Hindu Ceremony and Reception: Sheraton Park Anaheim Hotel and Resort
Bride and Groom: Kutchi Hindu – North Indian Hindu
What were your venue selection criteria?
- They’ve done Indian weddings before
- Allow us to have Indian food
- Outdoor ceremony space
- At/near a hotel
- Didn’t want another Indian wedding going on the same day. We liked that the Sheraton only had 1 banquet hall – so we were their only wedding that day
- We wanted the ceremony and reception in 1 location. Having events at multiple venues is fun but it’s also kind of a pain especially if the venues are all pretty far from each other. We went to a wedding where the garba and ceremony were about 40 miles away of the reception venue. It was beautiful but it definitely makes the wedding day a little hectic.
How did you decide on the Sheraton Park Anaheim?
We looked at 6 or 7 venues. The Sheraton was convenient, they met all of our criteria and they were flexible. They gave us a few options with table settings and linens. I didn’t have to go elsewhere – so there were little conveniences like that.
What advice would you give to other brides?
Have a meeting with the people that are going to be decision-makers in your wedding. Everyone should share what’s important to them – that will go really far in understanding each person’s perspective. I recommend this for anyone but even more so if you’re marrying someone from a different cultural background. Our “stakeholder” meeting was so educational for me. My husband’s family is North Indian and I’m Kutchi. We each had unique traditions and customs. So I learned a lot from that meeting. I want to emphasize how important it was to have that meeting early on. That saved us from a lot of misunderstandings and the unpleasant feelings that can come with misunderstandings. Additionally, we saved time and money because we probably would’ve had to ‘rework; some things, if we hadn’t had that meeting.
Each person should prep and come to that meeting ready to share what’s important to them and what expectations they have – about everything – food, décor, clothing, ceremonies and traditions, number of guests, alcohol or no alcohol? Veg food or non-veg? Will the bride wear a dupatta on her head? How? etc. etc.
Don’t argue for your parents because you end up arguing with each other. As much as possible, the parents should talk to each other directly.
Do you have any makeup and clothing advice?
- Definitely do a makeup trial and see how it looks in different lighting.
- When you use bobby pins, paint them the color of your outfit – use nail polish so the bobby pins don’t show.
- Don’t forget about the smaller things like who’s going to do your nails and waxing – those things kind of sneak up on you and they’re things you want to take care of.
- Don’t forget about who is going to drape your dupatta. Some people just have an aunty do it but the dupatta for your wedding is so different. You’re draping it in a different way and it’s so heavy – so you really want someone who knows what they’re doing.
If you can, do a trial run with the pandit. At my wedding I had sindur all over my face; and my husband had a hard time with the clasp on the mangal sutra. This was all pretty hilarious but it would have been helpful to practice some of these things.
What was your planning environment?
I was living in Southern California and Amit was in Vegas in residency. So we saw each other on weekends. That additional layer of complexity meant that it was important for us to be organized and on the same page about stuff. Our weekends were that much more precious and we didn’t want to spend the entire time on wedding stuff.
