How they met
Meera, a doctor from Chennai, and Arjun, a chartered accountant from Delhi, met on a trek in Himachal in 2021 when Arjun lent her his spare gloves. The gloves were never returned.
Planning the wedding
A Udaipur-based planner handled the local vendors and permissions; the couple visited twice, once to choose the venue and once for a full recce. Planning took fourteen months because the palace was booked a year ahead.
The ceremonies
A welcome lunch and mehendi on day one, a combined Tamil and North Indian wedding on day two with a morning muhurtham and evening pheras, and a farewell brunch on day three.
The décor
Ivory and gold with marigold accents. The palace courtyards needed very little: diyas, candles, low floral runners and a simple mandap by the water.
The outfits
Meera wore a Kanjeevaram silk sari in the morning and a red and gold lehenga for the pheras. Arjun wore a veshti for the morning ceremony and an ivory sherwani in the evening.
The food
A South Indian banana-leaf lunch after the muhurtham, and a Rajasthani and North Indian dinner with laal maas, gatte ki sabzi and a live jalebi counter.
Music and entertainment
Nadaswaram players for the morning ceremony, Manganiyar folk singers at the mehendi and a DJ on the terrace until the 10 pm cut-off, then an indoor after-party.
Favourite moment
Arriving by boat at sunset with both grandmothers already waiting at the ghat, waving.
Their budget tip
Decide early which costs you host. They covered rooms and meals for everyone but asked friends to book flights, and said so on the invite — nobody minded.
Advice for other couples
Put elders on the ground floor and give each one a younger cousin as a buddy. The palace had a lot of steps.
About the vendors
A local planner was essential for boats, permissions and vendors who knew the palace. Their Delhi photographer travelled and was worth the extra cost.
The wedding at a glance
Meera’s family is from Chennai and Arjun’s from Delhi, so a destination wedding solved a real problem: neither family had to host the other, and everyone arrived as guests. They chose Udaipur for the lakes and the light, and a palace hotel because they wanted all 160 guests under one roof for three days.
Planning took fourteen months. The palace was booked a year ahead, and they wanted time to design a wedding that honoured both traditions — a Tamil muhurtham in the morning and North Indian pheras in the evening — without making either feel like an afterthought.
What they spent
The total came to around ₹1.1 crore. The biggest share by far was the palace itself, including rooms for three nights; it was close to half the budget. Food and drinks were about a fifth. Décor was lower than many Udaipur weddings — around eight per cent — because the palace courtyards needed only diyas, candles and flowers. They used the guest stay calculator to work out that 68 rooms would cover everyone, with families sharing and a few cousins in a nearby hotel.
What they would change
They would have hired a second shuttle for the airport runs on arrival day and given elders more rest time between functions. They would not change the boat arrival or the decision to keep both ceremonies. "We thought two weddings in one day would be exhausting," Meera said. "It was, but it was also the best day of our lives."
Considering Udaipur? Read our Udaipur destination guide and Jaipur vs Udaipur. This story is a fictional example created for development.
Vendor credits
- Venue
- Jal Mahal Lake Palace Resort
- Planning
- Lakeside Weddings & Co.
- Photography & film
- Lakeside Light Films
- Décor
- Rangrez Events
- Bridal makeup
- Kajal & Co. Artistry
- Folk music
- Thar Sur Manganiyar Group
- Nadaswaram
- Sri Mangala Vadyam
