📸: Mel Colvin Studios // @melcolvinstudios

The Meet Cute

As it turns out, moms make quite the matchmakers. “My mom plays soccer with a friend of Praveen’s, Rahul, and she was playing the song ‘Maahi Ve’ on her speakers during one of their pick-up games,” Sarah says. Funnily enough, it was the same song Praveen was learning a dance for to perform at Rahul’s Sangeet (a prewedding event where the bride and groom’s family and friends perform choreographed dances). Rahul and Sarah’s mother got to talking and she, of course, asked, “Do you have any single friends?” Rahul, being a great wingman, proceeded to score Sarah’s number for Praveen.

The Engagement

About four months after moving in together, Sarah and Praveen went to lake Winnipesaukee for a long weekend in mid October. “He woke me up at the crack of dawn and dragged me to a Gazeebo on the lake,” Sarah recalls. “Steam was rising off the water while the sun rose behind us, and he proposed with my great grandmother’s ring.”

The Process

The couple had planned (and put deposits down) for a fairly large wedding comprised of a Hindu ceremony, a Jewish ceremony, a Sangeet and a reception. When you know what hit, however, everything was canceled in favor of a small ceremony on the patio behind Sarah’s temple followed by a reception with immediate family and a few of Praveen’s friends. “Even just the small wedding was overwhelming to plan and execute so I cannot imagine producing a much larger event,” Sarah says. “In this way, I feel very lucky for the small size. Still, there was also a significant loss not being able to have any of Praveen’s family from India or my extended family with us. I also feel sad that we didn’t get to perform our dances that we learned for the Sangeet, I was looking forward to that probably the most as my family and I love to dance.”

The Contributions

“Everyone really pulled together because we could only have fifteen people total, including vendors and our Rabbi and Canter,” Sarah says. “A family friend from my temple did the decorations with some help with set up from my mom and sisters, and my sister painted the edges of our Ketubah.” Furthermore, because a Jewish ceremony involves both the bride and groom walking down the aisle with their respective parents, Sarah’s mother asked Praveen if she and Sarah’s father could have the honor of walking with Praveen since his family was unable to attend. “He said yes right away, and my parents felt very privileged to get to do that,” Sarah says. Finally, thanks to the couple’s friend Zdan who provided and operated high-tech equipment, they were able to livestream the ceremony for faraway loved ones to witness and enjoy.

The Highlights

“Seeing everyone on the Zoom screen!” says Sarah. “I couldn’t see them during the ceremony so after, when I walked towards the screen and saw everyone, it was really wonderful.”

The Advice

“I think keeping our original date and not postponing was a good move for us,” Sarah says. “You never know when another wave will hit, and we just wanted to get married already. We were disappointed to miss out on the traditions from both of our cultures, but we are lucking to have our health and to have healthy loved ones.”