Shalini & Nikhil

Shalini and Nikhil married across two beautiful days in April — a Hindu ceremony in the gardens at Curzon Hall, then a reception high above the harbour at Crown Sydney. Two very different settings, one very full week, and a family who threw themselves into every minute of it.

The Hindu ceremony at Curzon Hall

The day began quietly, with hair and makeup nearby in Gladesville and Baqdrop splitting into two teams so that neither Shalini nor Nikhil missed a moment of getting ready. Then the noise arrived. A dhol struck up on the driveway, the baraat horse came through the gates, and Nikhil danced his way to the front of the hall with everyone behind him. The two families met at the milni, exchanging garlands, mithai and a kum kum blessing before the ribbon was cut and everyone poured inside.

After the Ganesh pooja, Shalini made her entrance and the couple married under the mandap in the Garden Chateau, with the gardens running away behind them. The most moving part came right at the end: before they stepped down from the mandap, her family performed the aarti and washed the couple’s feet. Guests showered them with flower petals on the way out, then scattered into the garden with roaming canapés while the couple slipped away for photographs.

Dinner followed in the Grand Banquet Room — welcome drinks, entrées, a buffet, and family performances that spilled straight onto the dance floor. The couple left that evening with the whole room out the front to see them off.

The reception at Crown Sydney

Two days later, the Pearl Ballroom at Crown Sydney was a completely different world. Symphony Events built the room out from the loading dock up, and by the time the foyer opened for pre-drinks there was a champagne tower waiting.

The entrances were the heart of the night. Siblings came in first to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”, then the grandparents, then both sets of parents — and finally Shalini and Nikhil, walking in between two sparklers. A champagne toast opened the evening. Eight speeches were threaded through the courses so nobody had to sit through them all at once. In between, a fifteen-minute Bollywood dance performance took over the floor, and the shoe game had the room in tears.

They cut the cake late, then danced their first dance in dry ice, with indoor fireworks going up behind them and CO2 guns firing as the floor opened to everyone else. At the end of the night, their guests formed a tunnel and sent them out through it.

Our role

We coordinated the ceremony and the reception, working alongside the couple’s own suppliers in the months beforehand. We shaped the run of both days, held the timeline with every supplier, and ran each day on the ground — from petals into bowls before the baraat, to the sparkler cue at the ballroom doors, to the last bump-out at Crown. It meant Shalini, Nikhil and their families could simply be guests at their own wedding.

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Credits

• Venues: Curzon Hall (Ceremony), Crown Sydney (Reception)
• Photography & film: Baqdrop
• Content creation: Sydney Story Teller
• Styling & décor: Symphony Events
• Catering: Urban Tadka (Ceremony), Crown Sydney (Reception)
• Bridal hair & makeup: Nikki Arora
• DJ: DJ Ash
• MC: Krishma, BTS Bridesmaids
• Priest: Pandit Sri Srinivasan
• Garlands: Sai Garlands
• Dhol: 2Stix
• Baraat horse: Castlereigh Horse
• Cake: Sweet Bloom Cakes & Crème
• AV: Encore
• Pyrotechnics: Sydney Fireworks
• Entertainment: Series of Events
• Wedding cars: Queen St Car Hire