Helen and Deepak had a fusion wedding full of family, food, and dresses! They selected The Estate on the Halifax in Port Orange, FL because they loved that The Estate was fairytale-like. Everyone can use a little Cinderella in their wedding.
Helen tells us all about their multicultural wedding, from the hazing to the tea ceremony!
Before the wedding Deepak and his groomsmen went through a hazing – “picking up the bride” games which is essentially going through a series of challenges in order to prove his love and worth to come pick Helen up to go to the ceremony!
As the guests entered the wedding site, they put strands of jasmine blooms in their hair and sacred water sprinkled upon their heads. I entered the ceremony with my mother under the cover of an umbrella to ward off evil. My mom “delivered” me so to say to my father who walked me the rest of the way down the aisle to Deepak.
Tea Ceremony: This time-honored exchange was created to show respect for the family. The bride serves tea to the groom’s family. After each elder takes a sip, they hand the couple a “lai see” (a lucky red envelope), which usually contains money or jewelry. The envelopes are placed on the platter that holds the teacups.
Aaseervatham – Blessing of the Couple – The Aalathi is performed by several female family members. It is done by circling a tray containing turmeric water and a piece of lit camphor around the bride and groom to ward off any obstacles.
Our Favorite Moment – For Deepak it was getting to see me after completing the “picking up the bride” games which is going through a series of challenges in order to prove his love and worth to come pick me up to go to the ceremony!”
Most Comical moment – During the ceremony, the bride is supposed to smash a piece of roof tile to bring good luck and fortune to the couple. I was so worried that I might not break it and bring us bad luck. I ended up picking my dress up and STOMPING really hard on it. The funniest part was Deepak pretending i was the Hulk and saying “Helen Smash!”
Biggest Challenge? And how did you overcome it? – Our biggest challenge was probably saying no! There were just too many cool ideas and delicious food (I blame my awesome vendors and Pinterest) that we couldn’t incorporate everything. We just had to really end up being incredibly choosy at the end… and constantly wishing that we had unlimited $ to spend on everything!
Words of Wisdom for future brides? – Don’t sweat the small details- no one notices anyways! There’s just too much fun going on!” what inspired your colors and theme? “Our theme of East and South Asian is really driven by our desire to incorporate our upbringing and families into our special day. Both Red and Gold are lucky colors in Indian and Taiwanese cultures.”
What made your day unique? – It’s more common to see an interracial- mixed couple today, but I do have to say Taiwanese and Indian- very uncommon! We also wanted to make sure our day was unique including incorporating different traditions from both cultures (like having 3 different dresses, different ceremony traditions, different cultural dances), and Helen/Deepak Flair (like having an awesome Pool/ hot tub after party, glass elevator entrance to dance party, and we even had a friends and family talent show the night before!)
Did you have any DIY elements – Much of it had to be DIY since it was a Taiwanese- Indian wedding. We ended up just overloading our relatives’ bags filled with Taiwanese and Indian items to outfit the wedding. It was so fitting and clicked so well with these two cultures- they’re actually very similar just expressed in different ways. It was a lot of fun seeing everything merge together.
{Wedding Vendors}
Photographer: Mark Dickinson Photography // Equipment Rentals: A Chair Affair, Inc. // Shoes: Badgley Mischka // Floral Designer: Details Flowers and Photography // Dress Designer: Maggie Sotero // Caterer: Puff ‘n Stuff Catering// Hair Stylist: Shelly Seymour Hair and Makeup Artist // DJ: The DJ Man// Cake Designer: The Pastry Studio // Event Planner: The Estate on the Halifax : Tavern and Chapel in the Garden // Cinema and Video: You And I Pictures //Event Venue: Tavern & Chapel in the Garden
