Imagine going to your first Indian wedding ....and it is your own! This is what happened to our groom Clay who got married to the love of his life at the beautiful Carneros Inn in the Napa Valley Wine Country. Having a lot of their family and friends fly in from the east coast, Monica and Clay decided to have their wedding in the Napa Valley Wine Country. The two day event started with a Choora and Mehndi Ceremony at the Meritage Resort and Spa, followed by a rehearsal dinner at the Jacuzzi Winery, culminating at the wedding and reception at the Carneros Inn.
Mixing Western and Indian traditions Moncia and Clay arranged for a very beautiful and entertaining two day wedding celebration for their guests. The first day started off with the Choora ceremony, where Monica’s maternal aunt and uncle present her with a set of Choorae (bangles). To the delight of her guests, who lined up for their turn, Monica had arranged for a mehendi artist to come in and apply beautiful henna designs to anyone who was interested.
In the evening Monica and Clay invited everyone to a lavish rehearsal dinner at the breathtaking Jacuzzi Vineyards. Jacuzzi has a tuscan charm about it that is truly amazing. The cocktail hour was held in the gorgeous outdoor patio that just screamed wine country. The dinner was served in the ornate barrel room. This was one of the most elaborate rehearsal dinners we have witnessed and in many ways it also served as a “Sangeet”. After dinner friends and family performed dances. Even Clay joined in and surprised Monica with a Bollywood-style dance with his groomsmen. In addition family and friends staged a hilarious theatrical performance about how Monica and Clay met. It was so funny that we often found ourselves laughing so hard that we could not hold the camera steady. It was a brilliant way to get the wedding celebrations going.
The ceremony and reception were held the next day at the Carneros Inn. Monica and Clay picked the Caneros Inn because of it’s contemporary wine country charm and of course their great food and wine. Here is what Monica wrote to us about how she envisioned her wedding:
“We wanted a wedding that was romantic, elegant, beautiful and original, yet fun and relaxed. We tried to accomplish this by using different themes throughout the day. For the ceremony, we were going for scenic and colorful. Indian weddings are traditionally red and gold. But we had a mixed Hindu/Christian ceremony and we are anything but traditional. I went with a pink and gold lehenga that I thought captured my Indian heritage but had a "modern vintage" feel. Bright colored flowers, sarees on the bridesmaids, and grey suits with black ties on the groomsmen all tied together for a mixed Hindu/Christian wedding with an elegant atmosphere.
For dinner, we wanted soft romantic flowers with gold table covers for an elegant and more formal setting.
In the courtyard we went with white couches and grey and blue pillows for a more laid back and casual ambiance.
And the dance hall had pink uplighting with all white furniture and mirrored tables for more a "club like" feel (since we did technically meet in Vegas:) - high energy and fun atmosphere.”
Well with the help of the great Carneros Inn Staff and the wedding planners from “Dream a Little Dream Events” they truly pulled off a memorable event. We are sure Clay will never forget his first Indian wedding, especially since he got to ride in on a horse during the “Baarat” on the way to the ceremony. But we’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.
Cheers,
Marcel and Meher
Wedding Venue: The Carneros Inn
Wedding Planner: Adrianna Thorne, Dream A Little Dream Events
Onsite Wedding Coordinator: Brooke Baglietto, The Carneros Inn
Rehearsal Dinner Venue: Jacuzzi Vineyards
Choora Ceremony Venue: Meritage Resort and Spa
Florist: Julie Stevens Design
DJ: Wayne Noel, Golden State Productions
Makeup and Hair: Ann Ho, Styles By Ann
Lighting: Sean Shay, Got Light
Videographer: Justin Ferar, Weddings on Film
Transportation: Napa Valley Tours Transportation
Drummers: Ravi & Lal
Leave a reply