"A Never Ending Dream" - Richa and Rishi's Wedding in Playa Mujeres
“Like we have all been together in lifetimes before”
Everything about this story has us wanting more! From the way they met (it will make you a believer in online dating - guaranteed!) to their blossoming careers and love of their culture, Richa and Rishi are a spectacular couple that blew us away from our first consultation call years ago!
Author - Richa, Bride; Richa stars in Netflix’s hit show ‘Never Have I Ever’ created by Mindy Kaling. If you somehow haven’t seen it yet, we absolutely encourage you to binge it as soon as you finish reading their story!
Richa and Rishi’s wedding has been featured in Vogue, Brides, Brides Today Magazine, and more.
It started with an app download to pass time on the drive back to LA
I was driving back to LA after a weekend trip to the Bay Area (where I grew up) with one of my friends. To entertain herself in the passenger seat, she took my phone and created a profile for me on the app, much to my protest. After a few minutes, she was swiping away, and we were laughing about the fact that almost every other guy’s name was Rishi (which is my brother’s name). I told her that anyone with my brother’s name is an automatic hard pass—more on this later. Then she came across the profile of a guy named Bharat who moved to LA from Vancouver, was a finance professional but didn’t wear a suit in his profile picture to prove it, didn’t have any shirtless mirror selfies and genuinely seemed like a decent human being. Bharat and I started texting each other soon after, and I began to see that he was a very special and genuine person before we even met. Both of us don’t drink much, are heavily into meditation, come from families who have been in the west for a long time but are still connected to our culture and heritage, and we both have a strangely deep love for 80’s music.
We met in person for the first time one evening at the Griffith Observatory. I found out then that he actually goes by his middle name, Rishi, and Bharat is just his legal first name he just happened to use for the app we met on. I thanked the Universe in that moment that he hadn’t put Rishi as his name, or we would have never met. I also found out our birthdays are May 26th and May 27th respectively. These (and a few other) coincidences made me realize that our meeting was no coincidence at all.
Audition or proposal?
Because I’m an actress, Bharat (with the help of my agents) set up a faux acting audition for a “romantic comedy film". I was asked to dress up and go to a casting office and answer a series of questions about love and relationships on camera. In the middle of the “audition” he came in the room and got down on one knee with tears in his eyes, and I was completely shocked. I was totally confused and didn't know if it was still part of the audition until he pulled out the ring. The whole thing was caught on the video camera that I thought was for the audition. He then took me to the most romantic restaurant in the mountains of Malibu called "Inn of the Seventh Ray", where our families and closest friends were all there to surprise me and celebrate!
A day later, the wedding planning was under way!
We started our wedding search the next day! And I found Shaadi Destinations within 1 hour of doing a Google search. It was too good to be true!
Shree and Milan of Shaadi Destinations got on a video call with me and Rishi the same day I found them, and from the moment we met them, we felt like planning a destination wedding in Cancun was something we could actually do. Before that, it seemed daunting and we weren't sure if we would be able to find the right planner, venue, etc., but as soon as we started working with Shaadi Destinations, everything came together so organically and easily. I thought it was too good to be true to have found a vendor that specializes in Indian weddings in Cancun and is run by an actual Indian couple that got married there. They are extremely great with communication and always go out of their way to be available to answer any questions/concerns throughout the whole process.
A dream venue for a dream wedding - how fitting!
I had been to another wedding near Cancun a few years prior, and I fell in love with the area and the idea of getting married there myself one day. I love Mexican culture, food, music and people and find so many similarities between it and my South Asian culture. And of course, Cancun is one of the most beautiful places in the world. We researched several venues with the help of Shaadi Destinations, but everything led back to Dreams Playa Mujeres - my true Dream venue!
Planning a wedding takes work - imagine adding the stress of filming on set every day!
I was trying to evade a wedding as my character (Kamala) while planning my own wedding in real life! It wouldn't have been possible without the help of Shaadi Destinations and JC Castillo. While my character in the show was grappling with an arranged marriage she didn’t want (something I deeply connected to, being a young South Asian woman who felt a lot of pressure to get married before I met my husband), I, on the other hand, was choosing the color of napkins and menus for my real-life “love wedding” (as they call it) in between takes sometimes. It was a whirlwind, but such an exciting and memorable time.
This is what we learned and want to share with future couples!
Tip One - Hire Shaadi Destinations. If you are looking to have your wedding in Mexico, and you don’t live there, there’s no question about hiring Shaadi Destinations.
Tip Two - Do a LOT of research. Venues, weather, travel information, vendors, expenses, etc etc etc. Educate yourself as much as possible, and of course ask Shaadi Destinations about anything!
Tip Three - Narrow down your venue options to 2-3 and do a site visit. Meet as many of the vendors as you can before the big day and make sure you are all on the same page.
