Sunday, June 5, 2011

McGuire Air Force Base Wedding--Tamanna + Colin

On 5/28/2011, John and I coordinated Tamanna and Colin's wedding at McGuire Air Force Base.  The wedding was a fusion of South Asian and Western cultures.  To give everyone a little background, usually South Asian weddings are colorful, festive and lavish.  And all of the above elements were present at this wedding. 

The ceremony started at 6pm at the Air Force Base Chapel.  They had a traditional Bengali gate ceremony at 5:45pm.  Gate ceremony was so much fun for the kids to watch and as an adult, I enjoyed it just as much as the kids.  From what I saw and gathered that day, during the gate ceremony, the bride's siblings and friends play practical jokes on the groom and his friends.  According to Wikipedia, "the wedding gate ceremony is arranged by the bride's family. The groom, along with his friends and family, traditionally arrive later than the bride's side. As they arrive, the younger members of the bride's family barricade the entrance to the venue, demanding money from the groom in return for allowing him to enter. There is a bargaining between groom and the bride's family members on the amount of money of the admission. There is typically much good-natured pushing and shoving involved."

Both of Tamanna's parents walked her down the aisle.  The beautiful ceremony lasted about 45 minutes and the couple walked out of the church to the bubbles that guests were blowing out at them.  Reception for 230+ guests was held across the street at the officers club.  DJ Ritz (and his partner) of Tribe Entertainment created gorgeous uplighting for the reception.  The couple followed all other Western wedding traditions: grand entrance, speeches by parents and siblings, cake cutting, couple's first dance and many more.  Guests enjoyed garden salad and second course from one of the following choices: NY strips, Stuffed cornish hen, Salmon or Vegetarian.  Tamanna and Colin also had a Roushmat Ceremony (translation: mirror ceremony).  During the mirror ceremony, "a veil is draped over both the bride and groom, and a mirror is placed in front of them. The groom is then supposed to say something romantic on what he sees in the mirror—notionally the first time he has laid eyes on his bride. A traditional answer is to say that he has seen the moon."  Of course, Tamanna and Colin have met each other before and to play it off, Colin looked into the mirror and answered, "my wife", when he was asked what he saw looking into the mirror.

Both ceremony and reception were equally fun and interesting.  Vendors team included:  DJ's of Tribe Entertainment, Coordinators of Enchanté Weddings, Tiffany of Atlas Wedding Photography and Videographer Brian.  Enchanté Wedding team would like to thank the bride's family for being such nice a client to work with and allowing us to be part of this fabulous wedding!   

Below are some photos of the set up:





--Nellie

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for your help nellie! I was living in Teaxs and the wedding was in NJ which made things a bit stressful. Nellie was great! She met with my family and had mutiple email and phone exchanges with me to make sure my night was perfect. Thanks again!

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