You might know by now, how much we’re ‘team colour’, and the team right on board with ‘doing it your way’. So when the two combine, it becomes a magical unicorn kind of a wedding that is everything our souls need. Today, we invite you to meet Ritwik and Sharon. Their day blends both of their cultures and religions (Christian and Tami) and their love of, well – life. And it’s all in glorious technicolour thanks to the photos by Smile Darling Photography.

The couple postponed their wedding a year (especially apt, knowing how much dancing would feature on their day) and when they finally got to hit that dance floor? They made the most of it. Their first dance complete with backup Bollywood dancers and guests invited to learn their Bollywood dance before they hit the dance floor!

It was a word that we bet you’ve never heard before that connected Sharon and Ritwik on a dating app! Sharon tells the story. “The story of how we met can be summed up with one word – dysdiadochokinesia. We met online, my bio only contained one sentence ‘I enjoy utilizing gargantuan idioms to fabricate intelligence. In simple terms ‘I enjoy using big words to sound smart’. The first thing Ritwik ever said to me was ‘dysdiadochokinesia’. He was trying to wow me with his knowledge of big words. We spent the next couple of days trying to outdo each other, with bigger, more complicated words. The next day he sent me a photo of a rose because he saw it and it reminded him of me – I thought it was the sweetest thing.

When we finally met in person a couple of days later the conversation flowed so naturally, it felt like I’d known this man forever. Ritwik and I went for a walk through Brisbane and ended up at Southbank, overlooking the river where we had our first kiss. I was sad to see him go that night but it was just the beginning of our love story.”

It was a quick, head over heels story for these two, Ritwik knew it was a sure thing early on telling “I knew I wanted to marry Sharon after 1.5 years of dating but wasn’t completely sure. Sharon in her eagerness for me to propose kept dropping ‘subtle’ ideas and hints about how to propose, but what she didn’t know was that I’d had thought about a lot of those ideas and was annoyed that I couldn’t use them to surprise her as she had guessed every one of them.

It wasn’t until they went to Uluru on holiday that I realised wanted to be with Sharon for the rest of my life and I didn’t want anyone else. She made me happy and the thought of being without her made me sad in a way I hadn’t felt before.

I decided to propose a few days after returning from Uluru as I knew I couldn’t wait any longer and I knew this was the right thing to do. I wanted to propose to her after work but I also had a martial arts trial the same day. Sharon convinced me to go to the trial as she knew how much I wanted to learn it and I’m glad she did because it gave me more time to think about when to do it. After I got home Sharon was cooking, I went down on one knee and waited for her to turn, she initially saw me on my knee but thought I was stretching and went back to cooking, it wasn’t until a minute or so of not moving that she was confused about why I was on one knee. I asked her if she would marry him and she was incredibly surprised.

After she said yes we were both a bit shocked that we were doing this and our dinner was burning as a result. If I could propose to her again I wish I could have made it more romantic but I also know that this was the right thing to do because I love Sharon not because of big shows or huge romantic gestures, but because everything about her is wonderful and a normal day with her is still the best day ever.

Sharon tells the story from her side. “I decided I wanted to be engaged months before Ritwik proposed. I had an elaborate plan to try and get the perfect proposal as well. I planned a romantic holiday for both of us to Uluru. This holiday included a week of luxurious dinners, a sunset balloon ride, a sunrise desert awakening tour and of course the famous sounds of silence experience – there were lots of opportunities here for him to pop the question in a very romantic setting. I casually picked up brochures from several jewellery stores and left them around. One day when we were out shopping I found the perfect ring, tried it on, and got all the information he needed from the salesperson. I had it all planned, I just had to wait for Ritwik to pop the question.

Our holiday was amazing, truly spectacular and unforgettable. Every day I waited for the question… it never came. On the last day, I realised that maybe, Ritwik just wasn’t ready yet so I reluctantly let my dream go and just enjoyed being in the centre of Australia. Two days after we returned home Ritwik had just come home from his Taekwondo, he was sweaty and gross, I was cooking dinner in my pyjamas – nothing fancy at all. I thought he was just untying his shoelace but he was down on the floor for too long. I finally turned around to see what was taking him so long and there he was, down on one knee with the ring. It wasn’t a huge romantic gesture, it was just us, in our apartment, but somehow it was perfect.”

