A Colorful Garden Engagement Party Packed With Immersive Experiences for Guests to Enjoy

Like many modern couples, Solene and Sanketh have online dating to thank for their relationship. The duo first met on Bumble shortly after Solene moved to the Bay Area from New York in November 2018. “I was intrigued by Solene’s brief profile and after chatting about our shared interest in books and travel, we set up our first date,” Sanketh says, “What was supposed to be a short drink ended up turning into a long conversation that lasted for hours,” he remembers, “We both walked away feeling like we had met someone special and couldn’t wait to see each other again.” Two years later, on a trip Solene planned for the couple to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in December of 2021, Sanketh convinced her to join him for a horse drawn sleigh ride in at the National Elk Refuge. He arranged for Solene’s friend, who was going to join them to ski later, to be their photographer when he popped the question. “She had no idea I was planning this and never expected it on this trip,” he says.

The couple didn't want to wait for a wedding to celebrate their new relationship status, so they threw an epic engagement party on June 16, 2022, and prioritized finding an outdoor venue that their guests would feel comfortable at. “We have many close friends who to this day still feel the impacts of long covid and we wanted to make sure that they would be able to feel at ease joining us,” Solene says. In the end, the future Mr. and Mrs. invited 265 guests to join them at Filoli in Woodside, California, where the 16 acres of maintained English Renaissance gardens in full bloom and historic Georgian revival-style mansion set the tone for a colorful European garden-inspired engagement party. “For me and Sanketh this event was technically an engagement party, but it was more so a great excuse to gather all of our loved ones in one place to have an amazing time together and reconnect,” Solene says.

The couple gave themselves three months to plan the event, but they new they'd need help to bring their vision to life, so they hired Elise from Brannan Events & Design. One surprising challenge? Connecting with available vendors in light of the post-pandemic wedding boom. “Finding a photographer was particularly challenging and I am so incredibly fortunate that Elise was able to ask her close friend Yuliya if she happened to have any availability and luckily she did!” Solene says. Elise worked closely with the bride to create immersive experiences for guests including a tunnel of trees that served as an entrance, special photo opportunities, and an interactive drink wall. Keep reading to see the details from Yuliya Jul Photography.

Solene and Sanketh chose a vibrant color palette for their engagement party, embracing every hue of the rainbow. Their 265 guests received a bright invitation suite that featured butterfly details as a nod to a DIY project that would be on full display during the party: The engaged pair created hundreds of floating butterfly installations at the tree lined entrance to Filoli.

Before guests arrived, Solene and Sanketh posed for portraits in coordinating western attire. Solene chose a blue tulle off-the-shoulder Teuta Matoshi gown with a bustier bodice. “I love the movement of the tulle in the wind and I am so fortunate that our incredible photographer Yulia was able to do it justice,” Solene says. She wanted a dewy makeup look with products that included SPF to protect her from the sun since the event was held exclusively outside. “I wanted to go for a fairly natural look where I looked like my most well-rested self,” she says.

Sanketh wore a navy Ted Baker suit and gold butterfly tie with a white Eton shirt with navy buttons. “​​I had tried on a few other suits without luck,” Sanketh says, “Everything looked too bland. Once I tried on the Ted Baker, the color was just perfect for what I was looking for, a dark navy that wasn’t too dark to be noticed, but not too bright to be overpowering.”

For her second look, Solene wore a gold and nude Seema Gujral gown with a net base and sequins and Swarovski crystal embroidery that formed flower details on the bodice and base of the skirt. "I have always admired [the designer's] work and how she manages to promote the beauty of traditional Indian craftwork while adding a fresh modern perspective to her pieces,” Solene says. She wanted to avoid hemming both of her skirts, so she wore Michael Kors heels with a 1.5’’ platform and a 5’’ heel. “They were remarkably comfortable!” she says.

Sanketh wore a patterned sherwani with gold buttons and an asymmetrical hemline. He completed his look with tan leather Cole Haan shoes and an Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, a special edition watch his bride-to-be gifted him with an imprint of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon on the back.

Inspired by art exhibits, pop-ups, and chamber music performances, Solene and Sanketh worked with their planner to create moments during the party where guests could be fully present in the experience. “We wanted to start the ‘immersion’ experience from the moment that guests set foot on the gardens,” Solene says. As family and friends arrived at the party, they were greeted by a custom welcome sign and a basket full of handmade parasols. They entered under a tunnel of trees with strung butterflies floating above their heads.

As another immersive element of the party, attendees were able to request signature cocktails from the couple’s custom drink wall; after ringing a bell, they were given one of the day's custom libations. “Our loved ones thought that it was so cool and couldn’t get enough of the interactive fun!” the bride says. Solene’s signature cocktail was an Amaretto Sour, Sanketh’s cocktail was a Caiprinha, and they served a lavender lemonade mocktail named after their beloved golden retriever, Pablo.

Keeping Sanketh’s culture in mind and with a desire to be sustainable, Solene and Sanketh offered an exclusively plant-based menu. They served familiar appetizers during cocktail hour like impossible burger sliders.

For entertainment, it was important to the couple to offer music that was loud enough to be heard but not so loud to deter conversation among guests. “In the spirit of reconnection, we wanted to maximize the time that guests had to interact with each other and so we limited any activities and performances that would demand their full attention away from each other,” Solene says. They hired a Tabla player for the cocktail hour and later brought a Spanish Guitarist in for dinner.

Guests found their seats on a wall of mini doll chairs that said “Pull Up a Chair.” “We were able to source chairs that looked like the dining chairs we actually had so it was super fun to see guests realize that!” Solene says. The couple spent a Sunday afternoon together painting the dollhouse chairs to match their color palette.

Dinner took place outside, where four rows of long tables were adorned with blush velvet linens and paired with wooden chairs. Some tables had centerpiece arrangements every two feet while others had hundreds of bud arrangements. “Sanketh and I loved seeing the guests’ reactions when they walked into the woodland court where we were hosting the dinner,” Solene says, “The sun was starting to set and there was a canopy of twinkle lights hanging over the space that gave a very celestial look. I think the guests were shocked at the beauty of both the lighting as well as the sumptuous floral arrangements that ran down the length of the tables.”

The place settings featured gold leaf motif chargers, blush rimmed plates, gold flatware, green napkins, and colorful goblets. Solene and Sanketh searched second-hand and vintage furniture stores for vases to use for their flower arrangements so that they could gift their centerpieces to family and friends rather than discarding them after the party. There were also large meadow arrangements in front of each table in the couple’s pastel color palette. “What really brought the whole dining space together was the overflowing florals and the blanket of twinkle lights enveloping the whole space,” the couple’s planner, Elise, says.

When attendees arrived at their tables, they were immediately treated to samosas with mint chutney followed by an amuse bouche of potato pave with thyme and chives, a roasted beet and carrot salad with goat cheese cream and burnt honey dressing, and a summer gnocchi with truffle butter sauce. If that wasn’t enough, Solene and Sanketh served two desserts. Everyone enjoyed a parfait of fresh mango, cardamom whipped cream, and toasted pistachios, along with individual three-inch carrot cakes with cream cheese frosting and edible dried flowers.

Since the party was close to Sanketh’s dad’s birthday, his cake was brought out with candles and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. At the end of the evening, the couple thanked their guests for coming, and Solene opened up about her late father. “I talked a little bit about my dad, and how much he enjoyed gifting flowers and it brought us so much joy to see how happy our guests were to be able to take the arrangements home with them,” she says. To couples currently planning a wedding, Solene says, “ Remember that “perfect” does not truly exist, and that the only details that really matter are the ones that let your guests know that they are loved.”