For California-based Karishmakumari Jadeja and Manish Harnur, the story began with a little help from their friends. “We first met through some family introductions and then later reconnected via friends. It was a Diwali party at home where my mother’s classmate actually pointed Manish out to my parents,” Jadeja shares. “It was a fortuitous turn of fate since there was no looking back thereafter. It did help that our dog liked Manish as well.”
The proposal was meant to be a sunny, cinematic moment. “I had always wanted a proposal with my pet dog Bella and by the beach,” she says. But California’s famously unpredictable coastline had other plans. “By the time we got there, it became cloudy and cold. Bella refused to pose. I was freezing.” In fact, Jadeja initially refused to get out of the car. Harnur eventually convinced her, proposed quickly, and within minutes, they were engaged.
While destinations like Napa Valley and San Miguel de Allende were considered, hosting their wedding in Ahmedabad won out for a far more practical reason. With most celebrations hosted at the family home and the main ceremony at ITC Narmada, just minutes away, it meant everyone, especially the elders, could comfortably be part of it all.
The celebrations began with a series of traditional rituals. The tilak ceremony in California formalised the coming together of the couple, while the mandvo in Ahmedabad marked the ceremonial beginning of the wedding festivities. “Our family worked very hard in locating a group of traditional wedding singers belonging to a certain community called Miranis,” adds Jadeja, whose family hails from the erstwhile ruling family in Virpur, Gujarat. “They sang traditionally for all royal families at important occasions and festivities.” With help from a few aunts, the family tracked the singers down in Saurashtra and brought them in for the ceremony.
The wedding in Ahmedabad took place at one of the world’s greenest hotel chains—a detail that mattered to both of them. A baraat led by bagpipers was followed by a traditional welcome where Jadeja’s mother performed the jhilmil aarti. It was conducted according to Vedic customs, with a priest brought in from the family’s ancestral temple in Virpur.
“It was the day of the spring festival of Vasant Panchami, which is when shades of yellow and peach are traditionally used,” Jadeja notes. Décor was mindful, with flowers used sparingly alongside layers of fabric and nada chadi, the ceremonial red-and-yellow thread. “We wanted to use local flowers only and minimally to make the wedding slightly sustainable. I love flowers, so this was a hard one for me personally.”
