THE Wedding

Growing up, my little sister Debby was always the one who would say that she wanted to be famous or a millionaire when she grew up.  Of course, we would just laugh at our little sister while the rest of us said we wanted to be lawyers and doctors.  I don't directly recall her saying it, but I'm pretty sure a super fancy wedding was on her wish list too.

Well, guess who's laughing now?  She may not be famous but she did have a super fancy wedding, and some famous people attended so that is probably close enough!

Debby married Sameer Kumar on July 7, 2012 at the Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach, California.  And it was fabulous!  Everything was beautiful, especially Debby.  She was a gorgeous bride.  It was a great day for our whole family, we got to be at an amazing wedding, do lots of fun things, eat great food, but most of all see my sister SO happy.  Bottom line, when you see people you love happy, it just makes you happy.

I have lots of pictures to share and it's hard to know where to start but here it is:

The wedding ceremony itself was Hindu.  Debby and Sam wore Indian clothing and were married in a traditional ceremony by a Hindu priest.  The reception and party afterward were American.  They changed into American style dress and the fun began.

First off, let's just take a look at Pelican Hill Resort.

This place is so beautiful.  The wedding gazebo overlooks the ocean.  The morning of Debby's wedding the girls and I went over to the bridal suite and got ready with Debby and her bridesmaids.  Debby hired hairdressers and makeup artists to come do every one up.  The girls loved getting special treatment.

Hair and make-up

Even some pedicures...can't leave anything out!

The finished product.  Gorgeous!!!

Once everyone was ready, we took pictures before everything got going.  Debby and the whole wedding party wore American clothes for this.  We also took a family picture, but all these were by the professional photographer and they haven't come back yet, so I don't have any to post right now.

Bridesmaids in the bridal suite

After pictures, it was time for the Baraat.  Debby changed into her wedding sari.  Let me tell you this dress was gorgeous.  It was so beautifully made with tons of hand-sewn jewels and beading.  It weighed 40 pounds (probably why she didn't wear it too long!) 

 

I don't have any official information on a Baraat but basically it takes place right before the ceremony.  This is the part when the groom and his family meet the bride's family, they exchange gifts, hug, dance and then proceed to the ceremony.  This really was one of my favorite parts of the whole thing.  I'm thinking of ways to throw in a Baraat at every wedding!  Unfortunately, Debby the bride, is not part of the Baraat because you don't want the groom to see her before the ceremony...too bad she really missed out.

Now because Sam, likes to do everything BIG, during the Baraat he rode in on an elephant.  All the groom's family, guests and groomsmen gather around the elephant, music and drums start playing and the whole group moves in a dancing procession towards the bride's family who is waiting to greet them.  What a great way to get the party started.

Not the clearest picture, but you get the idea

This elephant was the same one from the movie,
"Water for Elephants" - a movie star!

Basically the elephant just walks right up to our family group, kneels and let's Sam climb down.  The two families then greet and exchange beautiful fresh flower leis.  I loved my lei!!  Because Dave was so much taller than all the Indians and Thai people around the Hindu priest had him pick-up the guy from Sameer's family that he exchanged gifts with.  So funny, everything was very celebratory nothing too formal or stuffy.

We then took our seats for the ceremony to begin.  My dad, escorted Debby down the aisle.  Paige was a flower girl and even Dave had a part in the ceremony as the "brother" of the bride.  Fortunately, there was a printed wedding program that explained each part of the Hindu ceremony.  There were about 17 different phases of the ceremony, a "combination of symbolic rituals and traditions, dating back 4,000 years."

Throwing rose petals at the happily married couple

The whole ceremony takes over an hour and is really very interesting.  It very much involves both of the families as they agree to accept and care for the new couple. 

After the ceremony, Debby and Sameer went to change clothes while we took pictures and enjoyed the cocktail hour.  They set a up a nice area outside to serve drinks and Indian food appetizers to all the wedding guests as we waited for the reception to start.

VudhiVadhana Family