Neha & Aditya

Occupations Neha is a high school teacher in Montgomery County (MCPS); Aditya is a literary arts professional, writer, and editor

Wedding date September 14, 2024

Number of Guests 130

How You Met It was November 2020, and we found love in a hopeless place: Hinge. Both of us COVID-cautious folks found a place that had heated lamps so we could meet outside for our first date. We ended up chatting long after they had turned off the heat because we were enjoying each other’s company so much. It was a difficult time to date for so many reasons, but we always made time for each other—often making the forty-five-minute drive between downtown Silver Spring, where Neha lived, and Baltimore City, where Aditya lived.

The Engagement Aditya proposed to Neha on New Year’s Day 2022. She was totally surprised—they had just taken a long walk (it was an unseasonably beautiful day), Facetime-ing family members and sharing their dreams for the coming year. Back at Neha’s apartment, Aditya popped the question with his grandmother’s ring in the most sincere and private way. The only way to make the night even better was ordering sushi and putting on a Bollywood movie. We then kept the proposal to ourselves for another month before telling our family at a gathering that just so happened around Valentine’s Day. The reason for the gathering was originally so some of Neha’s family could meet some of Aditya’s family, but really it was our way to tell everyone about the proposal. We had secretly told the six- and seven-year-old niece and nephew to share the news (to which they both responded “what does ‘engaged’ mean?) but they agreed to do so in exchange for cupcakes. It was a minute before everyone caught on: “Wait, what do you mean?” “I think the kids said they’re engaged?” “Stop making jokes kids!” After a ton of laughter and tears, we celebrated, and kids indeed got their reward cupcakes for breaking the news.

Wedding Design Inspiration In December 2023, we decided to surprise our family yet again. We had just bought a house a few months prior and knew that being married felt like the right next step for us. Many court houses did not have appointments available that close to the end of the year, but we found something at the Howard County Court. We were going to surprise our family after the ceremony but realized that they would be sad if they weren’t able to witness our nuptials. Local family, Neha’s siblings and Aditya’s mom, came to this joyous small event. Neha wore a traditional red lehenga (borrowing her sister’s wedding lehenga along with a blouse of her grandmother’s) and Aditya wore a blue suit.

Neha had never been much interested in a wedding (or marriage for that matter!) for herself, but Aditya convinced her to hold some type of wedding event for a larger gathering of family & friends.

As social justice educators, we wanted to avoid the costly and often wasteful spectacle of a massive multi-day, multi-event (sometimes more than four!) wedding that seems to have taken over as the norm in South Asian spaces. We knew that we wanted to be authentic to ourselves and decided to plan a reception-only affair since we counted our court marriage as our ceremony. The inspiration behind our day was wanting to cultivate collective joy, give our community a great time surrounded by nature, and ultimately go with our instincts on an event that felt true to our values. We ended up with the wedding of our dreams, a more intimate event where we were able to spend some quality moments with our guests.

We wanted something outside of a hotel setting and probably spent the most time searching for the right venue. Aditya’s mom recommended Irvine Nature Center as it is close to their hometown where he grew up. Both Neha and Aditya loved the setting—an open tent surrounded by greenery, but also the fact that the rental fees support their environmental education and conservation work, incredibly necessary as we live through the uncertainty and turmoil of climate change. We knew we had to jump on this right away since most dates were already booked for the fall. Neha really wanted a fall date as it is her favorite season—the start of a new school year, the changing colors of the leaves, a little crisp in the air, it was going to be perfect.

Our decor was focused on florals and candles to bring a romantic touch to the outdoor tent at Irvine Nature Center. Mallory and her team at Violet Florals did a beautiful job, particularly with the floral arches that framed the sweetheart bench. Neha loves purple and Aditya loves green, so we went with soft lavender, sage, and champagne color palette. We were excited to hire Mallory and her team as they partner with local flower farms and are committed to sustainable practices that avoid harmful chemicals and foams.

What Was Unique and Special About Your Wedding Day It was important to us that each element of the wedding had our personal touch—whether it was something you see at every wedding or if it was a Neha and Aditya special—we we wanted it to be an expression of us. One of our themes was centered around something we both love and is central to our work in the education & nonprofit world: books! We wanted people to get creative and partake in something special to us. We had some of our favorite books displayed, some with heavier topics than others, but all to help inspire a sense of what Neha and Aditya care deeply about and allow for conversation starters. We also used library check-out cards as our way to organize the seating chart & table numbers (fun fact, both Neha and Aditya worked at their hometown libraries in the past!) For our guest book, we used an illustration of a bookshelf where our guests could sign along the spines and pages (one of our favorites was a book that a guest had titled “Love at First Swipe!”). This canvas now hangs in our house and reminds us of that special day.

One of the most special parts was choosing to start our reception with exchanging our vows. Since we had a very small court marriage ceremony, we wanted to share our love and commitment to each other at the reception, witnessed by our loving community as they are a huge part of the reason that Neha and Aditya have been able to get where they are.

Favorite Details Our vendors deserve the biggest shoutout for making every detail come alive in the best way!

Neha loves mehndi and her bridal mehndi artist, Just Henna by Shazia, did a phenomenal job—making peacock designs, gorgeous shading and shapes, and put in the tradition of hiding Aditya’s initials into her palm for him to look for later. Since Neha had worn red to her court marriage ceremony, she chose to go with a champagne colored lehenga with a pop of red in the bangles for the reception. Aditya, matching Neha’s stunning outfit, put on his best James Bond impersonation with a black tuxedo, trimmed with champagne suspenders and pocket square. His mehndi was a heart design right on the palm, adorned with “Neha & Aditya.”

We had many cultural traditions as part of our day: a traditional Gujarati dance called Garba that opened up the dance floor to classic Punjabi beats with the special live dhol-drum player, MC Ishpreet Singh, that got everyone moving. Our DJ, Kabir, and his team at Desi Beatzs Entertainment did a phenomenal job with the uplighting and a beautiful sign with our name on the front panel of their set-up. Our phenomenal photographer, Tori Del Photographer, captured everything so beautifully and we still look at the photos regularly! Our caterer, Bombay Tandoor, made some off-menu Indian items we loved as did our guests.

Most Unexpected Event On Your Wedding Day The most special moment for Neha was probably that her mother was able to travel from India to attend, and that her father, a cancer survivor, was well enough to travel from Texas to attend (and we got to dance together for the first time during the father-daughter dance!) Another really special part of the day was that some of Neha’s former students attended.

For Aditya the reality didn’t hit until the days after when the family began sharing all of their photos and videos. Somehow, we did have the storybook wedding with all the fun, excitement, and joy that you always dream of.

Piece of Advice Less is more. Your people are already going to show up, ready to enjoy the day and celebrate you. How you want them to do it is up to you—don’t make it more work for them! Keep it simple, hit the important parts, and let your loved ones fill out the rest. It’s your wedding day, you can break the rules and do whatever you want – be authentic in how you want others to celebrate your love!

Beauty SKS Salon Bridal Lehenga Kalki Fashion Caterer Bombay Tandoor Floral Design Violet Floral Designs Groom Suit Supply Henna Henna by Shazia Honeymoon San Juan, Puerto Rico Location Irvine Nature Center Music Desi Beatzs Photographer Tori Del Photography