Zaraf & Fatima’s Poundon House Fusion Wedding
We have another beautiful fusion wedding to share with you from the incomparable Poundon House. Zaraf & Fatima had a Civil ceremony at this Oxfordshire wedding venue but chose to embrace both the East & West in their truly bespoke celebrations.
Once again the fashion is to-die-for (the bride made her own dress people!) and the colours are utterly delicious.
I’ll hand you over to the very beautiful bride…
Fatima:
Zaraf proposed to me by sneaking a ring into a box of Charbonnel et Walker chocolates on my birthday. Total surprise and a sweet touch because he used to buy those for me when we first got together. Apparently he had been planning it for a while – he found an ethical jeweller (as he knows that is important to me) and designed the ring himself! I’m not a fan of traditional engagement rings so the stone was a beautiful star sapphire, surrounded by small diamonds. I hadn’t, and still haven’t, seen a ring quite like it. The very same chocolate box was used to carry our rings on the wedding day!
We wanted a really fun wedding with everyone we really love. Family had travelled from all over the world – America, Canada, Pakistan, Bangladesh – so we just wanted them all to let their hair down and enjoy themselves. At the same time, we wanted it to be true to us and to the things we really like. Poundon House was the perfect venue choice because it’s absolutely stunning, but a home away from home. They’re so willing to help you plan a wedding tailored to you – with your own caterers and your vision. Just a joy to work with. Poundon House has a beautiful marquee, but you’re free to style it as you want.
My family are Pakistani & Kashmiri, whereas Zaraf’s are Bangladeshi and Indian. He has been born and brought up here, whereas I’ve lived in both Pakistan but spent my formative years in England. So we wanted our wedding to represent all these different parts of us. A real mix of cultures. So we had a big, loud arrival of the baraat, but I then walked down the aisle to the harp (playing my favourite Ludovico Einaudi piece), we had a cocktail reception (with chaat!) and then a sit down meal in the beautiful marquee, followed by hours of dancing till late.
We wanted everyone to have a great time at the wedding but also be relaxed, so we kept things pretty informal. We had games outside in the gardens like giant jenga for kids (and grown ups!) to play on, plus a sweets table. We also had a Tuk Tuk photo booth which was a real hit with everyone. That doubled up as our guest book and we have the best photos of everyone being silly and dressing up.
I designed my outfit myself; my skirt/lehenga was a Dolce & Gabbana floral silk fabric I bought on Edgware Road. I then designed a ‘dress’ which was a silver blouse attached to a see through glitter tulle skirt that went over the floral skirt to give the whole outfit a shimmery romantic feel – the fabrics for which were all bought at the The Silk Society in Soho. The Dupatta was a simple pink tulle net with swarovski crystals that was made in India.
I’d recommend that anyone planning a wedding really thinks about what they want. There’s so many people to listen to that you can get lost in all of it. Also take some time to just stop on the day, with your partner, and enjoy the moment.
Venue Poundon House | Photography Aparat Photography | Flowers Jessica Rose Flowers | Catering Greenleaf | Cake The London Cake Boutique | Hair Fiona Tanner | Groom’s Attire Alexandra Wood | DJ DJ Shai Guy.
Lots of love…