Ushma's heritage is the Hindu faith and Josh's is Christian. They wanted two separate ceremonies but back to back. I've done this many times and so we got to work on the Christian Ceremony which was to follow the Hindu ceremony which was conducted by a Hindu priest.
Their wedding was June 15th, 2019. It was a bright, sunny and rather hot day.
They chose the beautiful venue of
The Oaks at Salem in Apex. This is a view of the ceremony site across the lake from the reception area.
When I arrived the Hindu ceremony had been going on for about 40 minutes. It is not uncommon for the guests to move around, get refreshments (they had an ice cream cart), and chat with each other. On this particular day folks were seeking the shade of the big unbrellas!
The Hindu ceremony was 1 hour and 45 minutes. Then we shifted to the Christian ceremony and the guests sat down as I began with a warm welcome to all. (The bride and groom were very warm in their colorful Hindu wedding clothing and had been standing a lot, so before I began, I asked them if they would like to sit down until we got to the vows. I got a resounding yes!)
Then we paid sweet tribute to their parents.
A reading of First Corinthians followed.
I love telling the story of how my couples met and fell in love and their journey from that day to their wedding day. Ushma and Josh have a good story having met at work in 2014. Slowly their friendship blossomed into love. Then I shared with each of them and our guests what they told me in secret they love about each other and what they are looking forward to in marriage.
(photo courtesy of their professional photographer Erin Costa. Thanks, Erin!)
Since they had made their vows during the Hindu ceremony, we skipped to the exchange of rings. I asked Aaron, Josh's brother and best man, for the rings and blessed them.
Josh placed the ring on Ushma's finger as he said the words after me to her.
Then Ushma encircled Josh's finger with his ring and said the ring vows.
A closing blessing for the couple.
I placed my hand on their joined hands and made the pronouncement of marriage and invited them to share their first married kiss!
Woo hoo! The deed is done and they are finally married! Everyone cheered.
I introduced them to their guests and invited the guests to go around the lake and enjoy the refreshments and the shade! I know Ushma and Josh were looking forward to getting out of the sun and changing in to cooler clothing!
After the guests left, our couple headed back the other direction to change clothes for photographs.
Josh and Ushma! Fantastic wedding! You made it happen! Thank you for choosing me to join you in marriage! I wish you the best always!
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