The Wedding Reporter ~

Catch up with previous parts.

The lights of the eight chandeliers dimmed slowly to heighten the dark evening outside. The dining room began to take on the air of an Elizabethan banquet within the softly lit oak panels. In the adjoining Red Room, music roared into life, the bass of the songs rippling through the floorboards and inviting revellers to go through. Flashes of coloured lights and the strains of “Love Is In the Air” slipped through the crack of the partition doors between the two rooms.

Collecting their belongings and draining their glasses, guests slowly began trickling out of the banquet hall, past the vintage props such as sewing machines and hardback books decorating the corridor and into the party atmosphere in the adjacent room. In the hallway, the neon pink cocktail bar looked even more chic beneath the dark lighting at the top of the staircase.

Helen and Sam exceeded their duties as bridesmaids by being the first lone soldiers of good times to hit the dance floor in the Red Room. Waving their bouquets in the air as they shimmied and twirled across the black and white checks, they hooted in appreciation and sang at the top of their voices to each song.

A buffet of sweet treats awaited guests at the end of the room. In a vintage frame, a sign delighted in welcoming anyone with a sweet tooth to “Penelope’s Pitstop”, in homage to the mother of the bride who had worked tirelessly on the banquet.

© Polly Alexandre Photography

A magnificent three tier ruffled ivory cake with black accessories stood in the centre of the table as an effigy to Kim’s dress. A feast of confectionery surrounded the artful cake, including mini meringues and marshmallows as well as cute little cupcakes, all signposted with flowing calligraphy. Each of the tiny morsels added to the pale pink and ivory colour scheme.

A black and ivory box next to the dance floor housed a variety of flip-flops for tired dancing feet. The level of consideration for the comfort of their guests extended through to the box of toiletries and accessories in the bathroom for ladies to touch up their make-up and the basket of pashminas next to the front door inviting guests to take one in order to keep warm on their way home. This was a wedding built on the back of many others in which the bride had too often seen the dear ones invited to witness the nuptials promptly neglected for the rest of the day.

Whilst hipsters set to tearing up the dance floor in the Red Room, more relaxed and weary revellers adjourned to the chilled out atmosphere of the Green Room. The smell of savoury delights pervaded the room thanks to the treats of “Kamala’s Kitchen” set up between the long bay windows. In a sensory delight, the wafting of rich cheeses from the adjacent cheeseboards helped confuse stomachs into thinking they were still hungry.

Tucked away in a corner behind the door, “Simba and Nala’s Purrfect Picture Booth” provided baskets of props for guests to choose from before disappearing behind a sparkly curtain to a land of photographic nonsense. Squeals of laughter accompanied euphemistic encouragement as groomsmen, wary relatives and even the more mature members of the wedding party all found their way into the booth.

Sitting sedately beneath a desk lamp in an alcove of the Green Room, a magnificent hardback book invited guests to leave a message for Kim and Chara. Between the leaves of Manolo Blahnik’s exquisite designs, guests inscribed their wishes with sharpie pens as they poured out their love for the newlyweds amongst luxurious illustrations.

Around the room, guests sank into sofas and kicked off shoes as they chatted amiably over cups of coffee and pots of tea. Groomsmen filled bespoke brown paper bags with Kamala’s Sri Lankan treats before demolishing blocks of cheese to soak up some of the alcohol that caused them to sway gently against the table with cheese knife still in hand.

The occasional tornado of black chiffon would blow into the room as one or other of the bridesmaids whipped various guests into their orbit and whisked them off to the dance floor to get their party on. Guests stood in the middle of the room, lost in conversation as they showed off pictures in their wallets, caught up on family news and debriefed on the festivities of the day.

Over in the Red Room, tall round cocktail tables, fireplaces and even the sweetie table became drink receptacles as guests packed into the room for the imminent cake cutting. Half drained drinks and empty bottles increasingly filled any available flat surface as friends and family huddled together to get a glimpse of Kim and Chara as they shuffled in behind their cake table.

Knowing a thing or two about how to indulge in the ancient tradition, Kim directed her new husband in the correct art of cutting the cake. As Polly the photographer frantically cleared the back of the shot and set up appropriate lighting, a countdown from 3 to 1 saw the newlyweds slice through their tower of ivory icing to rapturous applause.

The crowd swivelled 180 degrees as the couple scooted out from behind the dessert table and made their way to the dance floor. Without a hint of shyness and very little awareness of the hundred other people in the room, Kim and Chara locked their eyes on each other as the sound of Bruno Mars filtered into the room.

Lining the dance floor like an audience of wallflowers at a school disco, Kim and Chara’s guests looked on with bursting hearts as the couple launched into a pristinely choreographed dance together. Leading his wife through the dance moves, Chara was a master of the dance floor as he twirled Kim back and forth, her dress catching the light exquisitely and dazzling onlookers.

© Polly Alexandre Photography

As though to emphasise the sentiment of the lyrics, Chara sealed the end of their first dance together with a tender kiss. The room then exploded with love as the DJ segued straight into the adrenaline-thumping, heart-stomping Party Rock Anthem, which flooded the dance floor with enthusiastic gyrating friends and family. The dancing was rigorous enough to make the most carefully pinned bouffant begin to tumble down in the midst of some serious shape-pulling.

Handbags and suit jackets littered the edge of the room as the soundtrack to the evening progressed along an unabashedly cheesy course. The contrast of Kim’s raven locks and pure ivory gown as her blonde bridesmaids in their ebony dresses flanked her consumed the centre of the dance floor.

The ratio of 2 men to a room full of women on the boogie board became decidedly unacceptable and as a result, Chara found himself shouting at his ushers to get themselves on the dance floor. Dragging them by lapels and the scruffs of their neck, Chara was soon surrounded by boys all drunkenly swaying and leaping to the music in the sticky heat of the room.

As less agile guests popped their heads around the doorway for a glimpse of the revelry, they saw Kim and Chara surrounded by their friends, smothered in love as they melded their two families together. After 10 years of building a life together, Kim and Chara had cemented their relationship in a wedding that acted as a love letter, both to each other and to their most beloved friends and family. The new Mr and Mrs Balasubramaniam had promised their guests a wedding of epic proportions and as they partied the night away in each other’s arms they certainly did not disappoint.

~ The End ~

If you would like to see more from Kim and Chara’s wedding, head over to Polly Alexandre’s blog or pick up the current issue of You and Your Wedding magazine.