Alanna Panday, a digital content creator and model, based out of Los Angeles is the daughter of fitness expert and author Deanne Panday and Chikki Panday. She’s also Ananya Panday’s cousin. She met her beau Ivor three years ago while working as a model, where he was the photographer. The couple soon clicked and now they create content together while travelling the world.
Ahead of her big day, ETimes reached out to Alanna to get some inside deets about her wedding festivity. Excerpts:
What was the reaction of your parents to the wedding decision?
My mom and dad actually knew about our wedding plans 8 months before the engagement, so it didn’t really come as a surprise to them. Ivor has come to India and asked my dad and mom for permission to propose to me and my mom actually helped him plan the entire engagement, like setting up the hotel, our outfits, etc.
What is the thought behind the ‘white whisper’ wedding theme?
We’ve chosen a magical, fairytale-like, enchanted forest theme because we both love nature. We love everything earthy and rooted, so the wedding will be inspired by a forest theme that will depict the resilience of nature. The decor will feature birds in flight, a soothing water element, forest sounds, and a customized fragrance to evoke the smell of the earth.
Are you going for a minimalistic/eco-friendly celebration?
We want to give back to the society so apart from it being aesthetically pleasing, we are working with vendors who are either tied up with an NGO, etc. And also for our wedding hampers we chose every product which was sustainable. We’ve tried our best to incorporate this, for example, we are also going to use the flowers that will be used at our ceremonies and turn them into potpourri to gift it to our guests.
How have you customized your wedding outfits, taking inspiration from your love story?
Our outfits are customized based on the theme for each function, for example haldi is based on an Italian market, mehendi is a tropical oasis, wedding is an enchanted forest. For the mehendi, Ivor and I are wearing Rahul Mishra. For the Haldi ceremony we are going to wear Payal Singhal. The Wedding Ceremony is going to be Manish Malhotra and the wedding reception will be Falguni and Shane Peacock.
Are any family heirlooms being incorporated?
Yes, I am going to be wearing one of my grandmother’s bangles that she left me for one of the events.
How will you incorporate Ivor’s side of the rituals into the wedding?
We are keeping this wedding all as per the Indian rituals, but we are soon planning a white wedding to cover Ivor’s side of the rituals.
How have you incorporated your love story into this wedding?
Ivor and I love traveling, and thus we kept each function themed around a place that we love, so our haldi is around an Italian farmers market, mehendi is a tropical rainforest theme, and wedding is also a forest theme because we both love nature so much. The wedding and functions do represent our sensibilities not only in fashion but also by way of décor and gifting.
What are the post-wedding plans?
We haven’t gotten a second to breathe since we arrived in India, our wedding preparations have kept us on our feet, so post wedding we will definitely look forward to a relaxing, rejuvenating honeymoon.
