I know my post is a little confusing. You might be thinking, “isn’t she already married?” Yes, you would be correct. My sweet husband and I were married on January 28th of 2017 in Clemson SC. Unfortunately; most of Natraj’s family was unable to come to the U.S. for the wedding. My in-laws asked that we come to India to celebrate our wedding and for me to meet all the family. This was the earliest we could go. Girl! I had the best trip! I’ll post more about the trip soon once I edit all the photos, but I had to share our reception photos!

 

I absolutely LOVE celebrating our love and commitment to each other. I think he is wonderful and it is my joy and honor to be his wife. I am so glad I had the experience of meeting his family and learning about his culture. I feel like I understand him so much more now!

 

Reception Story: A very talented designer named Vishua designed my dress. She was so wonderful and made my dress and delivered it in THREE DAYS! I tell you, service in India is incredible! All of Natraj’s family and family friends traveled from all over the country to come to our reception. It was really overwhelming how supportive and excited people were to come to our party.

I had mehendi more well known as henna done on my hands by this award winning artist. I felt like a total Bollywood princess! Our reception was at the Raviz Hotel in Calicut, Kerala. It is the insanely beautiful hotel surrounded by a beautiful lake and coconut trees!

 

At the reception there was the lighting of the lamp, which is like a blessing. Lekshmi, Natraj’s sister, told our story and shared about my family in a heartwarming speech. We had the cutting of the cake. If you are not familiar with Indian celebrations, you feed people cake and they feed you cake. It is a fun tradition. My favorite thing about Indian culture is that they celebrate every milestone in a person’s life. It is not just your mom that cares about milestones but your whole community. I definitely plan to bring that tradition here.

 

Anyways, after that there was food, music, and just getting to know all the family. He has A LOT of family. They are so wonderful and I made some great connections. Not only was there family but many of the family friends and the entire neighborhood. See the photo of the biggest group, it is 45 members of their gated community. They are such an incredible group of people. I was really nervous when I had thought about this party, but there was no need for my nervousness. I have never felt so welcomed in my WHOLE LIFE!

 

ALSO, HOW BEAUTIFUL IS MY SISTER IN-LAW!?! I mean, I just can’t get over how beautiful she is on the inside and outside. I have so much love for this girl!