A Multicultural Floral-Forward Wedding at Greengate Ranch and Vineyard in San Luis Obispo, California
“We met unexpectedly at a mutual friend’s birthday party in the height of COVID. I still joke that Libby hadn't seen a man other than her dad in six months at that point, so the odds stacked in my favor,” Shri says of his chance encounter with his future wife, Libby. That same friend eventually played a major part in their wedding day, giving the introduction speech, explaining Indian customs and leading the couple through their vows. Shri proposed nearly two and a half years after their first meeting at a Spanish Bay beach in Monterey. “We stayed at the Inn and spent the weekend exploring the aquarium and eating our way through the numerous world-class restaurants down there,” he adds of the memorable engagement.
For their interfaith wedding, both Libby and Shri wanted to honor their traditions while showing their deep love for the friends and family that played a part in their love story. With this focus on “compromise and community” for their wedding weekend, the two started things off with a Sangeet/welcome party with casual vibes and some of their favorite things, like a taco bar, tequila-based cocktails and pies. Of course, for this dance party, a Latin/reggaeton playlist was a must-have, and guests enjoyed Indian cuisine and a henna artist. The couple says of their decor for this event, “We incorporated a bougainvillea floral arrangement over the barn doors, fun lighting, light/patterned tablecloths and fun/vibrant red, orange and pink floral centerpieces.” Matching their fashion to the color palette, Libby wore a shimmering teal lehenga, while Shri wore a dark green kurta with mirror-like fixtures on the collar to reflect his bride’s own sparkly look.
Following the Sangeet was their wedding day, which they infused with both Jewish and Hindu elements around a traditional Indian ceremony. This began with the Baraat, where the groom-to-be made his entrance on a white horse as the couple’s loved ones danced to the rhythmic beat of drums, where the groom’s uncle and cousins led him to the floral doorway of the vibrant ceremony. “We also wanted to include our family in as many traditional and ceremonial aspects of the events as we could,” they say. “So the evening before the wedding, we had the bride’s uncles serve as witnesses for a ketubah signing, and we had the bride’s aunts stand with the mother of the bride during the ‘Dwar Pooja,’ which is when the groom is met at the ceremony entrance by all the women on the bride’s side.”
The Sangeet the night before carried the theme for the wedding day, with the same color palette being used and many of the decorative elements. “For the actual day of the wedding, we chose to go more formal but with more fun/quirky pieces of us infused throughout,” Shri and Libby say. “We wanted to carry the look of bougainvillea into the mandap/chuppah… so our planner made it look like they were crawling with red/orange/pink roses, with a smaller/similar look for the arch that marked the entrance to the ceremony site (consistent with Indian custom).”
To contrast these bright florals, Libby and her bridesmaids carried bouquets of softer blues, purples and whites, a perfect pop of color against the bride’s white attire. She says, “I wanted to wear traditional Indian outfits, but in white so I could infuse the traditional Western look in them... For the ceremony, I designed a saree that was pure white on white with floral designs that closely resembled the pattern and textures of an American wedding dress.” Shri opted for a modern twist by wearing red, which is traditionally for the bride, with a hand-stitched sherwani embroidered with silver fabric, a beige turban and matching wine-red slippers.
Skipping a first look, the happy couple saw each other for the first time on the wedding day as Libby walked down the aisle. “Even though the whole crowd was watching us, we were laser-focused on each other, and I was immediately put at ease and comforted by the fact that I finally got to be in his presence,” she says. For this uniquely crafted ceremony, the two chose a priest who would engage and involve their audience throughout, along with a complementary program to explain each step of the ceremony. Incorporating a mix of Jewish, Hindu and modern elements, they exchanged rings halfway through the ceremony during the mangalsutra, a Hindu custom where the groom puts a necklace on the bride. They also made their vows at the very end, before Shri stepped on the glass as part of Jewish tradition.
The newlyweds entered the reception space to “No Hands” by Waka Flocka Flame, which then kicked off the Horah for their “upbeat and jovial night.” Their planner transformed the all-white space into an enchanted forest, with hanging vines, gold accents and soft lighting with a touch of white florals to tie into the traditional bridal look from the wedding party’s bouquets. That also meant an outfit change for the couple, with Libby sporting a more playful lehenga in white with gold beading and Shri in an all-black ensemble with silver stars. “The outfit was actually one of the only two that the designer ever made in that style, with the twin being worn on the red carpet by a prominent Bollywood actor in India. My little claim to fame,” he says.
Their loved ones received gift bags with both culturally and personally significant items to Shri and Libby, like the Jewish pastry rugelach that the bride grew up making with her grandma and traditional Indian sweets the groom enjoyed. And what followed this dance party was an after-party to spend some quality time with their guests, which the couple describes as “a more casual after party at one of the houses on the property (paying homage to the house parties we love to throw in San Francisco).”
Planning this multicultural wedding weekend started with one of their keywords for the day: compromise. The two newlyweds say, “We would suggest that even before the official planning begins, the couple should get together and share their baseline expectations to get on the same page before jumping in.” And the way their second word, community, came together for the day was a true highlight for Libby and Shri, with how involved their families and friends were from the day they met to the last minutes of their house party.