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Deep and Avi had a luxe New Jersey Indian wedding over two days that left us dewy eyed. It started with a Sangeet and ceremony and then the reception and after party rocked everyone with a massively good time.
Whatever you do, don’t miss the groom’s entrance on horseback, the intricately gorgeous dress changes, and the many dance performances. And don’t stop scrolling until you see what awaits you at the reception. The desserts! The dancing! The smoke machines! The decor! It’s wild and will blow your mind…
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Vendors
Decor: Wedding Designs • Cigars: Maxum Cigars • Catering for ceremony and sangeet: Bukhara • Catering for reception: The Venetian and Moghul • Henna: Dipti Desai • Video: Studio Nine • Photography: Pandya Photography
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About the Author: Catherine Clark
Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.
Lovely couple and obviously a very beautiful wedding!
I am a little curious how this was assessed as being an ‘offbeat’ wedding, though – this style of wedding is the bread and butter of the South Asian community. Honest question – no snark intended. There’s very little write up explaining how it was unique or personalized to the couple – all the info we have is the photos, which implies this is offbeat because they aren’t white.
Is it off beat just because this is a South Asian wedding? I feel a little strange about that.
I can’t speak for the editors and publishers, but I know that a while back there was a reader email that came in asking where all the people of colour where on Offbeat Bride. I believe the overall response was that because the wedding industry focuses so heavily on white, straight, cis, and able bodied couples in all those glossy magazines and “onbeat” websites, that Offbeat Bride accepts basically any and all submissions from people of colour (whether or not their wedding is “offbeat” for their cultural or religious or etc beliefs) because, well, proper representation is kind of offbeat in the wedding industry.
Like, technically OBB has published traditional weddings from queer couples whose only “break from tradition” was that they’re queer. I think it probably comes down to creating a space in the wedding planning world for people who don’t look or love like the couples so widely featured on those mags, websites, and wedding planning portfolios.
Disclaimer, though: I’m white, cis, able bodied, and queer, so my take on this may be vastly different than a person of colour’s might be.
*I can’t seem to edit this to include the context that OBB doesn’t seem to get a lot of submissions from non-white couples in general. I think this got brought up at another point about gender nonconforming couples, as well.
Sorry for the delay in replying to this thread, I’m waiting to board a plane — but you’re right, Morgan.
While Offbeat Bride certainly started out as a more, let’s say, rebellious take on weddings, the state of the wedding industry being much more accepting has allowed us to be inclusive of any kind of wedding that is authentic to a couple’s choices, as traditional or not as they may be.
So we definitely feature more traditional weddings than we used to, and try to focus on giving inspiration especially to segments who aren’t well represented in mainstream American wedding blogs. So, in this case, our goal is that a desi couple could find traditional inspiration like this alongside other kids of weddings, all in the hopes of finding what speaks to them.
Here’s a bit more on how Offbeat Bride’s editorial focus has evolved over the years: https://offbeatbride.com/9-years/
Thanks for the thoughtful replies! I appreciate that.
I love that there is an effort to include POC in wedding publications! One constructive suggestion I’d make is to ask couples to submit some text that explains their wedding traditions, what was personalized to them, what was special, etc.
I think the risk in featuring non-Western wedding on an Offbeat website without text explanation is that it allows non-POC to absorb alternate traditions as novelties without giving them context or meaning.
Just my two cents! Appreciate that your staff are open to having these conversations. I’m always happy to see non-white couples represented in the wedding industry!
That is an excellent idea! Your concern is totally legit and we should be working to prevent that. Thank you so much!
the dress has elephants on it!