Sharon purchased her stunning outfit in Malaysia. “I wore a red and gold sari with golden embellishments throughout. I travelled to Malaysia (where my parents grew up) with my mum the year before to choose all the wedding outfits including my sari, the bridesmaid’s sari’s, groom’s outfits, groomsmen outfits and flower children. I wanted to look like an Indian princess. My mother in law bought my red veil from India. while most of the accessories were from my shopping trip to Malaysia.

Red is the traditional bridal colour in India and my mother wore a red and gold sari to her wedding to my dad – I wanted to do a similar thing. I’ve never really dreamed of the white wedding dress, it was always a red one with a red veil. On the day when the whole outfit was put together, I honestly couldn’t have been happier. I felt like an Indian princess decked out in all the gold jewellery.”

Sharon counts the work of vendor Sharmeen Thomas as being one of her favourite experiences. “Sharmeen – my henna artist, sari tying extraordinaire, and the hair and make up artist for my mother and older sister. Because of COVID a lot of my family members from overseas were not able to attend. This meant my mother had to go to the venue while I was still getting dressed to check on some final details and she wasn’t able to help me get dressed or put my veil in.

Sharmeen stepped in and calmed me down when I started panicking, made sure my sari was on point and put my veil on. I honestly would have been a mess without her. She even stayed behind cleaned up and locked up our house once the wedding party left in the limo because we raced out the door so quickly.”

 

And of course, the couple’s favourite furry friend had his role in the day. “While our dog wasn’t able to attend the wedding we make sure he had his very own outfit which matched my wedding sari. This was handmade from India.”

Even Sharon’s henna had a special, personal touch. “I also hid Ritiwk’s name in my henna – this is a special tradition for Indian weddings, if the groom can find his name in the bridal henna on the night of the wedding it means he wears the pants in the marriage – if he doesn’t the bride wears the pants… my henna artist hid the letters of his name deep in the intricate henna design so Ritwik had no chance finding his name :p

Ritwik wore traditional dress found overseas, says Sharon. “The groom wore a gold and red sherwani. Mostly gold with red embellishments. He bought it from the Malaysian shopping trip. The hat he ended up wearing was originally bought for my dad to cover up a bald spot, but my mother thought it was way too grand and people would mistake my father for the groom! Ritwik tried on the hat with the outfit before the wedding and we all fell in love with the look so dad graciously let him wear the turban for the wedding. Ritwik also had a beetle nutcracker device he hid in his front pocket, which his Mum told him was a tradition for Bengali grooms to carry.”

Ritwik adding of his memories of the day. “My favourite story is thinking I wasn’t nervous or worried at all, but then remembering how I stopped for 1hr searching for my car keys panicking until my best man pointed out they were still in my pant’s pocket. I also felt like I was very relaxed and then when I realized Sharon was walking down the aisle all my attention and focus was directed towards her and nothing else mattered. Sharon’s vows were equal parts lovely and surprising as she had written it in the prose of Pokemon’s theme song, which was beautifully cringey.”

The groom’s love of bubbles meant guests arrived in a storm of them, much to his delight!

Sharon’s father proudly walked her down the aisle to a version of “500 Miles” by The Proclaimers. The bride remembering ” The lyric ‘And I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked 1000 miles to fall down at your door’ was the lyric I wanted to walk down the aisle. We had a musician from Lark Music,  who played the guitar and sung while we walked down – he did a FANTASTIC job, matching our pace and making sure the song ended in the right place.”

For both Ritwik and Sharon, their wedding ceremony not only reflected their culture – both needed to share and individually, but what they both wanted. They ended merging plenty of traditions into their unique ceremony says Sharon. “My family is Tamil and devout Christians so we included a Bible reading (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). This was read first in Tamil (Sharon’s family’s native tongue) before being translated into English.

Ritwik’s family is Bengali and Hindu, so we included a love poem by renowned Bengali author Rabindranath Tagore. This was read first in Bengali before being translated into English.

To blend our two cultures we included Mala Ceremony (floral garland exchange), Pranam (foot blessing of the parents), Thaali ceremony (gold necklace given to the bride from the groom) and Sindoor Daan and Ghomta (Red vermillion powder applied by the groom to the bride’s forehead).”

