The ceremony flowers by Ivie Joy came in shades of whites and greens, matched to the couple’s wedding crest, designed by artist Emma Garfield of Marblehead, Massachusetts. There were two officiants, Pandit Dinesh Paliwal and Reverend Mark Robinson, close friends of the father of the bride and the father of the groom respectively. They met before the wedding to craft a sermon that incorporated Episcopalian and Hindu traditions in a way that blended the two religions seamlessly. “Originally, my sister was supposed to walk our dog down the aisle with Rem’s best man, but because of a logistical error, my father walked our pup and I down the aisle!” Preetha says. “A truly wonderful mistake that everyone involved was overjoyed about.”
After the ceremony, guests enjoyed cocktail hour where, in addition to an open bar, they were served cocktails inspired by each of the couple’s family pets and farm-to-table appetizers. Dinner followed soon after, and guests were served an Indian-influenced Blue Hill tasting menu with wine pairings. The couple wanted their wedding meal—like everything else—to be a union of our two families and values. Though Blue Hill is renowned for its farm-to-table, seasonal American cuisine, they wanted to see how they could incorporate South Indian ingredients into something not quite American, but not quite Indian either. “This was a nod to the life Rem and I were creating as well as an homage to my father, who taught me to love nature, food, and frugality—though I’m not excellent at the last one,” Preetha says. “Blue Hill’s farm-to-table and no-waste mentality embodied my father’s values perfectly, and their celebration of seasonal American produce and farming honored my husband’s all-American heritage.” Following the dinner, the bride and groom’s parents, best man, and maid and man of honor all gave speeches. They closed out dinner with a Swedish drinking song led by the man of honor before heading to the first dances.
Preetha worked with Reem Acra to design a second wedding dress for the reception. With the chikankari work being prominently featured on her ceremony lehenga, she wanted to work lace into her reception dress. “I asked both sets of parents to share the birds and plants they loved most, and we used their answers to design a custom lace for the dress,” Preetha says. “Reem designed a lace with jasmine, hibiscus, mango leaves, and hummingbirds from my parents and hydrangeas, ferns, and the Myers’ family sailing burgee from Rem’s parents.” She wore Christian Louboutin lace heels and her mother’s diamond necklace and diamond earrings. The groom changed into a white dinner tuxedo and black Meermin oxford shoes before the mother-son dance to “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” by Louis Prima.
Preetha and her father then danced to “Sunshine on My Shoulder” by John Denver. “It’s a song my father and I sang together on many road trips,” Preetha says. “To close out our father-daughter dance, we surprised our guests by putting on sunglasses and dancing to Boney M’s ‘Daddy Cool,’ another childhood family favorite!”
For the after-party, the bride changed into a custom Manish Malhotra dress covered in gunmetal and black acrylic diamond-shaped paillettes and platinum Sophia Webster heels. And while Maine-based DJ KTF set up his turntables, Blue Hill served up lobster rolls, southern fried chicken sliders, and grilled cheese with tomato soup to anyone on the dance floor in need of sustenance and a second wind—all to keep the party going until 2:30 a.m.
This article first appeared on www.vogue.com
