Ceremony of a lifetime - mpdress’s blog

Yuvraj Singh and Hazel Keech wedding kept us busy for more than a week. The ravishing bride graduation dresses uk in yellow for mehendi, wore a maroon lehenga for Anand Karaj and a red sari for the Hindu ceremony... a grandiose affair and this Brit-Maurisian and dapper cricketer totally rocked. A match made in heaven, celebrated in Chandigarh, Goa and Delhi!

Many times, couples wanting to enter wedlock come from different religions, so ceremonies are naturally multiplied. Here are few who chose to follow their heart and settled on a wedding or two!

Keep it simple

For Rohit and Smriti Syal, both agnostics, a small ceremony was enough to seal the lifelong deal. “We chose to go in for Anand Karaj, as it was short and simple; mother-in-law being a Sikh too,” says Smriti. As families got involved, the bride-to-be’s father expressed the desire for kanyadaan. “Mom-in-law suggested a temple and a gurdwara next to each other in Sector 25; so one after another ceremonies were performed.”

While the two weddings worked perfectly well for this couple, at times things are not that smooth like in the case of Sidharth Bahri and Puneet Bedi Bahri. The groom-to-be’s mother’s had her heart set on pheras while Anand Karaj was on the other party’s mind. However, Sidharth’s bua (paternal aunt), married in a Sikh family, solved the issue by reasoning that two weddings did not make sense. So, with the family that two weddings is rather too much and it doesn’t hurt to go for one kind of rituals. So Anand Karaj it was! “Tuitions leke shadi huyi meri,” laughs Siddharth, 10 years later.

That was easy

Choosing between a conservative white wedding and a big-fat Punjabi wedding was easy for Swapna Thomas, as she decided to change her last name to ‘Singla’. “We are Keralite Christians, we have pretty simple weddings.” However, as she flew in with some 35 of her clan to Chandigarh, the Singlas left no stone unturned to give them the taste of real Punjabi wedding. “Right from elaborate mehendi and pheras in the wee hours of the morning, the ring games, we had it all,” she recollects. So much so that the reception they had in Mumbai post the wedding was a total lacklustre affair compared to the gala show in Panchkula. “It looked like a birthday party in a five-star,” she says.

Mutual ties

The choice was clear for Imran Khan and his classmate-turned-girlfriend-turned-wife Anjana. “When I proposed her the first time, I was clear that I wanted it to be lifelong relation. Keen on my religion, she chose to become Mrs Khan in a nikah ceremony that she absolutely loved,” shares this practicing advocate.

Marriage of two minds, literally it was for Bengali Sharmita Bannerjee and Jat Sikh Tony Bhinder. This duo could have done with any kind of ceremony, but with the wedding, families from both sides wanted their own rituals. Going for both was one option, but this bride-to-be thought two weddings would be a circus! So, Anand Karaj followed. “My family was satisfied; so I became Sharmita Bannerjee Bhinder!

Double celebration

A Sikh boy marrying a Hindu girl - nothing extraordinary! But when Karan decided to marry Sakshi Pande, little did they realise that their wedding would epitomise two traditions. An amalgamation of faith, Sakshi happily did the lavaan with Karan in the gurdwara; Karan thereafter tied the mangalsutra around Sakshi’s neck in a true- blue Hindu wedding that followed. The proud parents, both from Army background, relatives and friends happily took part in both the ceremonies. As the couple confides, “Coming from an Army background, it was not difficult for us to convince our parents. However, as two individuals who come from different religious backgrounds, it was of utmost importance that we both understood and respect each other’s faith and choices. Therefore, we decided to get married as per both Sikh and Hindu rituals and it was definitely the best ‘first’ decision we have ever made together.”