Keeping to tradition: The wedding of Akhilesh and Meena Reddy

The wedding of Akhilesh and Meena Reddy at Harewood House, Leeds

Photography: Steve Ramsden

Although Ak and I both live and work in Cambridge, we wanted to get married in Yorkshire as both our family homes are here. We planned to have a traditional Indian wedding, which are always big, so our venue needed to be able to accommodate all our guests. Traditional ceremonies are conducted in front of a small open fire so the venue also had to have experience of Indian ceremonies and be able to cope with this.

I chose a traditional red sari with gold embroidery which reflected my north Indian roots. Akhilesh wore a traditional outfit of long ornate jacket (sherwani) with maroon trousers.

We had our civil ceremony at Wakefield Registry Office the previous day, so on the day of the Indian wedding itself we were both quite relaxed, but very excited about what was to come.

Ak arrived outside Harewood House for his Baraat, (where the groom makes his way to the ceremony in a grand procession of family and friends) in a beautiful silver Bentley. At the Pavilion he was greeted by my family and friends to mark the joining of two families. While this was happening, I was nervously hiding inside the Pavilion, waiting to make my entrance for the ceremony.

The ceremony was conducted by a Hindu priest in the language of Sanskrit on a specially erected stage called a mandap. It was very important to us that our guests, who were a diverse mix of Eastern and Western backgrounds, would all be able to understand the significance of the marriage rituals and our priest did a wonderful job of translating so everyone knew what was happening. After the ceremony we enjoyed a drinks reception and photographs together before we changed for the evening reception. I wore a cerise pink ‘lengha’, consisting of a fitted top and long skirt with a matching scarf, to match the colour theme of our reception. Our guests enjoyed a fantastic Indian meal and were entertained by Desi Nach, a Bollywood dance group between courses.

The whole day was a truly memorable experience but tinged with some sadness due to the passing of both my parents and more recently, Ak’s mother, but we hope we made them proud.

THE DETAILS

Photography: Steve Ramsden, 01904, 479063, steveramsdenstudio.co.uk

Venue: Harewood House, Leeds, 0113 218 1010, harewood.org

Videographer: Unique Films, 07746 346865, UniqueFilms.co.uk

Catering: Eurocaterers, 0845 649 9999. eurocaterers.com

Venue dresser: Wed in Style, 0116 266 0202, wed-in-style.co.uk

Master of Ceremonies: Tony Mandez, tonymandez-toastmaster.co.uk

Flowers: Wed in Style, 0116 266 0202, wed-in-style.co.uk

Cake: Betty’s Craft Bakery, 01423 814008

Entertainment: Delsonic, 0844 887 7007, delsonic.co.uk

To see more images from Akhilesh and Meena’s wedding see our online gallery or the 2013 issue of Yorkshire BRIDE