Delaina and Parth got married at Pear Tree Estate, the perfect setting for their winter wedding with its rustic ambience and views of the wide-open cornfields of central Illinois. Their wedding was a blending of two different cultures; Parth is Indian, and they wanted to combine parts of his culture with Delaina’s Christian upbringing. They had a rehearsal dinner with lots of dancing and henna the night before the ceremony, which was Christian and officiated by their friend. The bride’s bouquet was made of white roses, baby’s breath, star of Bethlehem and white pine, and it featured brooches gifted to her by guests of her bridal tea. Many of the decorations were DIY, crafted by the couple and their families. They made more than 40 candles from recycled wine bottles, and the wood in the centerpieces and table numbers was cut from walnut trees Delaina’s late grandfather had planted. Traci and Troy captured their unique winter wedding!
A winter multicultural wedding with rustic flair in Champaign, IL
My pearls were a gift from my groom, handmade in Hyderabad, India! He even got to pick which pearls went on my necklace! Parth travels for work about once a month, but in August he went to India for over three weeks. I missed him a lot, especially as this was when a lot of decisions were being made for the wedding. While he was away he had these beautiful pearls made for me.
Mehndi artist Neeta Panchal created my bridal mehndi. I went to Neeta’s house on Thursday night before the wedding to get my bridal Mehndi. She was so kind to open her home to my dad and I while we waited. She worked so delicately and my mehndi stayed dark throughout all the wedding events, a sign that my to be husband truly loves me. It is also tradition for the Mehndi artist to write the groom’s name hidden in the Mehndi design. Neeta was again so delicate, but Parth did find it – giving us good luck for our marriage!
Our menus and programs were hand-drawn by Parth’s very talented cousin, Rajvi Vakil. She sketched the design for both the menus and programs in about a week. The finished product was simple & elegant and perfect for our event. She did such a great job!
Dinner was served family style. Flank steak, blackened chicken and black bean sweet potato enchiladas were also served among many hors d’oeuvres. Parth and his family are all vegetarian so we wanted to be sure to have wonderful vegetarian food as vegetarian wedding food is often given a bad name. We dreamt of something flavorful and spicy and something all of the vegetarians present would love. LA Gourmet even created a unique dish for Parth and I based on our favorite dish at a local restaurant, stuffed poblano peppers!
One of my very favorite moments of the day was when I got to finally surprise Parth with our first dance song! We had decided on the song “Yellow” by Coldplay as we had enjoyed listening to Coldplay when we first started dating and still do. I, with the help of some friends, secretly recorded a cover of the song and had the DJ play that version instead. Parth was so happy he actually cried while we were dancing. It seemed as though the rest of the world had simply faded away. This is surely another moment I will always treasure.
We enjoyed a night of dancing, silliness in the open air photo booth (Simple Booth Co) and celebrating with friends and family. After counting we had guests – both friends & family from seventeen states in attendance! – Delaina
Artists
- Photographer: Traci and Troy
- Venue: Pear Tree Estate
- Mehndi: Neeta Panchal
- Menus and Programs: Rajvi Vakil
- Caterer: L.A. Gourmet Catering
- Photo Booth: Simple Booth Co.
