sangeet on the first evening, a haldi the next morning with only 60 close family members, and the wedding that night with pheras at 11:40 pm.
The décor
Blush, peach and ivory flowers with lots of greenery. The pergola arch from the pheras was moved to the reception entrance, and the mehendi umbrellas became the haldi backdrop.
The outfits
Aditi wore a blush lehenga with silver zari for the wedding and a mint sharara for the mehendi. Karan wore an ivory sherwani with a pale pink safa.
The food
A Punjabi and Awadhi menu with a live tandoor, a chaat counter and Karan’s grandmother’s gajar halwa recipe cooked by the caterer.
Music and entertainment
A DJ for the sangeet, a live qawwali set during dinner at the wedding, and a dhol-only baraat.
Favourite moment
Aditi’s younger brother read out a letter he had written to her during the haldi. Nobody’s makeup survived.
Their budget tip
Combine two functions into one evening. Merging mehendi and sangeet saved them one venue night, one décor set-up and one full dinner — around ₹5 lakh.
Advice for other couples
Freeze the guest list for each function by month four. Every name added after that cost them twice: once in food and once in stress.
About the vendors
The day-of coordinator was the best money they spent. They would book the photographer even earlier; their first choice was already taken.
The wedding at a glance
Aditi and Karan wanted a wedding that felt like a long garden party rather than a production. They chose a farmhouse off MG Road because it sat halfway between both families — one in West Delhi, the other in Faridabad — and because its pergola walkway made the aisle almost design itself.
They were strict about the budget from the start. After running the numbers through the budget calculator, they fixed a target of ₹30 lakh for 280 guests and two days, tracked every quote in a shared sheet, and finished at about ₹32 lakh. Most of the overrun came from the generator and lighting, which they had underestimated, and from twenty guests added in the last six weeks.
What they spent
Roughly a quarter went on catering, a fifth on the venue and generator, and about fifteen per cent on décor. They deliberately spent more than usual on photography — close to ten per cent — because, as Aditi put it, "the flowers were dead by Monday, the photos are on our wall." Outfits and jewellery were kept modest, with Aditi re-wearing her mother’s necklace for the wedding.
What they would change
They would have booked the photographer two months earlier, frozen the guest list sooner and asked more pointed questions about the generator. They would not change the decision to combine the mehendi and sangeet, which gave them a relaxed, happy evening and saved around ₹5 lakh.
Planning a farmhouse wedding of your own? Start with our Gurgaon venue guide and the hotel vs farmhouse comparison. This story is a fictional example created for development.
Vendor credits
- Venue
- Kikar Grove Farms
- Day-of coordination
- Little Big Day
- Photography & film
- Frame by Frame Studio
- Décor
- Mogra & Moss
- Catering
- Chulha & Co. Caterers
- Bridal makeup
- Studio Noor
- Mehendi
- Henna by Heer
- Music
- Sufi Sham Qawwali Ensemble
