Newly-married Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was not supposed to tie the knot with childhood friend Sakshi Singh Rawat before next year but astrological considerations led to the preponement.
According to a source who attended Dhoni's wedding at a farm house near Dehradun, the hush-hush affair was initially planned for 2011 but had to be preponed due to several reasons.
According to his astrologer, Dhoni, who turns 29 on July 7, has entered one of the most auspicious years of his life and both the families thought this would be the best time to formalise the couple's relationship.
Besides, the Indian skipper didn't have the time for a complex Hindu ritual given the packed international schedule he would endure in the coming few months: July-August for the Sri Lanka tour, Champions League in South Africa in September, home series against Australia in October, and another home series against New Zealand in November.
But apart from this, Sakshi's family was not exactly comfortable with the media gossip surrounding Dhoni's alleged affairs with Bollywood actresses Deepika Padukone and Asin Khan.
Deepika was even seen in the stands when India toured Australia last year. The Indian skipper never commented on these link-ups but that never stopped the speculation.
Dhoni and Sakshi had studied together and though they were seeing each other for around three years, the high-profile cricketer managed to keep the relationship a secret from the prying media.
Never the one to compromise on his privacy, Dhoni informed only close friend R P Singh about the wedding and even Harbhajan Singh got to know of it only on Friday -- a day before Dhoni got engaged to the 23-year-old Saskhi, the source said.
R P Singh, who is training in the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, took leave days in advance to be there at the ceremony.
The wedding, for which only a few close family members and friends were invited, was a simple affair minus any alcohol.
The food served for the guests was Indian and all these arrangements were made by Dhoni's Delhi-based sister Jayanti.
The ‘jaimalas' (wedding garlands) that were exchanged by M S Dhoni and Sakshi Singh Rawat on Sunday evening were prepared at Paltan Bazaar in Dehradun. Nearly 10 kg of Rajnigandha and 8 kg of red roses were used to make the garlands, says a media report.
Sehra for Dhoni was made of Chameli and roses, while the gajra for Sakshi was made of chameli flowers.
Bharat Gulati, owner of Charandas Phoolwale in Paltan Bazaar, Dehradun says : “Five days ago, Sakshi's mother Sheila came to order jaimalas, sehra, gajra and chadars made of flowers. We didn't know at that time that these were meant for our captain Dhoni's wedding”.
The two jaimalas were nearly 3.5 feet long and were made of rajnigandha and red roses ordered specially from Delhi. The flowery chadar was made into a rectangle of 8 feet by four feet.
All these flower items were handed over on Sunday evening, a few hours before the marriage to a relative of the bride's family, the florist said.
Arrangements for the hush-hush wedding were being put into place for the last one and a half months. After scouting several hotes, Vishranti Resorts was finalized for the wedding. Black-tinted luxury cars were booked by the resorts owners. All drivers and guests were given coupons to be presented at the gate to security guards for entry.
The entire resorts was bedecked with flowers worth nearly Rs 10-12 lakhs.
