Getting Married Twice In One Day

As I sit deeper in the comfort of changing titles and I become more familiar with being a Mrs., I cant help but reflect on how this year changed my life. Even after months of being married, I am continuously soaking in the splendor of this year. It goes back to the first major snowstorm of 2016, in the thick of winter, on a gorgeous snowy night when my husband asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes, and a year and a half later we were married. I will forever remain in awe of all the love my husband and I witnessed this past summer. I married my husband twice in one day, and if I had to do it again I wouldnt change a single thing.

The truth is being married hasnt changed me or us much individually and together. I plan to keep my maiden name, to continue dating my now husband, to always act from a place of love. However being committed to my husband has paved way to my own evolution, self-exploration, and deepening. My husband and I come from very different backgrounds and have had diverse upbringings. I was born in a small city in north India and my husband was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. Despite our glaring external differences, we gel together because we are both deeper than what meets the eye. We experience love, joy, excitement, hope, grief, anxiety, and exhaustion similarly. At our core, in our values, and as human beings we are very similar.

Weddings are a beautiful juncture; to see all your and your spouses loved ones come together in one room is truly a humbling experience. The air is saturated with sweetness of love, and joy is palpable in the atmosphere. Everyone comes together to witness the love two people share. On our wedding day our worlds collided and we were able to bring people together nationally and internationally. Weddings are personal, that allows people to express their love for each other in ways that is in alignment with their authentic selves. For me the act of getting married meant announcing my continued love and commitment towards my husband, but it also meant celebrating our similarities and embracing our differences. It meant rejoicing and accepting what is, without having the desire for it to be anything else.

I married twice in one day because our wedding represented not only our cultures and past, but also the amalgamation of the two in the present. On the wedding day I wore a white bridal gown with equal comfort of wearing an Indian lengha (wedding dress). I walked down both the aisles with similar joy and excitement. And I spoke my vows on both ceremonies with equivalent sincerity, love, and happiness. For me by honoring our cultures and past alike, my husband and I took part in something that is bigger than us. In a planet that remains divided I truly believe we can create a better world if more cultures choose to unite. Our world becomes smaller when two cultures bond and it evolves to something that is unique and gorgeous. I am able to appreciate the power of coalescing cultures and can see my world through clear lens. As my husband and I forge new traditions that we will call our own, we will do so by standing atop and merging our values and upbringing. And as we move forward in this unchartered territory, I hope one day we will raise children who will look at themselves not as half Indian and half Caucasian, but as full wholesome human beings, who will hold the courage to create customs that feel natural to them.