58 | ASIANA WEDDING INTERNATIONAL
YOUR LOVE STORIES
THE FOOD OF LOVE
Deliciously different, the creative wedding of Celebrity Chef Dipna AnandW
hen you co-own
one of the most
famous Indian
restaurants in the
UK (Brilliant in
Southall), run your own successful
cookery school, lecture about cuisine
and publish a cookery book Beyond
Brilliant, it’s not easy finding the time
to get married, but then you never
know when fate will intervene.
Dipna and Arjun were introduced
by mutual friends and hit it off
immediately. By their second date
they joked about getting married, and
that’s when cupid struck his arrow
and Dipna explains: ‘Within a month
our families met and before we knew
it we had just two months to plan ourcivil wedding. Working in the catering
industry I know about weddings so
when it came to my own I didn’t want
just another typical affair. I’m inspired
by anything that is not normal – I love
being different and doing things that
have never been done before. So as I
made my entrance to the mandap I
decided to sing and where normally
a couple makes their grand entrance
together, we came through separate
entrances and danced our way into
the room. Along with little touches
like me making the dessert (well I
am a chef), we made our events as
personalised as they could be and
for me, that’s what made them so
memorable. We had six events: roka,
civil and chunni, sangeet, mendhi,
vatna and churra ceremony and then
our main wedding and reception.’
Here are some of the highlights...Bride: Dipna Anand
Groom: Arjun Lakhanpal
Photography: Ram Singh PhotographersWHAT’S COOKING?:
Arjun buys a copy of
his wife’s cookbook to
learn the family secrets