Real Weddings: Gautam, Mansha And Their Gorgeous Harry Potter-Themed Wedding

Seeing all the details that I'd been planning for months come together sure felt like an accomplishment, truly a happily ever after.

Photos: Simran from PhotozAapki, The Wedding Delight, Through the Barrel & Nitish Arora

My brother in law is a vintage car collector and restores them from scratch... so choosing a vintage ride for our grand departure was a no-brainer!

After some hilarious group photos, I threw my bouquet for my girlfriends to catch. Then, as people threw petals, we both ran out towards the car with Marry You by Bruno Mars playing, in what was possibly the happiest, laugh-ey vidai ever.

Then, our friends and family lined up on one side for the speeches. This was followed by a father-daughter dance to 'You Raise Me Up' and 'Mamma Mia'.

Post the pheras, we both cut our wedding cake (with an 'Always' sign, another Harry Potter reference) in a unique combination of cream cheese and chocolate mousse on a vanilla sponge cake.

So, instead of kaleeras, I sported a white rose bouquet. I decided to ditch the phoolon ki chaadar and entered to Budapest by George Ezra (our song) with my bridesmaids and bridesmen leading the way before I entered with my dad.

I grew up across three continents seeing only Christian weddings and always wanted one too. Even though we're both Punjabi my parents let me run wild with the wedding and make it my own.

The groomsmen also got customised hip flasks since there was no booze on the wedding day and I thought they might need a little something before their speeches.

My husband (also a big Potterhead) and I personalised our wedding favours. We did hangover kits that said: 'Make Love, Not Horcruxes' with all the essentials – aspirins, bandaids, cough drops, lip balm, mints etc.

My mum-in-law told me that she'd be picking out a traditional sari for me for the reception. And, even though my style is more minimal and she chose a vibrant red Ritu Kumar, I loved it!

I met this seafoam stunner by Sabyasachi Mukherjee and I knew it was the one.

I was adamant not to wear reds or pinks for the wedding. After searching for months, I almost got my lehenga custom made by Anita Dongre (my favourite designer) but then…

I'm not very fond of jewellery and wanted to look like myself rather than a stereotypical blinged-out bride. Luckily my parents agreed and my jewellery shopping took less than a month to get done!

I ended up designing my own bridal shower outfit and chose a custom-made, cream-gold Anita Dongre lehenga for the sangeet.

I spent about 7-8 months finding my outfits for the ceremonies. I chose a minimal peach lehenga for the engagement since I was quite young at that time. My biggest fear was looking too mature!

Our wedding countdown began with a super fun Dholki that turned into a super drunken night, filled with drinking games.

So, I had drawstring bags with the Deathly Hallows symbol with our wedding insignia embossed with: We Solemnly Swear That We Are Up to No Good. Potter-inspired tees, passport holders…it was perfect!

Two weeks later, we finally met and knew that we were going to end up together. Two years later, on his 25th birthday, at exactly 12 o'clock he got down on one knee. We formally got engaged on Feb 10, 2017, and tied the knot on Christmas Eve that year.

I met Gautam when I was in college and he was venturing into the startup world. He was looking for bloggers and got in touch after coming across my old blog. We ended up speaking for 17 hours non-stop (no kidding!).