I was never one of those girls who had their dream wedding laid out in their minds. In fact, when Akshay proposed to me a year ago, I initially had no clue what type of wedding I wanted. (Akshay’s note: Yet somehow, she used the phrase “rustic glam” around 600 times...Ugh.) What’s really interesting is how much this wedding evolved me. I not only discovered hidden passions, but I also grew to appreciate and love my culture. This post describes the planning of our Sangeet, a pre-wedding Indian celebration, and how we managed to create our version of an Indian fusion wedding.
In Indian weddings, there are multiple events that span across a few days. They are filled with many traditions, customs, music and lots of dancing. They can be a lot of fun, but the one thing I always knew is that I wanted a short and sweet wedding. Interestingly enough, I ended up choosing someone who felt the same way when it came to tradition. We only wanted one event, where our ceremony and wedding reception would be combined. We also wanted our friend to be our officiant and the ceremony to be no longer than 20 minutes.
When we expressed to our parents this style of wedding, we were pleasantly surprised that no one questioned our decision. Don’t get me wrong, they definitely shared their opinions, but they were still always supportive. For those couples who may be struggling with similar decisions, we suggest having open communication. At the end of the day, it’s your special day and you get to dictate how it goes!
Shortly after, our parents asked if they could host a Sangeet the night before the wedding. We ended up deciding to go with it. I personally knew that all my wedding requests were a shell shock to my parents. Yet, they never judged them. This was the one occasion that our families had been looking forward to for their entire lives (besides grandbabies of course). We knew having a little tradition with dance performances and music would make our families so happy.
And let me tell you – it was one of the best decisions we made. As I mentioned above, I have never been connected to my roots, and growing up, I always appreciated other cultures more than my own. However, in the last year, I have grown so much, and discovered I enjoyed incorporating my culture into our fusion Indian wedding. I even learned a dance for the Sangeet, and everyone knows I hate dancing, unless booze is involved.
Even though I didn’t spend nearly as much time as I did with the details of the wedding, I really loved how everything turned out. I chose to incorporate bright colors like orange, pink, and purple combined with gold elements. For our vendors, we hired:
– XO Blooms: They brought in the prettiest pink and orange flowers paired with gold vessels and lanterns. I loved how everything popped. They also took care of the draping, which was so beautiful and elegant.
-Platinum Weddings by Kerrie Petrie: Kerrie was our wedding planner for both the Sangeet and Wedding. She was my rock during the entire 10 month process of planning, and it was so much fun shooting ideas back and forth. She’s super organized and really good at sticking to timelines and agendas. She also understood my vision from day 1!
– Decor: My mother-in-law and grandparents brought back so many wonderful goodies from India. This included baskets, bindis, bangles, and anklets. They also brought back pillow covers. We ended up getting the pillow inserts from Walmart, since they were only $4 vs. $8-10 we were seeing elsewhere.
– Make up and hair done by Peace Love Sakina: She was able to do my makeup and hair within 2 hours, and I felt like a complete doll!
– Photography: We hired Gloria Mesa as our photographer. And as you can see from the photos, she did a pretty good job capturing some special moments!
– Karishma Beauty Salon: For our henna, we hired this salon to do both my bridal henna and henna for the guests. I loved working with them, and they did such an amazing job!
– Taco Bell Truck: My sister-in-law works at Taco Bell Corporation, and she was so sweet to hire the Taco Bell truck for us, so we could enjoy some late night munchies! And I definitely took advantage by stuffing my face with some bean and cheese burritos and Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos tacos!
In the end, the best part of our Sangeet was seeing the happiness oozing out of our family’s faces. Akshay and I had the best time of our lives, and it’s still so insane how quickly September 1 and 2, 2017 came and went. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Fusion Indian Wedding!
Cuties! Best moment was watching your surprise dance. You killed it!