Tampa Bay Pakistani Muslim Wedding by Nadia D. Photography

Hi readers! Today we're featuring the majestic destination wedding of Rehana and Saleem photographed by Nadia D. Photography. Rehana and Saleem had an intimate celebration with a ton of personal touches to make their wedding unique. From custom made favors, beautiful décor and personalized cake toppers, everything was a reflection of the bride and groom's personality.

Nadia D. Photography did an amazing job as usual. I am always astounded by how she is able to turn the traditional wedding shots into true works of arts. Her eye for incorporating the most mundane background and making it pop is truly awesome.

Stop by the photo gallery to see all of Rehana and Saleem's personal touches, and continue reading throughout the blog post as Rehana shares all of her wedding day inspiration!



 

I chose my dress from Elan, a designer in Pakistan. It was the first dress I saw when I started wedding shopping in Lahore, and after going to one more shop, I quickly returned to Elan and ordered my dress, there was no point in seeing any more, it was the one. I changed the color of the dress to a light pink and Elan made a beautiful beaded hijab to match my dress, this allowed me to observe my Muslim head covering without compromising any style and grace. I ordered my jewelry from Pakistan as well, and it all came together better than I imagined.

 

For the food, we chose traditional Pakistani and Indian food from Sizler in Orlando. My mother is the best cook I know, and could not obviously cook for our wedding, but did the second best thing and gave the caterer her recipes and talked him through her process, so it was *almost* like my mother's delicious cooking. My mother also makes excellent pink Kashmiri chai, so it was a treat having her actually make that for the wedding. We ordered a beautiful cake from Tampa's premier wedding cake bakery, Alessi bakery, and they were able to make a whimsical scroll motif on our elegant cake. Instead of traditional wedding cake toppers, I found mirrored letter cake toppers that I accented with Swarovski crystals to make our cake glitz and glow. 

Jilna from Suhaag Garden helped us define our aisle with a beautiful floral scroll down our white runner that led to our open stage. We chose a mahogany straight lined mandap style from her collection keeping with our elegant but modern wedding style, but asked her to keep it open and airy, so we did not use the front columns that is traditionally used for the mandap. We chose matching mahogany chiavari chairs but to break up all the dark wood, chose a light pink and mauve theme for the linens, stage and flowers. We were able to create soft lighting in the room with Jilna's help, and that set the mood for a fun evening. 

Our wedding was perfect, we loved our wedding day but were always cognizant of the fact that it was the first day of our long marriage, we wanted it to be beautiful but we were able to not let it consume us. I don't know if this will help anyone but my favorite advice that I have given friends over the years is "If the wedding is beautiful, you'll be married, if the wedding doesn't go as planned, you'll still be married. The end result is the same, so just try to have fun during it." And that is exactly what we did!

 

Thank you so much to Nadia D. Photography for sharing this amazing wedding with us, and congratulations to the happy couple!