Indian Theme Wedding: Ratna and Louis at Kohl Mansion
The September wedding of Ratna and Louis was an Indian theme wedding that employed modest amounts of Indian-inspired wedding decoration in both the ceremony and reception, which was held on the grounds of the Kohl Mansion, a grand 94-year-old English-style estate in Burlingame, California. The venue may not seem quite the right place to hold an Indian themed wedding. One particularly prominent element of the estate is its manicured rose garden featuring patches of lush shrub-lined rectangles, circles, and diamonds dispersed throughout interlaced bricks. In the end, however, Ratna declared, "it was perfect."
The most obvious hint that this was an Indian wedding came from the bride and groom’s silk wedding clothes, imported from India. Ratna was, indeed, the most prominent Indian wedding decoration of the affair. Her white silk wedding clothes were infused with glittering gold embroidery. The two-piece top and skirt ensemble featured full-body gold vine-and-leaf designs, while wide bands of gold embroidery decorated the top’s cap sleeves and waist plus the skirt’s edges.
More gold, the traditional East Indian theme wedding accoutrement, came in the form of a visually-striking intricately-designed necklace and the mang-tiki, a gold ceremonial jewel piece that rests on a bride’s hairline. Equally elaborate gold chandelier earrings and numerous glittering thin gold bracelets on each of her arms added to the bride’s regal wedding ensemble. In the Indian wedding tradition, Ratna’s hands were adorned with henna, or mehndi, designed with a paisley motif that mimicked the wedding stationery.
Another Indian wedding decoration took the form of a mandap, or wedding canopy, beneath which the couple pledged their devotion to each other with original vows written by the bride and groom in an otherwise traditional Hindu service. The couple exchanged Indian weddings garlands of red rose and white dahlia to signify their acceptance of one another. At the end of the ceremony, the priest and guests showered the couple with rose petals, symbolizing blessings of happiness and prosperity.
For the reception of this Indian themed wedding, which was held buffet style in the estate’s mansion, musicians played classical Indian music using a sitar and tambla (drums). The strains of classical Indian music filling the gardens created more Indian wedding theme atmosphere. Reception tables featured moss-green tablecloths and burnished brown napkins, with menus tucked inside, that helped set off each table’s floral arrangement, which varied from table to table.
Though not an Indian themed wedding decoration, upon each napkin sat favor boxes containing ginger hearts and burnt-caramel truffles, each box decorated with a white ribbon tied into a bow. The four-tier wedding cake, from Masse's Pastries, was made of dark chocolate-Bavarian cream with white fondant icing and modestly decorated with chocolate henna-like designs of simple loops and crosses, contributing more Indian decoration for the wedding.