A (not so) packed night club led to a lifetime of memories!
The day after our reception, when most of our guests had left, a few of our family/extended family was still at the resort. At night, all of Rishi and my siblings/cousins (about 10 of us ) went to the resort nightclub dressed very casually, and there was no one else there. The DJ played any song we wanted and the 10 of us just took over the dance floor and had so much fun doing weird dance moves and acting completely ridiculous. Most of us live all over North America and never get to see each other, so it was such a special memory I'll never forget. We also all have blackmail videos on each other for life.
A dip in the pool, pithi and all!
The Haldi was one of my favorite events! After our ceremony, both Bharat and I jumped into the pool fully dressed and slathered with haldi. It wasn’t long when one by one our friends followed suit (also fully dressed). It was so unexpected and so much fun, although I think I ruined my lehenga. I definitely did NOT expect anyone else, especially my dad, to jump in - so that was all spontaneous and what made it even more fun.
Food is the fuel most crucial for making it through wedding week
We were at an all inclusive (all you can eat) resort! I always swore I would never be one of those brides who didn't eat the food she so carefully picked and paid for at her own wedding - and I really kept to that. You can see photos of me stuffing my face at every one of my events.
We did tastings at a couple different venues, and we ended up choosing Patravali. We just fell in love with the quality and variety of dishes. My mom chose most of the food, because she's a huge foodie and the pickiest of all of us. But she did an amazing job and every single guest told us how much they loved the food. There were so many great dishes, but two highlights were the live Jalebi station and Chaat stations at our Sangeet!
A live band provided Richa and Rishi a totally iconic Sangeet backdrop and allowed guests to dance the night away!
My whole family is very passionate about music. My parents have a Bollywood music band (for over 35 years) and I grew up going to their concerts and watching them rock out almost every weekend. So I always knew I wanted to have a live band at my wedding, and it really makes a huge difference! Having a DJ is great, but nothing compares to live music, especially when the band is AMAZING. So make sure to choose the right band (like Shine Band!). I also chose every song for them to play (because I'm very picky about music) and they so graciously played every single song I asked for, which was all Latin rock mostly (Shakira, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony etc.) .
A little rain was a blessing from above
I got a call from JC while I was getting ready for the ceremony (a few hours before the Baraat) about the rain and possibly having to move everything indoors. I told him to keep everything outdoors as much as possible and that I would be ok with cutting it short if need be. I was very stubborn, but thank God I was because everything worked out perfectly. It stopped raining a few minutes before the Baraat started and we even had a rainbow over our mandap!
Props all around!
I don't think I would have been able to have a destination wedding without Shaadi Destinations. Period. I knew nothing about planning a wedding, let alone planning a wedding in another country. Shaadi Destinations guided me through every step of the process, and of course they introduced me to JC Castillo - my wedding planner and angel.
Shaadi Destinations made the process of getting a room block and having our guests reserve rooms through our group so easy with the customized booking link they created for us. They were constantly in touch with us and helped us through any issue we had with the resort/rooms and always made sure that the process was as smooth and stress free as possible. Our guests had a very easy time booking rooms, checking in, and getting their airport transfers all through Shaadi Destinations. Shaadi Destinations - I love you guys and still can't believe/wish it wasn't over!
JC truly made my dreams come true. From decor to make up to our welcome bags, he truly made all of my wedding dreams come to fruition as close to my budget as possible. Every one of our vendors was amazing, but I have to give a special shout out to Sweet Caribbean for our photo/video. Words can't describe how beautifully they captured every memory and moment, and they are also such wonderful people.
Total bliss in Thailand
Our honeymoon was beautiful! We were very lucky to go to Thailand just before Covid started shutting all travel down. We had no idea it would be the last place we would go for a long time, and I'm just grateful we had the chance to see some of the beauty of Thailand. We went to Koh Samui and Chiang Mai. Our resort at Koh Samui (Silavadee) was one of the most beautiful places we've ever stayed. One of our favorite memories was visiting an elephant sanctuary (NO RIDING!) in Chiang Mai. Highly recommend!
Our full list of vendors:
Special thanks to Sweet Caribbean Photography for these fabulous pictures! Contact Sweet Caribbean for your destination photography needs.
Shaadi Destinations is the premier, award winning, modern-day destination wedding travel agency for South Asian couples seeking a streamlined process, incredible experiences, and a party friends and family will never forget! We save our couples thousands of dollars while throwing them the wedding festivities dreams are made of.
We live and breathe destination weddings - with just one consultation, you will be light years ahead in your destination wedding planning process. In less than one week, Shaadi Destinations will find you the most perfect resort that meets your needs, your budget, and your desires. With our vendor relationships and pre-negotiated exclusive perks at resorts across Mexico and the Caribbean, we are confident we can find exactly what you are looking for. You'll find we have the best rates, best incentives, and best booking experience.