Facet Events: Anisa & Irshad [ August 16th] The Holud

If you’ve been following me since I started ASA, you will already know that Anisa and Irshad were the very first couple to sign my services! <3 Even thought it was the first wedding I signed under the ASA banner, it was most definitely not the easiest!

I started working with Anisa and her parents in November 2011. They met with me once and we knew we had to work together. Having recently gotten married myself, Anisa and I shared a banter that I can’t say I have ever shared with any other Shahzadi! She and I shared the same style sense and our choices in vendors often overlapped! (What a relief!)

Even though her wedding was to happen 2 years later, she loved the planning process. So we began looking for the vendors to pull together her day! After her parents settled on the venue for the reception, then began the fun stuff!

Her wedding was so full of little details that it’s hard to fit her whole wedding into one single blog post. Today, we will cover the details from her Holud!

I love getting the planning process started early. Although there are obvious advantages to planning in advance, you have to remember that a lot can change in two years! And that it did. One of the challenges that we had to combat for Anisa’s events was the ever growing guest list. When we had started to work together, we were not expecting more than 250 people to attend her holud, as we got closer to the date, we had a far larger number than we had anticipated. One piece of advice, among many for everyone, is to make sure you make a list of guests BEFORE getting the venue. In the last months leading up to the wedding, we came to the realization that the hall we had, would not hold the number of guests that would be attending. Working with the venue, we came into some luck as another party had been cancelled and we were able to have the larger hall! This does not always happen though so, please make sure that when you make your guest list, that it stay firm! (Believe me, anyone you are not able to invite, will understand in the long run…)

After that crisis was handled we moved on to the fun part! The day of the event it self!

Anisa’s mom is a DIY queen. She wanted to be a part of as many details as possible! She took care of the centerpieces at the Holud. Dressing each table with a set of three candles at varying heights, that she decorated with henna herself. It took her months, but she diligently worked on them for her daughter. We helped the cause by lending our hand when it came to designing the printables for this event! She wanted the event to be as colorful as possible and judging from the photos, they were not disappointed!

We were there early to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch! The centerpieces were put out, all the little details around the room were taken care of. Going with a arabesque themed look, Anisa went for a bold and richly colored backdrop for her holud. She had her bridesmaids and cousinmaids (she has a huge family that she is deeply connected to that she wanted to highlight) in matching outfits. Although they were all in separate colors, they all worked together pull together a cohesive color palette that screamed [HAPPY] [FUN] and most definitely [ANISA]!

It was a very entertaining evening with a crazy program which included a skit of how the couple met and a 30 minute medley dance performance complete with 25 dancers! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?? I know… when I saw the program plan, I was pretty impressed by the work they had put into the entertainment part of the night! When you have such an ambitious plan, you have to have a solid group behind the scenes. Even though we had a contingency laptop and all the media in multiple copies, something had to go wrong during the night! The projector that was working 10 minutes before stopped working about 15 minutes before a slideshow! I tried to get the hall manager to look at it, and he wasn’t able to figure out what was the matter! I had the DJ try to figure out the problem, but no luck there either… This is when I got my assistant involved. With about 7 minutes to go before it needed to work I was reworking the schedule in my head to give him more time. As I am about to walk over to the MC with my reworked schedule, my assistant gives me the signal that the projector is working! {OH MY WOW} I about turned and let the program proceed as planned! And no one was the wiser <3

The couple’s friends and family really pulled out all the stops to create an unforgettable night for two of the most fun people I have ever met! I am so glad I was able to be a part of their Holud!

Enjoy the photos! All photos were taken by Michelle Belsky from Renaissance Studios