Mother’s Day means different things to different people. For some, it’s breakfast in bed and warm hugs, for others, it’s a quiet ache, a memory that lingers, or a legacy carried forward in small, meaningful ways. For this bride, her wedding day became a canvas for one of the most heartfelt tributes to her late mother. Her mom who wasn’t physically there, but her presence was felt everywhere, and rightfully so. From vibrant pre wedding festivities to a soul-soothing white mogra-filled wedding decor symbolising purity and peace, every detail was lovingly chosen in her mother’s memory and captured beautifully by Play The Novel★ 5 .
For her Mandap Muhurat, Avani, draped in a red bandhani saree and wearing gold jewellery her mother had once worn as a bride herself, embodied grace, memory, and quiet strength. “Mummy is not here with me today, but I feel her in every part of this moment—in my heart, in my smile, in the love that surrounds me. I know she’s with me, proud and watching, every step of the way,” she shared.
As she walked down the aisle holding her mother’s photo, flanked by her father and younger brother, it wasn’t just a wedding—it was a moment of remembrance, healing, and love. This Mother’s Day, may we all hold our mothers a little closer—in our arms, in our memories, and always in our hearts.
Meet Avani and Priyesh
“Priyesh and I have crossed paths multiple times in our childhood, but we never spoke to each other or became friends. We went to the same tuitions in 6th grade but we hardly talked, we used to live one street away from each other all our childhood and still never had mutual friends, and out of lakhs of students in Mumbai Priyesh had ended up sitting behind me for our 10th board exams, our hall ticket numbers were one after the other – can you believe it? But finally, we got to know each other and became friends when we (co incidentally) ended up going to the same engineering college. We had mutual friends and we came together in common friend group that we hung out with in college”, the bride tells us.
Haldi
I didn’t want the typical haldi urli, instead I wanted something personalized. As a Gujarati, our homes always have a jhula in the living room. I wanted my haldi decor to have two jhulas instead of urlis to pay homage to my Gujarati roots. I also wanted white jewelry and light pastel outfit where the whole attention is on my long floral Ombre kaleeras. We had few dance performances, played some games with the anchor and then did the haldi ritual.
Mehendi & Cricket Match
Bridal mehendi: this was only with bride side family and the theme was just bride applying mehendi surrounded by family. The idea was to keep it very cozy and homely. We also had dholkis for songs and some games for my young cousins to pass time. My family ended up spending 5 hours with the dholkis and playing garba and singing Gujarati songs. My outfit was by “house of masaba”
This was the first function with all the guests. while the ladies applied mehendi, the gents played a friendly bride side vs groom side cricket match. We had printed special jerseys for men for both team bride and team groom. As and when the ladies finished their turn of applying mehendi they joined in cheering their teams- it was one of the best functions where everyone participated. Team bride won the match and won the trophy. Bride outfit “Anushree reddy” and groom outfit “Anita Dongre”
Wedding
Mandap Muhurat is a Gujarati Pooja done before the wedding, we did this the morning of the wedding. I lost my mother when I was young and this pooja was dedicated to her. I wore a red bandhani saree in Gujarati draping and wore gold jewelry of my mom from her wedding. The theme was bandhani where all my family members wore colorful bandhani outfit and the breakfast had all Gujarati delicacies.
For the wedding, the theme was white mogra. White is for purity and peace. The decor had mogra decorations everywhere, with mogra fragrance dhoop, mogra center pieces and even our varmala was made of mogras. The mandap was white with local hardwork of Jaipuri mirror work and the ceiling was again mogra veils. We wanted a very traditional Phera ceremony with kanyadaan to sindoor daan, we did not want to skip anything. I walked the aisle with my dad and younger brother with my mother’s photo frame in my hand.
I used the WedMeGood App for my wedding planning! It helped me search for vendors, check real reviews and also double check the prices. It is an amazing app, very helpful and features real reviews from users.
Vendor Reviews
Venue: Le Meridien Jaipur
Amazing hotel with multiple venues to host different events. The food was excellent, our guests still talk about the food at our wedding, everyone loved it.
Mehendi Artist: Mamta Vajpayee
She is from Jaipur and is an exceptional artist!
Vendors: Venue: Le Meridien Jaipur Mehendi Artist: Mamta Vajpayee