First up was the exchanging of floral garlands, Sharon telling “Mala is the Hindi word for garland. The flowers represent excitement, happiness, and beauty – all tied together on a string signifying the marital union”

In my parent’s wedding photo they are wearing floral garlands and I wanted to also have them at our wedding”

Sharon and Ritwik chose bright and beautiful blooms for the day, says Sharon. “Red and Gold was the colour theme for the flowers. My florist put together a beautiful bouquet with red and white flowers with some greenery painted gold to get that golden feel. The bridesmaids had white roses and some golden greenery.

We also had floral garlands called ‘mala’ created using fresh red and white roses. We draped these garlands around each other’s necks as the first part of our ceremony.”

The couple chose to include a Thaali ritual. “The Thaali has great ceremonial significance. It is a mark of love, respect, and dignity and is presented to the wife by her husband at the auspicious hour of the marriage day. It is also believed that thaali depicts the union of the husband and the wife and also protects them from evil.”

The thaali I received on the wedding day, Ritwik’s grandmother purchased before she passed away (before I had even met Ritwik). She gave it to my mother in law to give to Ritwik’s bride on his wedding day.”

The Sindoor ceremony was next, Sharon explaining “Sindoor is the mark of a married woman in Hinduism. The sindoor is first applied to the woman by her husband on the day of her wedding; this is called the Sindoor Daanam ceremony. After this, she applies it herself every day.”

Ritwik has always associated this ceremony with marriage. When I asked him which parts of the traditional Hindu ceremony he wanted to include in our wedding this was his only request. Leading up to the day we kept calling it the ‘Simba’ ceremony from the Lion King when Rafiki smears red stuff on baby Simba’s forehead.”

The couple chose Cherbon Waters for their wedding, says Sharon, the venue allowing them to do everything they wanted to honour both their cultures. She says “We had both the ceremony and reception at Cherbon Waters. My father (father of the bride) found the place after talking to some colleagues at work about wedding venues.

We were looking for a garden venue that would either let us bring our catering or would provide an Indian meal – Cherbon Waters catered for cultural weddings and allowed us to incorporate everything we wanted for our special day!”

Of their chosen photographer, Sharon has nothing but amazing things to say “Mary was AMAZING! She went above and beyond to make sure we got everything we wanted out of our wedding day. After she found out that Ritwik loved bubbles she brought along a bubble machine, she also brought along smoke bombs so we could get some epic shots next to the lake. She arranged for a second and third shooter to be present as she was still breastfeeding her newborn and had to duck out several times throughout the day. She was so easy to work with, 100% would recommend.”

Ritwik’s favourite memories of the day? “My groomsmen – they kept me preoccupied before the wedding. Bubbles because they brought wonder and magic while we waited for the Bride. My bride who is my world, without her none of it would have mattered. Sharon was the reason and driving force for the wedding and she made it beautiful. I am a lucky man to be married to someone with such a big heart and beautiful mind.”

“Communicate with everyone involved!” advises Sharon. “Keep your vendors, guests and family in the loop to avoid people making assumptions or being upset because they feel left out causing family dramas. Trust your gut – when you’re ready to marry someone you will know. Just because it’s not how someone else would do it doesn’t mean it’s not how it should be done. It’s your wedding at the end of the day.”

Dancing was so very much a part of this day, despite Sharon’s nerves! “I personally really wanted there to be lots of dancing at our wedding so I organised a Bollywood dance workshop for all our wedding guests directly after our first dance. The idea was to warm up the dance floor and get everyone up and dancing. It worked a treat! About 90% of our guests all got up and joined in to dance lesson. So much fun!!

For our first dance we did a choreographed, Bollywood first dance complete with backup dancers! An absolute highlight!!! The song we danced to was a Hindi song called ‘Iski Uski’  Dance Masala (a Brisbane based Bollywood dance company) put together the whole thing and we practised together in our living room in the months leading up to our big day.

I was nervous just before we stepped out to do our choreographed first dance but once we started it was just so much fun! The whole crowd cheered and went bonkers for it! Then when they had the opportunity to get up and learn some Bollywood dancing almost everyone gave it a go! Seriously the best!!”

Congratulations to the newlyweds! Thank you for sharing your beautiful story with us. Thank you to Mary of Smile Darling Photography for sending this wedding our way!