A Story of How We Met & Pictures From Our Wedding

    When Kris and I initially met we were 22 and 19 years of age working part-time positions at Hollywood Videos and Starbucks. It was very unexpected for our two paths to cross as our cultural backgrounds were very different. I am a Christian Chinese-American and Kris is a Hindu Indo-Fijian. We met through Kris' cousin who was a regular Starbucks customer of mine and Kris would come to Starbucks during his breaks to hang out with his cousin. They were also in a car club together called Illu510n and the car club would meet nearly every night at Starbucks.
   In the chilly month of December, we started dating. Honestly, we both thought it was going to be a casual fling. But we clicked so well! When we first started dating we went to car meets together, saw countless movies. Eventually, we started traveling together. We drove down to San Diego a number of times to visit my best friend, went to Rugby Sevens tournaments, flew to Arizona.
 Originally our backgrounds never conflicted even with our relationship becoming more and more serious. I'm very open minded and Kris and I loved watching Bollywood movies together and listening to Hindi music. He was exposing me a lot to his culture. Kris even began to teach me Hindi! We had numerous conversations about religious views too and we decided that our two different religious views could be harmonious! This was a key component for our relationship to work. For us, it was seamless!
  Now of course you must be asking, well what did your parents think?!  Both our fathers had passed away when we were young teenagers. My mother was born here and the only preference that she had in a boyfriend was that he was good man: respectful, kind and hardworking. Race or religion, she never mentioned anything. On the other hand, Kris' mother was born and raised in Fiji and she had a more traditional mindset. She had a very strong preference for an Indian girl. I of course, was not that. So originally she wasn't fond of our relationship. But, after she made a trip to Fiji she spoke to her brothers and sisters about me and they opened up her eyes and her heart to accept me as a possible future daughter-in-law. They told her that a great daughter-in-law could be found in a girl like me. She realized that an Indian girl didn't guarantee her an ideal daughter-in-law or wife for her son. Sure, I wasn't born and bred to be a superb Indian daughter-in-law and wife. But I was willing to learn, and she knew it. I was willing to learn how to be a great hostess, how to cook family meals, how to pray, how to speak, how to be respectful (in their image) and my favorite part, how to dress at Indian parties. But most importantly, she was willing to teach. When she came back from that trip she was a whole new woman to me!
   After dating for about 4 years, Kris proposed to me while on a hot air balloon traveling over the Napa Valley! And on July 14th, 2012, we had a traditional Hindu wedding. I was very fortunate and blessed that my best friend's family "adopted" me into their family and gave me away as an Indian "not-so Indian" bride.

The Bharat entering the hall.

Although I am Chinese, I was very fortunate that my best friend's family gave me away as a bride. 

My mother participated in the ceremonies as well! She was under the guidance of my sponsored mother. 

Rajaham (Sacrifice to the Sacred Fire):

During this ceremony the bride places both her hands into the groom's and her brother then places rice into her hands. In our ceremony, Rajal placed popcorn into our hands. Together we offered the popcorn as a sacrifice into the fire. 

Mangalphera (Walk Around The Fire):

During this part of the ceremony we make four Mangalpheras around the fire in a clockwise direction representing four goals in life: Dharma, religious and moral duties; Artha, prosperity; Kama, earthly pleasures; Moksha, spirtual salvation and liberation. The bride leads the Pheras first, signifying her determination to stand first beside her husband in all happiness and sorrow.