About the Couple
Mohit and Seema are currently
living in Beijing, China where Mohit is working on a
project for Microsoft. Seema recently completed three
years working for L'Oreal Paris USA as Director of Strategic
Philanthropy where she oversaw the brand's corporate
social responsibility initiatives.
The couple met in Washington DC through a mutual friend.
Mo and Seema actually worked in the same building on
K Street and Mo had noticed her for a while as a spunky,
chatty girl in the elevator but it was not until Seema
needed a date for a company holiday party and her friend
suggested she take Mo that sparks began to really fly.
The couple then began a close to 4 year long distance
relationship. Seema moved to New Delhi for one year
to work in development and public healthcare and when
she returned to NY, Mohit began business school at Wharton
in Philadelphia. The couple is thrilled to finally be
living in the same city and starting their lives together.
Wedding Ceremony
The couple was married
following traditional Hindu Vedic tradition by Priest
Jayant Sane who lives in Boston who had also married
Seema's brother and sister-in-law. Marathi and Punjabi
customs were weaved into the wedding ceremonies. For
example, several weeks before the wedding a Kelvan was
hosted in honor of Mohit and Seema in Pittsburgh where
his family lives. A Kelvan, which can be viewed as a
shower for both the bride and groom, is when gifts and
blessings are presented to the couple from family and
friends. The day before the wedding, Seema was adorned
with henna during a Mehendi ceremony. On the morning
of the ceremony, Seema had a Churra ceremony where traditional
red bangels are put on the bride by her maternal uncle.
The morning of the Hindu wedding ceremony, the couple
had a legal wedding in front of the immediate family
on the lawn of the Pearl River Hilton by the Orangetown
County Clerk, given that their Hindu priest was not
certified in the State of New York.
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Wedding Details
The bride's parents hosted a Mehendi Party on Friday
August 29th at their residence in New City, NY where
the close family and friends of the couple spent the
morning eating, sharing stories and getting henna put
on. That evening a Sangeet was held at the View of the
Hudson in Piermont, NY. The location of the venue is
simply beautiful - it is located right on the Hudson
River with views of the Tappan Zee Bride. The Sangeet
was full of roasts, toasts, dances, and songs. The wedding
was held on Saturday August 30th at the Pearl River
Hilton. The couple had visited over ten venues before
choosing the Pearl River Hilton. Mohit loved how it
was situated in the scenic green landscape of the Palisades
and that a golf course and national parks were close
by. Seema was relieved at how much experience the hotel
had at hosting Indian weddings and that the staff was
familiar with the customs and traditions.
The wedding décor
The couple used a Mandap located in New Jersey for the
mandap design after seeing the beautiful Devdas style
mandap the company had. The wedding aisle was adorned
with fresh flowers with brass female statues holding
diyas. The wedding program was printed on fans for the
guests - one side had an overview of the Hindu ceremony
for guests to follow and the opposite side had a black
and white photo of the couple. For flowers, after a
long search, Seema found her perfect florist - Brian
from the Flower Shoppe located in New City, NY. Seema's
best friend and bridesmaid, Jill Cohen, helped her extensively
research local florists and after she talked to Brian
one time she said, "We finally found our guy!". Brian
was incredibly creative and understood my goals of creating
something beautiful and unforgettable without breaking
our budget. We used a combination of tall white orchids
and callolillies to create a romantic effect. Our DJ,
DJ Sharad from DJ South Asia Limited, insisted we get
an extensive lighting package for the ballroom. At first,
we were skeptical and afraid a lot of lights would create
too much of a club atmosphere, but Sharad assured us
he would make it look beautiful. In the end, the lights
were a fantastic investment. They were used during the
wedding ceremony to create a temple-like intimate atmosphere
and at the reception, the lights helped get the party
really started and highlight the white flowers. Our
wedding favors were personalized CDs of our favorite
Indian, International and Hip Songs that were placed
on each table.
Our most cherished and tense moments
One of our must stressful moments was making the decision
about whether to move the wedding ceremony inside because
the weather reports indicated possibilities of rain.
We needed to decide by 6 AM the day of our wedding and
the reports were very mixed. We had chosen the Pearl
River Hilton given the beautiful outdoor lawn it has
but we wanted to be practical and not risk our guests
and décor getting wet. In the end, we made the decision
to move the ceremony inside to the ballroom and it was
the best decision we made that day. While it ultimately
did not rain, it was incredibly hot and humid outside
and our guests would have been very uncomfortable during
our one hour long ceremony. Our DJ and wedding coordinator
worked to create a beautiful intimate feeling during
the ceremony and then transformed the room for the reception.
Our most cherished moment was our first dance. Mohit
was excited to do something unique for the first dance
and encouraged the couple to hire a Bollywood dance
choreographer, Behnaz Khusrokhan to help. The couple
opened up their first dance to At Last by Etta James,
a symbolic song given the couple has been living apart
in different cities for nearly four years! After a dramatic
dip in the dance, the couple broke out into a bhangra
dance to song Mauja Mauja. Our guests went absolutely
crazy when we started dancing, especially when Mohit
jumped over Seema during one of the moves! Immediately
after the first dance, all the guests joined the dance
floor for an evening filled with dancing and eating.
Our recommendations on
the best wedding vendors
Hands down,
DJ Sharad from DJ's South Asia Limited is the best DJ
for an Indian wedding. He plays very good songs, can
really read the crowd, and does a great job getting
everyone excited. He spends a lot of time helping couples
before the event as well.
Luke Walker is a fantastic photographer and does an
amazing job filming couple shots. He makes everyone
feel so comfortable in front of the camera and knows
how to capture intimate moments between the bride and
groom.
Vaishali Sawant from Rose Events is a great wedding
coordinator and is critical to flawless day-of wedding
execution. She has this amazing life-saving wedding
tool kit she wears throughout the day and her team manages
the timeline of the day so well that the bride and groom
do not need to worry about it.
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Vinny from Tandoor Catering in Queens, NY is the best
wedding caterer Indian parents could ask for. We did
numerous tastings before the wedding to pick out each
and every dish served throughout the weekend and he
did an amazing dessert buffet of over 50 desserts that
not only looked beautiful, but also tasted amazing.
Photographs courtesy:
Luke Walker
lukewalkerphotography.com
lukewalkerphotography.com/blog
tel 866.559.6437
fax 866.653.5106
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