About the Couple
Aparna Mukherjee, 29 is a member of Bloomberg News in New York, where she coordinates "The Bloomberg Forum," a series of multimedia interviews with CEOs, analysts, politicians, sports heroes and authors. As a Robert Bosch Fellow, she is preparing to go to Berlin in the fall to examine recent immigration initiatives and their effect on the German information technology industry.

Growing up in Greenwich, Conn., Will Swarts, 32 never imagined he'd live his life with such a wonderful connection to Indian culture -- he's very happy that's the case. He is now the managing editor of HedgeFund.net, a Web site for the hedge-fund industry.

Says Aparna: "After more than four years together over several time zones, we decided to take the next step together. Will made it official on Sunday, December 23, 2001, with his grandmother's ring, which fit me perfectly."

The Functions
On the afternoon of May 11, 2002 they had a Bengali wedding ceremony at The Hyatt Regency, Princeton, NJ. It was followed by a cocktail reception, dinner and dancing with a live Indian band and DJ. On Day two the two exchanged vows. It was followed by an afternoon champagne tea reception accompanied by poetry readings and classical music at Bryn Mawr College.



The Decor/ Theme
All the Indian decorations came from Elegant Affairs, an Indian wedding decorating and floral company run by two sisters, Sharda Shenoy and Shobha Rao. The couple visited their showroom near the border of New York and New Jersey on the recommendation of the wedding coordinator at the Hyatt, who works with them frequently since the hotel hosts more than 20 Indian weddings a year! Shobha took them through dozens of options before they settled on "Golden Eye," which they used for the mandap, the doli and pillars along the aisles.

Says Aparna: "For centerpieces, we used a combination of burgundy gerbera daisies and ivory roses next pillared candlesticks. We purchased the wedding favors, small, stackable brass pots in velvet pouches that symbolized the role of water vessels in the Bengali wedding ceremony."

"The next day, we relied on the natural, Gothic beauty of Bryn Mawr College, my alma mater, as well as help from my sister who arranged the flowers and decorations. She and a friend did an amazing job with gardenias that we ordered online. We also borrowed a typically Jewish or Quaker tradition by having a wedding certificate designed and created for us by a calligrapher-- our guests then signed it. On it we included Indian design elements as well as the Scottish thistle to represent Will's Scottish heritage. Likewise, we had a bagpipe player in full kilt and dress play to greet our guests -- the other music was provided by a string quartet."

After exchanging vows they had friends do readings, including a song by Yeats and a poem one of the maids of honor wrote about the bride.

The Food
Says Aparna: "For catering, we used The Palace, a restaurant/catering service that is owned by an old friend of my parents. The menu was extensive and received rave reviews from everyone. One of the special desserts was created by the Hyatt's on-site pastry chef: chocolate raspberry with sugar-gum flowers. For the afternoon tea, we had traditional treats -- tea sandwiches and pastries -- as well as more chocolate-based delicacies such as as hand-dipped strawberries." The bride designed the cake herself, using the mehendi theme and the filling was mango.

The Guests
The guests came from all over the country and beyond: U.K., Canada, India, Bahrain, Spain. Among the many journalists in attendance as guests, there was also one Dianna Marder, who covered the wedding for "In Love," a column which runs in Sunday magazines in Knight Ridder newspapers around the U.S. (It was in the July 21 issue).

At the reception, the band Bojango Poonj - a quartet composed of two Indian American medical students, a pharmacist, and an equities trader - played old Hindi film songs interspersed with American rock-and-roll.