Happy Friday lovelies. Today we have an adorable couple! I want to use the adorable about a hundred times to describe. Because they are so sweet together.
Pindi and Prateek got married at the gurdwara in Toronto, Canada last fall. They had a Sikh wedding ceremony followed by blessings at the local Hindu temple.
Their wedding was all about family and friends. In three short months, they put together a grand wedding to celebrate their new lives together. Reading Pindi’s story makes you relive newlywed bliss!
Thanks to Weddings by Calin, based in Toronto, for the lovely photos.
Their story:
Prateek and I had a traditional Indian wedding which incorporated both the cultures and religions: Sikh and Hindu. We had a Sikh wedding first, complete with all the ceremonies and where we officially became a couple!
Then we headed over to the Hindu temple to take blessings. We had an option of performing the full ceremony at the Hindu temple, but our elders say that “the actual wedding ceremony” should only be performed once so it’s best to pray and take blessings. Prateek tied the mangalsutra around my neck and placed the sindoor on my head.
Later, we went for a photoshoot at a park nearby where my earings kept falling and irritating my ears so I finally decided to take them off. This resulted in my photo shoot with no earrings!
How did you choose your wedding outfits?
I had a red custom made gown for the wedding reception. The hardest part when it came to clothing was locating the colour magenta for Prateek’s turban. The bridal lehenga’s colour has to match the groom’s colour of the turban of course! We put in a lot of effort to find the right colour. There was a point where I was ready to change my Lehenga to red because of the snafu.
I was very excited about my reception gown and went to a lot of different boutiques until the found THE ONE. I wanted the whole fluffy bottom which gave me a princess look. I was also very picky about my jewellery, especially my headpiece for the ceremony (many compliments).
On the other hand, Prateek just wanted to “get married” and have possession of me!! He didn’t care about how he looked, what he wore so I had to do the whole shopping for him. Hated him for that!
Could you share some of the rituals & traditions you celebrated?
There were a lot of wedding customs that we performed. These were my favourite!
1. My sisters stole Prateek’s shoes at the Sikh temple. They did this to get money out of him. His mom apparently had Indian currency on her, so she told Prateek to play a joke on the girls and offer them Indian money which had no value in Canada. The girls were very heart broken, but he finally glued their hearts back together by bribing them with some dollars.
2. The doli was the most emotional part of the wedding. Especially when I was taking my first foot out of my parent’s house and threw a fist full of rice back into my house. This symbolizes that the daughter has given back what her parents have given her until this time, now she is leaving everything behind and moving on to her new home.
3. After the emotional period, we drove to my new home and played a ring ceremony and untie the thread bracelet on both of our wrists. Whoever finds the ring first in the bowl of water/milk and unties the bracelet will be the ruler and the decision maker in the married life. Of course, Prateek had the upper hand!
What was the inspiration for your wedding?
The inspiration for our wedding was our parents. To be honest, when Prateek and I had decided to get married, we just wanted to have a small court marriage and maybe throw a little party for the family. But our parents encouraged and inspired us to have a traditional wedding and follow the culture and religion.
We just couldn’t wait to live together and start our life together as we were starting a business together so we didn’t want to spend too much time on the wedding planning. When we saw that desire in our parents to see their children get married in a grand wedding, we just couldn’t help it. We wanted to give our parents their right to perform the rituals and customs and be involved in their children’s wedding.
What DIY did you do?
We did a lot of things by ourselves for the wedding. I personally met up with the banquet hall decoration parties and directed them to what colours and style I wanted for the reception Hall. I also did my research on who I was going to hire as my make-up artist. I did finalize with Xpressions by R&A. They were AMAZING with the bridal hair and make up for my ceremony and reception.
I also worked on the hosting script for the reception with my cousins. Overall, I was very involved with the minor and major decisions on the wedding. The special project was the fact that my cousin’s fiance gave a live performance at my wedding reception. He is a Punjabi singer, and he set a great mood for everybody to get on the dance floor.
What was your favourite part of the wedding?
My favourite part of the wedding was seeing the smile on Prateek’s face when I came in as a bride inside the ceremony hall where Prateek was already seated and I was walking towards him to sit beside him. It was a smile full of happiness and anticipation (finally getting married!).
Another favourite moment was Prateek’ speech for me at the wedding reception which was very sweet. Our first dance was wonderful, even if we just practiced for an hour, just before the wedding. We had very little time to plan everything as we decided to get married three months before the wedding and on top we had a very busy schedule. But we did it! We were madly in love and just couldn’t wait to LIVE TOGETHER!
What three words of advice do you have for future brides/grooms-to-be?
Live, Love, Smile!
Live happily through all your decisions. Whatever you do, do it with love. And finally don’t forget about that beautiful smile on your wedding day!
It’s important to celebrate your wedding with family and friends. I think this is the only time when everyone gets together and you get to share moments with each and every family member and friends.
For a bride, I think she has the strongest attachment with her mother at the wedding days. For me, I got very emotional throughout the whole wedding preparations and on the wedding day just realizing that I am actually getting married and going away from my parent’s house. From my wedding experience, I believe a mother works the hardest and gives her all to make sure her daughter’s wedding is perfect.
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Photography: Weddings by Calin
Clothing: Le Château
Clothing: Raja Fabrics
Makeup: Amber and Ruby
another lovely wedding day