Real Weddings |
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Anita Arora & Paul Singh Gill
Wedding Date: Saturday, August 25, 2007
Written by Lesa Albert
Photography by Steve Lee Photography
When Anita Arora looks back at the day she married Paul Gill, she takes great pride in the wedding’s blending of Eastern and Western cultures, through food, music and ritual.
Anita and Paul began their romance in March, 2004, after meeting at Dante’s Kitchen in New Orleans. Anita says she knew, almost from the very beginning, that Paul was the man she wanted to share her life with.
“Our first dates were so special,” she says. “We knew it had to be something extraordinary.”.jpg)
Both Anita and Paul are pursuing careers in medicine. As their relationship became more serious, they agreed Paul would try to undertake his plastic surgery fellowship in the same city where Anita would do her dermatology residency. It was a daunting task, but they managed to find the positions they wanted in Houston, and accomplishing their goal only brought them closer.
Paul selected an iconic spot for his proposal: New York’s Central Park. When the couple was vacationing in the city, Paul brought Anita to the park early one morning. There, in the rain, beside the park’s Alice in Wonderland statue, Paul asked Anita to be his wife. Later, after she said yes, a delighted Anita learned Paul already had asked her parents for her hand.
Planning the wedding was difficult, especially with Paul’s and Anita’s busy schedules, but Paul’s mom stepped forward to assist, and the couple found great vendors to help them achieve their goals.
Anita says she’ll always treasure the Indian traditions they honored, including the mehndi (henna) on her hands, the
post-wedding meeting of family and friends, and the more lighthearted tradition of the bride’s sister stealing the groom’s shoes for ransom.
On Aug. 25, the day after a rehearsal dinner at La Colombe d’Or, the groom arrived in his baraat, or marriage procession,  for a 200-guest Sikh wedding ceremony in the temple at the Sikh Center of the Gulf Coast.
After the ceremony, a reception at the Four Seasons Hotel featured “cocktails and hors d’oeuvre from the Four Seasons, as well as Indian catered food and cake, including a rich chocolate Mardi Gras creation for the groom’s cake,” Anita recounts.
Guests relaxed and listened to Indian sitar and bossa nova music throughout dinner, while after dinner, the lively Dhol Beat International kept the crowd on the dance floor until two a.m.
Now that the wedding is a memory—aided by beautiful photos from Steve Lee—Anita advises other to-be-brides to make sure they have a reasonable budget and expectations, to maintain open communication with family members, and to be open to ideas. Above all, she says, a bride should enjoy her wedding. “Remember that people are there to celebrate you, so do not forget to have a great time.”
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