Stephanie and Sumeeth’s

Indian Haldi and Sangeet in Nashville 

My first Indian-American fusion wedding and I will never forget it! What a privilege to photograph such a vivid and lively 3 day event! Here’s is part 1 of Stephanie & Sumeeth’s pre-wedding Indian Haldi and Sangeet in Nashville.

Stephanie and Sumeeth are both soon-to-be doctors working on their MD PhDs at Vanderbilt University. Their love story is a beautiful one. I will elaborate more about that in Part 2.

Nashville Haldi

We started out on Thursday with Stephanie’s bridal portrait at Scarritt Bennett’s Wightman Chapel (see images here). Later that evening, the Haldi ceremony was hosted by Sumeeth’s family at Coco’s Event Center in Nashville. Haldi, which means “turmeric” in Hindi, was applied to Sumeeth’s face, hands and feet. His family and friends gave blessings and gifts. Stephanie was dressed in a beautiful sari by Sumeeth’s relatives. Then it was her turn to receive gifts, blessings, and showers of rose petals. After changing into another stunning sari, the couple joined to receive more gifts, blessings. Finally, they joined their families for amazing food from Edley’s Bar-B-Que.

Bluebird Cafe Luncheon

The following morning, Stephanie and Sumeeth hosted their wedding party and family to a pre-wedding rehearsal lunch at Nashville’s famous Bluebird Cafe. Everyone enjoyed 2 hours of great food, live music courtesy of singer/songwriters Emily Earle and Dean Fields, and toasts from each wedding party member. Guests also received a custom Hatch Show Print featuring Stephanie & Sumeeth’s wedding announcement info and their cool Nashville skyline theme.

Music City Sangeet

Friday evening brought us to the Marriott Vanderbilt’s Parthenon Ballroom for the Sangeet, hosted by Sumeeth’s family. Sangeet translates as “sung together.” Both families celebrate the coming wedding with music, singing, & choreographed dances. After cocktail hour, the Bride and Groom-to-be were introduced separately.  They each danced into the ballroom where they exchanged floral garlands in a Jaimala or Varmala ceremony (which signifies acceptance and union). After, they took their seats on the elaborately decorated stage (or Mandap) to be entertained the rest of the night.

It was such fun to see Sumeeth’s family perform each song – so much talent in one family! But Stephanie and Sumeeth’s choreographed dance was the highlight for sure, especially when they were joined by Stephanie’s friends from Vandy’s VMS Dance. Girl can jam!

The rest of the night included dinner catered by The Clay Pit Indian Cuisine and a packed dance floor thanks to DJ Connection. Did I mention how amazing the food was all weekend?

Decor by Red Umbrella Events.

Part 2 – The Wedding Day – coming Soon!

**Mega shout outs to Shayna Mitchell, Tanya France, and Krista Allen for helping me shoot this fantastic event!**