One Couple's Blush-and-Gold Sikh Wedding in Fairfax Station, Virginia

Amrita and Amar tied the knot with a romantic blush-and-gold backyard wedding at Amrita's parent's home in Fairfax Station, Virginia, amid the pandemic. Because of the pandemic, the couple was forced to postpone and then "reinvent the entire wedding," but that didn't stop Amrita and Amar from creating a beautiful backyard wedding to honor their relationship and their Sikh heritage. 

"The wedding took place in my parent's backyard," explains Amrita. I loved the idea of being married in the place I grew up so that whenever I visit I can always look back on my wedding alongside other memories. Our backyard was completely transformed for the two events that took place—with a different look and feel for each one. It was amazing to see my childhood home completely reinvented. What made it all the more special was that even with all the unpredictability, we found a way to host a COVID-friendly celebration where loved ones were comfortable coming together at our home and sharing the big day with me." While the couple's plan had all along been to wed at Amrita's parent's home, the sangeet and wedding reception were initially supposed to be at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at the National Harbor in Maryland. However, once the pandemic upended their plans, Amrita and Amar pivoted to planning the entire celebration as an elegant backyard wedding. 

While the couple leaned into a romantic palette of pinks and metallics for their wedding day, they went bold and bright for the sangeet the data before. "We wanted an elegant market theme for the sangeet, something fun, colorful but still classy," notes the couple. Then, "for the ceremony, we wanted a more formal look with shades of pink and neutral colors. We had a traditional Sikh ceremony known as Anand Karaj (meaning a blissful union). Since many of the guests were unfamiliar with Sikhism, we made sure the ceremony was translated in English so all the guests would understand the customs/traditions. We also laid out the ceremony details and descriptions in the program as well to help guests follow along."

Despite the ongoing pandemic, the couple was able to successfully pull off their beautiful wedding and celebrate with loved ones thanks to a series of thoughtful health precautions they instated. The couple did this because they wanted "to make sure that family and guests felt comfortable in attendance. We offered COVID-19 testing to our guests before and after the wedding and asked our bridal party and close family and friends to get tested on their own if they were unable to come to our provided testing. We had a lot of signage during the events to remind guests to wear their masks and provided masks, sanitizer, temperature checks throughout the events. We also had the restroom trailers wiped down throughout the events and placed an air purifier in the trailer overnight. It was really important to us to make our guests feel as comfortable as possible."