Ashanka and James

Posted on: May 31, 2017 by: Deshvidesh

Photographer:
Moonbelle Photography

Ashanka and James became college sweethearts after meeting in their college band at the University of Alabama. Despite playing different instruments, they discovered they had much in common, and after five years of dating and earning four degrees and three national championships, Ashanka and James were finally engaged. James proposed at Deibert Park in Alabama, during a long-distance dating period in their relationship. They gathered with their friends at the park on this memorable day and Ashanka immediately said yes to the big question.

Ashanka began planning the wedding herself, utilizing the help of a wedding decorator for the visual details. During the planning process, Ashanka was already working on her PhD and both she and James were living in different states, so it required plenty of driving back and forth and communicating via email and phone. The stress began to accumulate, but Ashanka remained organized and efficient, and did plenty of research on wedding blogs and websites for best practices and fine-tuning the details. The high level of involvement allowed her to customize everything from their décor to choice of vendors, so that their wedding day best reflected Ashanka and James as a couple.

They chose a location closest to Ashanka’s parents, since they planned to host several pre-wedding events for the family. The first event, the ladies’ sangeet, took place at her parents’ home and was coordinated by the family and Akansha’s maid of honor. They hung saris in the party tent in the backyard to add some color, and opted to go without using flowers as décor until the wedding day. The wedding itself was also held under a decorated tent, but in the courtyard of their hotel venue. Since it was a December wedding, they provided heaters under the tent to keep their 250 guests warm despite the winter weather, and they also chose a warm, traditional color scheme with red, gold, and an abundance of flowers.

It was important to Ashanka and James to combine the best of Indian and American culture in their wedding, and they did so in their music choices and décor. During the reception, their DJ played a mix of Punjabi, Hindi, and popular American songs chosen by the couple, and they also had a dhol player for the baraat procession. James and his fraternity brothers surprised Ashanka with a choreographed dance performance, and her family also sang and danced for her to a traditional Indian newlywed song.