Left: Nancy 'Inansi' Burke (left) chats with Betty Winkler at the launch.   Right: Suzzanne Lee of Novelty Trading (left) makes a point to Linda Gambrill of 'SkyWritings' magazine, and Profesor Mervyn Morris at MacMillan Caribbean's launch of the Anthony Winkler Book Collection at Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, Waterloo Road, on October 6. - Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

The preparations began months ago, but hours before the wedding of Shalini Tewani and Pradeep Vaswani, work reached fever pitch as wedding stylist, Maureen Capleton, and her team put on the finishing touches.

She worked magic to transform tents to beautifully decorated spaces using hundreds of multi-coloured roses.

One huge tent on the other side of the spacious grounds of Vale Royal was filled with some 70 tables that spilled out on to an open area near the dessert stations.

Touch of flair

Here, decorators busied themselves with white orchid sprays for the candelabra centerpieces. There were highly-starched white tablecloths to for each table complemented by beautiful place settings of silver and white. Even the chairs had a touch of flair - instead of the usual covered cloth, each was painted in silver and had a silver fern attached to the back.

The main cocktail booth with private bar and huge white sofas and chairs were being organised, while the bands and the DJ got settled into their respective areas, ensuring that sound quality would be perfect for the festivities.

Clear blue skies and a slight breeze aided staff in preparations, particularly at the Taj Mahal-styled Indian food, main course and desserts sections.

By the time the clock chimed 5:00 p.m., everything was in place.

The J. Wray & Nephew main bar close to the bandstand was fully stocked and the Veuve Cliquot was chilled to perfection. Guests began arriving, some of the women in the most beautiful and exquisite saris, others in the latest designer wear with all the men looking handsome in well-cut suits.

Once the marriage vows were taken in the Mundap -- a little temple created inside the tent for this purpose - guests moved to the cocktail hour tent with hors d'oeuvres served up from Restaurant Japan, Hilton hotel.

Delightful eating

By now the night skies had begun to descend on the proceedings and twinkling stars took the place of clouds, adding to the romantic mood set by the now glittering main tents and accompanying buffet-style food stations.

After the delights of exciting cocktails, smooth wine, perfect champagne and exquisite food, the wedding cake by Selena Wong was cut by the couple and guests danced the night away under the stars. An idyllic start for the newly-weds.