We Tied the Knot!
Sunday, October 01, 2017
This past week, our family had a beautiful Nepali wedding celebration. Jeremy and I decided to do something small and ceremonial with the children to mark this next chapter of our lives. What started out as a "little ceremony up in the mountains" was a bit more work than we initially thought it would be. The logistics of bringing a family of 60+ people anywhere is always a lot, but we managed to have the time of our lives and the most perfect celebration that was everything we wanted and more. Seven years ago we did a family trip to Pokhara, had a wonderful time, and the kids have always wanted to go back. Our vision was to have a weekend of relaxed family time making memories, hiking, watching sunsets, having meals together, swimming and spending time on Fewa lake.
On the final night of our weekend get away we took the buses way up into the mountains overlooking the Annapurna mountain range and threw the best party ever. For our ceremony, we decided to do a traditional Hindu Nepali ceremony, followed by a more North American-style ceremony where the kids and I all walked down the aisle and Jeremy and I exchanged vows. It was really nice doing both because each part had so much meaning for our family. Traditional Nepali ceremonies are absolutely beautiful and have a lot of spiritual meaning. There was a fire lit and the whole family sat around four banana trees, while a priest walked us through a series of rituals. One of them is a tug of war between the two families. Another was a flower necklace ceremony. A series of pooja offerings were made. We also fed each other an apple, tied a physical knot between the two of us, and ended by walking around the little temple 7 times. Jeremy and I chose certain parts of a traditional Nepali wedding ceremony that resonated the most with us. None of my kids had ever been to a wedding before and they watched the whole thing in awe. When it was over, they were like, "Whoa, we've only ever seen that in the movies!!" Then the kids all played games, went on pony rides, and ate appetizers while we prepared for part two, the walk down the aisle.
What I remember most from the day was not being able to stop laughing and smiling, until it came time to walk down the aisle. I saw Jeremy and all the kids walking down and the 4 ring bearers and the 9 flower girls and started to cry. It felt so surreal and almost too perfect to be true. Jeremy went first in reading his vows and we could both hardly breathe or speak. First he read his vows to me and then he read his vows to the children. It was the most beautiful moment of the whole day. The ceremony felt over in a flash and I remember being sad because I didn't want it to end. We exchanged rings and kissed while the kids blew bubbles, and then we all lit up beautiful paper lanterns and set them off into the sky. I threw my bouquet and then we had a feast, followed by toasts and beautiful performances from the kids and a raging dance party. At the end of night, I could barely walk and I still couldn't stop smiling. It was a night I'll treasure and remember forever. I tried my best to stay present at every moment and enjoy it because I knew it would be over and gone.
Many thanks to our Nepali friends for making our day perfect! Sachyam and Aakriti, our caregivers, did sooo much of the work and prep with the kids. They all had the most beautiful traditional Nepali outfits made. Thank you to Astik Serchen for designing our wedding outfits. They were traditional yet unique. Thank you to Everest Events for helping us transform our mountaintop into a twinkle-lit oasis. Thank you to our amazing photographer Sunny Thapa. I can't wait to see the photos. And thank you to Pokhara Grande for hosting us down in Pokhara.
I'll share more soon. So many photos and so many more little stories. So fun to share and thank you all for the love and support this past week. Love is magical. What a gift to have found my husband.