When it comes to our sangeet, I knew I wanted one because I just love dancing! This was probably one of the hardest event themes to come up with because I wanted something traditional & Vex wanted something more modern. There was a bit of a lightbulb moment when we threw all our ideas in the bin & thought why not have a night filled with just Spanish music, traditional Mexican food & celebrate the beautiful culture of Mexico while we were all there. This summer a lot of Spanish artists were in the UK music charts which made choosing the music so much fun (which was all on my husband's plate as that's totally his thing, being an ex-music producer). That's where the birth of our 'Fiesta' night came about. Fiesta in Spanish simply translates to 'PARTY' which is exactly what we wanted to do!
It took place on the evening of the mehndi brunch & was a brilliant way to continue on with the celebrations. I haven't mentioned it on my blog but we did have a welcome drinks event where it was supposed to be a small, casual drink with our entire families. Here Vex did a lovely speech to welcome & thank all of our guests who flew all the way across the world to celebrate with us... this however turned into a full-on rave where we partied the night away & even joined in at the lobby karaoke event after. It was one of the best nights there! So we knew the Fiesta had to top that!
We went for a rustic, Mexican vibe with beautiful wooden tables & chairs, a wooden dancefloor & lots of local greenery & foods used for the centerpieces. This event we took lots of inspiration from Pinterest, which will be your best friend the more you use it. We even had some centerpiece items in Mexican food cans that were repurposed from the venue's kitchen. It was like our whole family having dinner together. Speaking of dinner we had an array of huts set up with such yummy food like salads, Mexican rice, guacamole, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, elote, churros, horchatas, lots of tajin sprinkled vegetables & fruits... the list was endless!
I wore a gorgeous custom made Ekta Solanki lengha. I wanted the skirt to be a show stopper, airy & floaty! She made the skirt with 55 meters of fabric & it was just so beautiful. The colour complimented the entire event so well. It had beautiful silver floral embroidery on the skirt and entire blouse. It was made with a dupatta but on the day I decided to go without, because of the heat, I just wanted to feel comfortable. I kept the jewellery simple with some gorgeous earrings from Red Dot Jewels.
Our guests arrived at the private beach with a piñata, open bars, & warm starters at the ready. It was such a chilled out rustic set up. Vex & I entered down the stairs of our suite which lead to this area of the beach & were completely blown away with the whole energy & seeing all our family & friends waiting for us! This event didn't have a seating plan or anything, it was a grab any seat you want kind of vibe. After doing our entrance, we went straight to the dancefloor & kicked off the party shortly followed by a surprise of a mariachi band playing some live music for us while we tucked into mains.
We had organised a surprise water drum show for everyone & Vex knew we needed everyone to sit down, ready for it. But little did he know that I had organised another surprise for him where I got all my cousins & girls together to do a little dance! The songs were a mix of Bollywood, into English... into SPANISH! The surprise on my husband's face was truly priceless! Even to this day, he doesn't quite understand how I pulled it off without him finding out, haha! You can actually watch the full dance over on my IGTV.
Once that was done, the water drum show started - it was incredible!! We didn't realise that it would be that much of an amazing & unique experience. Once the show was over after around 10 minutes or so, they got us all up one by one. This is where the water from the drums washed away 80% off my mehndi (but the stain still turned out so beautiful!). Our mums, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunties, uncles, cousins & friends all got a go. It was so, so good!
As the night went on, a storm was brewing in the distance & was making it's way closer to us. We still partied hard on the beach & could see beautiful lightning in the skies. It was just a magical experience. It was this night I truly felt like our families & friends all became one. As the storm got closer, the entire events team took the party indoors into their Mexican restaurant, El Patio. While they were setting up, one of the groomsmen found a random broomstick & we all had turns doing the limbo with music playing on our phones. The music from our phones gradually became the music from DJ Envy's on the decks & we partied the night away. It's probably my favourite party I've ever been to & I'd happily do it all over again in the blink of an eye 🙂
I know this wasn't the traditional sangeet I had pictured in my head, it was actually far better!
I wouldn't of had it any other way.