Congratulations Jay and Nicole!

  

 

 

   Jay and Nicole were married on July 4, 2008 and they had so much fun that they did it again on July 5, 2008 lol!

But seriously, Jay's family is from India, so on July 4th they honored his heritage with a Hindu ceremony and on July 5th they celebrated a traditional Catholic ceremony.

I had the pleasure of spending three days with Jay, Nicole and there wonderful families, starting with the rehearsal and dinner on Thursday. I don't normally go to the rehearsal but they were having a Mehndi Artist and I wasn't going to miss that! I even had it done myself. 

The Mehndi ceremony is a marriage custom celebrated by the brides family where a Mehndi artist paints intricate designs on the hands and feet of the bride and also the hands of her female friends and family.

The ritual signifies the power and strength of love in the marriage, so it is a good omen if the bride keeps it as long as possible.

Peacocks and paisleys are traditional bridal patterns because they are symbolic of passion. It is also believed that the deeper and darker the henna stains, the more the mother-in-law will love the daughter-in-law and the marriage will be a happy one.

I don't think Nicole will have to worry about that!

They served Indian food, I don't know what any of it was called, but it was very good!

 

Getting ready for the Hindu ceremony! These are some of my favorite images.

Nicole was dressed by her new Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law.

Jay and Nicole went to India recently and brought back these beautiful silk sari's for the ceremony. Even though there are no bridesmaids in the Hindu ceremony, they brought back sari's for the bridesmaids in the Catholic ceremony to ware at the Hindu ceremony.

The wedding bracelets are traditionally red.

 

 

The Ceremony!

 

 

Later that evening they had a small reception at                           The Football Hall of Fame, everyone dressed in their favorite team jersey. We had a few hours in between so I had time to make a slide show for them as a surprise. And to my surprise, the Football Hall of Fame let me put it up on the big screen!  It was so cool to see all the pictures bigger then life!

  

 

 

 

The next day was the Catholic ceremony

I took this picture the night of the rehearsal dinner, it was so beautiful, all lit up against the night sky.

 

 

 

I know these two pictures look set up but Nicole was just fixing her train.

Now this one was set up :)

We didn't really do to many posed pictures, we just walked around downtown Canton for a while before we went to the reception.

  

The reception was at the McKinley Grand Hotel so it seemed logical to use the Grand Piano in this not so traditional bridal party picture.

This is my most favorite picture of the day!

This one makes me want to hug my dad!

Later in the evening, Nicole and Jay changed into there Indian outfits to dance the night away. It was such a great wedding, well, they both were!