A Color-Packed Traditional South Indian Wedding in Concord, New Hampshire

To celebrate their marriage, Pooja and Ravi hosted three days of festivities filled with a vibrant color palette to celebrate the joy that was central to their south Indian wedding. To aid in the planning and since "Indian culture within itself is different depending on the state you come from," the couple hired a Telugu Indian wedding planner to bring their dream celebration in New Hampshire to life. 

Color was central to each day of the weekend-long New Hampshire wedding, with the palette shifting slightly with each event. "Indian weddings are usually really colorful. The day of the wedding and reception the flowers were mostly colors of light pink, white, and fuchsia with greens. The day of the Mehendhi/Sangeeth mine and Ravi’s families dressed in colors of pale pink and sage green. The day of the Bride ceremony my family dressed in red while I dressed in yellow The day of the engagement ceremony Ravi and I wore shades of mauve, purple and pink The day of the wedding most of our family dressed in yellows while I wore red and Ravi wore a cream color to complement my saree," says Pooja. 

In addition to adding in plenty of vibrant color to their wedding, Pooja and Ravi layered in plenty of traditional elements to honor their Telugu Indian heritage. "Our whole wedding was intended to follow as many traditions as possible so that we could keep our family and elders happy. Wearing my mom’s mother nose ring (she passed away when my mom a baby and she was a strong woman during her time! She was a lawyer when many women in India in her generation weren’t very educated)," says Pooja. As for Pooja's favorite moment from the wedding, she recalls enjoying the Talambralu. "In this ritual, the bride and groom pour rice mixed with turmeric on each other’s head. It usually turns into a competition. With all of our family and friends cheering around us we had a lot a lot fun. Ravi let me win by pouring a bunch of rice on him."