Indian Wedding in Chicago
Emily & Ankur's wedding is one out of our dreams! The day was bright and sunny (perfect Chicago weather) and full of love, laughter, dancing, singing, culture, family and friends. Emily was kind enough to share her thoughts from the wedding day, their love story and about the cultural and traditional elements of this Indian Wedding in Chicago. The day was captured perfectly by our friends at Ed & Aileen Photography. Enjoy this wedding - there are lots of images coming your way (because we could hardly pare it down to just a few)!
How did you meet? Tell us a bit about your love story?
We met the modern way…..through Bumble. Ankur noted on his profile he used to have blue hair and to reach out for pics – so I reached out. We started talking through the app and tried to arrange a time to meet up but both our schedules were incredibly busy. Randomly, I happened to be out with a friend close to his neighborhood so I asked if he wanted to meet up. He agreed, but little did he know my friend would end up sticking around for our first date! We hit it off strong but then went our separate ways. 4 months later, Ankur reached out to me to see if I was free but I wasn’t…and made him wait a month to get together! We finally reconnected and the rest is history!
What was your wedding vision?
We both had different visions for the wedding until we stepped into the lobby of the Post Office – we knew immediately this was our wedding venue. Even though it was still under construction and we were viewing it in hard hats we could see how incredible the space was and everything it had to offer. From there, we built our vision around integrating the natural beauty of the building with the cultural nature of an Indian wedding. We wanted it to be simple, elegant and of course colorful. When it came to picking the color scheme it was easy…..we both have the same favorite color: pink!!!
Can you explain to our readers about the cultural traditions that are taking place throughout the wedding day?
The wedding festivities start off with Ankur riding in on a white horse for the Baraat (also called Varghodo in Gujarat). Traditionally the groom's side travels to the bride’s side for the wedding and the Baraat is a celebratory wedding procession for the groom involving live music and dancing. It’s basically a moving parade/party. Once it ends (on arrival to the wedding venue), Emily’s parents welcome Ankur and his family at the entrance of the building. Emily's mother then performs a small prayer ceremony for good luck and blessings. She offers Ankur an earthen pot which he breaks - symbolizing his determination to overcome any obstacle that may arise during the couple’s lifetime. At the end of that ceremony, Emily's family welcomes Ankur onto the mandap (analogous to a wedding altar or chuppah) so the wedding can start.
Emily's father then escorts her to the mandap (in accordance with western traditions; in a traditional Hindu wedding, the bride’s uncle escorts her to the mandap). As she enters a veil is held in front of Ankur to denote the couple’s status as separate spiritual beings. Once Emily enters the mandap the veil is removed and Ankur and Emily exchange flower garlands which symbolizes their acceptance as life long partners
During the wedding, the bride and groom each have scarves which are tied together to signify unity, prosperity and happiness. The pandit (priest) then lights a fire to represent the eternal light guiding the couple throughout their married life.
During the ceremony the couple walks around the sacred fire four times. Each fera (round) symbolizes dharma (duty), artha (wealth), kama (desires), and moksha (liberation). After the last fera, it is said the first one to sit down is the head of the household. We rushed to our seats and Emily won!
Towards the end of the ceremony the couple takes the 7 sacred steps together and commit to various ideals and aspirations in their married life together. The first step is for mental energy, second step is for physical strength, third step is for wealth, fourth step is for joyful living, fifth step is for progeny, sixth step is for nature’s bounty and seventh step is for love and friendship. The couple then takes 7 vows of unity (saptapratignas) including serving others, devotion, cooperation, loyalty, and the pursuit of prosperity and enjoyment as prescribed by the spiritual way of living.
At the end of the ceremony we did the traditional Western exchange of rings.
How was the wedding planning process? Did you hire a wedding planner or tackle that yourselves?
The wedding planning process started out smooth. We chose to have a day of coordinator to decrease stress leading up to the wedding and manage the sheer volume of vendors and multiple moving pieces. Then Covid hit…and it was not smooth. We realized fairly quickly that the pandemic was not going anywhere so we decided to postpone for a year to allow us to have the wedding we wanted. The month or two leading up to the wedding was the most stressful part – Chicago was opening up but not as quickly as we hoped. We planned for at least 4 different scenarios (this is not an exaggeration) and were extremely strict about our vaccination requirements in order to create a safe space for our guests. Our vendors were super supportive throughout and worked with us every step of the way. Thankfully, restrictions loosened and we were able to move forward with the initial plan.
What was the best moment (for each of you) on the wedding day?
We both share the same two moments! After the wedding ceremony, before the bride and groom leave the mandap, there is a ritual where the bride and groom are supposed to pay respect to all the elders. We did not do this - we got so excited to celebrate with our friends and family that we ran off the mandap and down the aisle! We didn’t realize we skipped this until a few days after when we went to see Ankur's parents. Needless to say, we made sure we paid our respects immediately.
Our other favorite moment happened at our reception. When we were introduced we both felt the immense happiness and love of our family and friends. Our plan of walking in normally was immediately thrown out the window as we looked at each other and said “Let’s go!” and ran through the crowd 2 times!
A HUGE thank you to Emily and Ankur for sharing your wedding images and story with us. AND for the amazing vendor team that made this gorgeous wedding day possible. We hope you enjoyed this one as much as we did!
Wedding Pro’s:
Wedding Planner: Naturally Yours Events
Venue: The Old Post Office
Photography: Ed & Aileen Photography
Videography: R.E.M Video & Photography
Florist: Romee Willow Florals
Lighting/Draping: A Posh Production
Catering: Cuisine of India
Dessert: Simply Mithai
Hair and Makeup: We Only Do Pretty
Invitations: Erickson's Design
Bride’s Ceremony and Reception Attire: Artistic Designs by Nimisha
Groom’s Ceremony Attire: Manyavar
Groom’s Reception Attire: Suit Supply
Mehndi: Khusbhu Creations
Baraat Horse: Maharaja Farms
Dohl Player: Jaspreet Singh
DJ: Sunny Singh
Choreographer: Gopi Engineer
Mandap Rentals: JD Event Design
Table/Chair and Linen Rentals: Satin Chairs
Transportation: Signature Transportation Group