Amit G
17 Oktober 2024
We were celebrating our parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and we zeroed into Umaid Bhawan Palace as an ideal venue. We were a group of 11 including our parents and 5 kids and we planned our stay from 2nd to 5th Oct 2024. We had planned an elaborate ceremony for the event on 3rd October evening and it was meant to be a surprise for our parents. And it turned out to be far better than we could ever imagine, the experience was simply ethereal. We had a warm ceremonial welcome and were thrilled to know that all our three rooms were upgraded to Royal Suites. After we were comfortable in our well appointed rooms, Rajnandini and Sikander Singh Bhati gave us a very detailed overview the activities in the palace like a curated tour of the palace, a treasure hunt across the palace, peacock feeding, horse riding, cookie making, mocktail making and all amenities for sporting and liesure. Sikanderji gave us a personal tour of the palace & museum, explained the history and shared a lot of trivia. He and his team took special care of us during our entire stay there. Now coming to the elaborate anniversary ceremony which was planned and executed by the hotel staff. It started with a ceremonial turban tying for the gentlemen and chuniri for the ladies in the Heritage Room. Narendra Singh did a fabulous job and the 9 metre turbans were outstanding! This was followed by a royal carriage ride for our parents and the 5 kids happily hopped on. Then we had a ceremonial welcome by Malvika into the palace and our jaws dropped when we saw that the entire palace lawns were decked up only for our event! We then proceeded to the pool side for a vedi ceremony where our parents renewed their vows in a traditional wedding pooja. The entire setup was heavenly and my parents were simply overwhelmed with emotion. After this we proceeded back to the palace steps for a varmala ceremony which was immediately followed by a 30 seconds fireworks show. We then walked on a red carpet which had royal ceremonial guards on both sides and fireworks at every few steps. The Baradari (a white monument with 12 marble pillars) in the center of the palace lawns was decked up for our dinner. This was accompanied by a rajashtani folk music and dance performance. The meal was a sumptuous traditional thali but had four menus – one vegetarian, one non vegetarian, one vegan and a special meal for our father. The entire ceremony lasted for nearly 3 hours and we were pampered by the entire team of Umaid Bhawan Palace. It was a truly royal experience and we actually felt as if the entire palace was decked up only for the 11 of us. Simply unreal! During our entire stay we had some fabulous meals especially local delicacies at Risala. Thanks a lot to Jabar, Narendra Singh, Khanchand, Dhirender, Bhupendra Singh, Hukum Singh, Chef Kush etc. Apologies for missing out mentioning the other members of the staff but the service levels were simply fantastic. One can imagine how pushy 5 kids
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