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About
the Couple
 Pawan
runs his own Marketing Communications company in Silicon Valley,
California. He is a MBA post-graduate from University of South
Florida and is originally from New Delhi. He is a fun-loving
person who enjoys travelling, hiking and anything adventurous.
Samridhi runs her own Graphic Design company in Silicon Valley,
California. She is a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University
and is originally from Bombay. She is kind, gentle and very
creative.
How
we met
Samridhi’s
brother, Siddharth, introduced us and we started communicating
through email, phone and finally in person. We already knew
through our phone calls that we clicked well and once we met in
person, it confirmed our instincts. We dated for some time and
then fixed the wedding date for September 1, 2002.
 About
the Engagement
The engagement took place
on August 31st, 2002. We had a day before the wedding,
because we wanted both families and our close friends to be
present for the engagement too. It was a typical punjabi sagaai
ceremony with a sangeet and ring ceremony.
What
we Wore
For the wedding, Samridhi
wore a Ritu Kumar lehenga and Pawan wore a 3 piece cream zari
achkan custom-made by Deen Fashion (for
clothes, the best store we found was Deen Fashion in NJ - they
have an excellent tailor and send clothes to India for the most
exquisite work)
Samridhi
is wearing a Ritu Kumar Lehenga and Pawan is wearing a 3
piece cream zari achkan from Deen Fashion |
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The
wedding mandap |
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The
wedding cake |
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The
Details
Pre
Wedding Functions
Mehendi
Aug 30, 2002
Engagement Aug 31, 2002
The Mehendi and Engagement took place at a
relative's houses in NY and NJ.
Wedding
Sept 1, 2002
- The wedding took place at the Hilton at Tarrytown,
NY. The mandap was set up under a tent in the
Hilton gardens with fountains, a ganesh table and
traditional Indian flowers. The reception and
cocktails took place in rooms inside the Hilton.
- The theme was 'traditional elegant'. So the
wedding cards, outfits, the cake, the mandap were
all decorated in that theme. The colors we chose
were orange, white, red and green.
- The food was catered for by Royal Palace in
Westchester, NY. The menu included aloo tikki and
kabab appetizers, chicken tikka masala, lamb curry,
paneer butter masala, palak paneer, jeera aloo, naan
and kulchas, raita. For dessert we had three types
of kulfi and fruit salad.
- The cake was done in cream, with red and
orange roses.
- The centerpieces were floating lotus
candles with rose and mum petals and more votive
candles on the tables.
- The first dance song was 'Hero' by Enrique
Iglesias.
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On
Wedding Planning
- Trip to India: plan a
trip to India if you can and buy your clothes there, get the cards
printed there. The cards and the clothes cost much more in the
U.S.
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Plan-Plan-Plan: have everything planned and written out and
communicated with everyone (like a PROJECT) so that there is no
miscommunication and things run smoothly.
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The Pandit: choose a pandit who explains in English too. We had a
great pandit- Prof. Harshad Vyas from Queen, NY who made the whole
ceremony fun and everyone understood what was happening.
- Have fun: You need to always remember the focus- this is the
happiest moment of ‘your’ life and you don’t want to ruin it
by worrying too much.
-
Use the web: we used the web extensively, and it made things much
more interesting and easier for us. For Indian brides and grooms,
the best resources on the web are www.weddingsutra.com,
www.ritukumar.com, www.rituberi.com
and www.modernshaadi.com
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Relax and de-stress:
Take some time out for yourself. Go to the gym regularly or take a
walk to de-stress.
Our
Honeymoon
We went for about a month to Hawaii (Maui, Kauai, Kona, Oahu). It
was truly adventurous to see the recently erupted volcano and to
go parasailing and snorkeling. Hawaii is paradise for
honeymooners.
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