This multicultural wedding celebration spanned three days and brought two families together. Prithi and Brad, who met while working together in college, got engaged when Brad proposed in Bodega Bay on the beach. “We have been going [to Bodega Bay] for a long time, and it is one of our favorite places,” Prithi says.
The couple took advantage of their yearlong engagement to plan the big event. Like many Hindi weddings, Prithi had a henna night (traditional ceremony where henna paste is applied to the bride and her bridesmaids) on the Wednesday before the wedding. “[The] henna took about three hours, and is one of the traditions to beautify the bride for the ceremony,” Prithi says. The groom’s name was written in henna on the side of Prithi’s left palm. The next night, there was a Haldi, a ceremony to bless the bride and groom with sacred turmeric.
The wedding, which had a red and gold color scheme, took place Friday night in a traditional Hindi ceremony at Laxmi Narayan Temple in Sacramento. “It’s the church my family has gone to since I was a child,” says the bride. The aisle was a red carpet, covered in red flower petals placed in a swirl pattern. Prithi looked stunning in a red and gold lehenga (traditional Indian long skirt) for the ceremony. She wore her hair in an updo with a traditional veil, and accessorized with glittery heels, red and gold earrings, a necklace and bracelets. Brad wore a cream-colored Indian suit called a mandap.
Prithi says her favorite wedding day memory was “walking in and seeing her groom standing in the mandap.” Brad loved seeing his bride enter the ceremony. “There were Indian drums playing and it was a nice moment when she walked in,” he says.
Following the ceremony, the couple and their 150 guests celebrated with a reception at Arden Hills. Prithi wore a blush lehenga, loose flowy hair, a sparkly necklace, dangly earrings and silver bracelets, while Brad wore a black suit.
The reception’s color scheme was traditional blush and creams, and the menu featured American cuisine and a three-tier white buttercream cake with fondant gemstone-shaped accents. Their couple’s sweets table was colorful with treats like gumballs, jellybeans, lollipops and SweeTARTS. Brad’s Scottish heritage was honored, too, with a bagpiper troupe.
“It was surprising that even though our cultures are so different, the finished products—the wedding and reception—blended them well,” remembers Brad.
Planning a multicultural wedding wasn’t easy, which is why Prithi says the most challenging thing was “making sure both of our tastes were represented.” However, according to Brad, “It was surprising that even though our cultures are so different, the finished products—the wedding and reception—blended them well.” The pair enjoyed being creative with their ideas and, acknowledging that the day went quickly, they encourage other couples to have fun.
—Kristen Castillo
