No nikaah for Saif Ali Khan-Kareena Kapoor; only exchange of vows?

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor are official man and wife after 5 years of courtship. The two actors had a registered marriage on Tuesday at Saif’s Bandra residence and had oraganised a reception in the evening. Though the couple was rumoured to have had a nikaah in the evening, what has come to the fore is that Saifeena exchanged weddings rings and vows. Kareena’s mother Babita follows Christianity and hence they followed the Christian traditions to solemnize their wedding following a legal one in the morning. Kareena`s close friend and fashion designer Manish Malhotra said that there was a simple exchange of vows between the two actors. "They just exchanged vows at the Taj Mahal hotel in Colaba. There were no `saath pheras`... They did not adhere to any particular style (of wedding)," Malhotra told reporters. The marriage at Saif`s residence here was a simple affair yesterday afternoon, but the post-wedding functions at the South Mumbai hotel saw a host of B-town celebs like Shah Rukh Khan with wife Gauri, Priety Zinta, Karan Johar, Tusshar Kapoor, Salman Khan`s sister Alvira, Anil Kapoor with daughter Sonam. Malhotra said that the 32-year-old actress wore Saif`s grandmother`s traditional gharara for the ceremony last night. The actor`s mother Sharmila Tagore had worn the same gharara at her own `nikaah`. She then passed it on to her son`s new wife. Delhi-based designer Ritu Kumar was given the responsibility of restoring and embellishing the gharara. "I worked on the antique Pataudi gharara that was restored by Ritu Kumar for Kareena`s wedding... We did the final fittings and added a bit of touch of embroidery here and there," Malhotra said. "When Saif and Kareena exchanged vows... She wore Sharmilaji`s gharara for some time," Malhotra said. Later, Kareena changed into a Malhotra creation for the post-wedding party and Saif donned a Banarsi brocade `achkan` by designer Raghvendra Rathore. "Kareena wore a burgundy color embellished gharara with maroon duppatta. I gave a very old world charm to all the ghararas. The party had 80-100 people and went on till 3 am," Malhotra said. Malhotra has designed Kareena`s other outfits too, apart from clothes for sister Karisma, which they will wear at various wedding functions. Among family members present at the post-wedding party were Kareena`s father Randhir Kapoor, Babita, uncle Rajiv Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, wife Neetu son Ranbir Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor`s son Aditya, Sharmila Tagore, Soha Ali Khan with beau Kunal Khemu and Saif`s sister Saba. Wishing his daughter and son-in-law a blissful life, Randhir Kapoor said, "I request all fans of Kareena and Saif to wish the couple a happy marriage... We are happy that they married without any conversion. Here two lovers have got married... They are two lovely people." Amitabh Bachchan`s daughter Shweta and her son, Boney Kapoor`s son Arjun Kapoor and his uncle Sanjay Kapoor, Fardeen Khan and designer Vikram Phadnis were also seen at the party. For the reception in Delhi tomorrow, Kareena will wear a pink gharara or a pink-blue or green sari, he said. The wedding functions were held at Saif-Kareena`s new residence - Satguru Sharan - in suburban Bandra on October 14 followed by a registered marriage yesterday at Saif`s home and a reception at Taj Mahal Hotel last night. 42-year-old Saif has two children - son Ibrahim and daughter Sara - from his previous marriage to actress Amrita Singh in 1991. Kareena, who comes from a family of actors and is the great granddaughter of Prithviraj Kapoor, ended her three-year relationship with Shahid Kapoor while they were working on the film `Jab We Met` (2007). She began dating Saif, son of former Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore, while working in `Tashan` (2008). The actor was anointed as the new Nawab of Pataudi after his father`s death last year. Saif and Kareena have featured together in many advertisements and films including `LOC Kargil`, `Omkara` and `Kurbaan`. They were last seen together in `Agent Vinod` this year, after which they officially declared their intention to tie the knot. (With PTI inputs)