An Indian-American Micro Wedding in Palo Alto, Two Ceremonies in One Day

Two Ceremonies at The Mountain Terrace, Woodside

The Hindu ceremony came first. Pavan sat at the mandap in his sherwani, a thick garland of flowers around his neck, his parents in deep red silks on the ground beside him, the priest's offerings laid out on the mat in front. Nina came in with her family, and the two of them sat together with the bay behind the altar. Garlands passed back and forth. The elders stepped up one by one, hands raised, and threw rice and petals in the sun while the whole family, in sarees and silks in every color, filled the terrace, loud and warm and completely present. A cocktail hour followed, and then the mandap came down.

The Western ceremony went up a few steps away, the redwoods now standing in behind them. Nina had changed into a white ballgown with a beaded waist and a cathedral veil, Pavan into a black tux and bow tie. They did a first look in a doorway beforehand, then Nina walked the aisle on her father's arm to a wooden arbor hung with a full white floral spray, where Minister Maggie Beretz and Pavan waited on the gold-chaired lawn. A friend sang. They kissed and recessed through a corridor of clapping hands, and Nina bent to kiss an elder in the front row on her way back up.

“A day that could have been two weddings. They made it one.”

Family Photos in the Redwoods

Both families came together for portraits after the Western ceremony — Nina's side, then Pavan's, then everyone at once, a mix of tuxedos and jewel-toned silks against the redwood trunks. Nina carried a loose white bouquet of roses and greenery through it all. The Mountain Terrace runs bay views one direction and redwoods the other, and the couple took portraits both ways as the light dropped, walking the lawn hand in hand while the tall trees went gold behind them.

Dinner at iTalico, Palo Alto

Dinner moved downtown to the private room at iTalico, a Calabrian pizzeria in Palo Alto — one long table, white roses and greenery down the center, a wall of wine behind. Nina and Pavan came in to applause and sat with both families. A friend stood to toast them and the room laughed. Pavan said a few words of his own and leaned in to kiss his mother on the head. They cut a simple two-tier cake, textured white buttercream trimmed with white roses and greenery from Icing on the Cake, and fed each other a bite.

By the end of the night, an Indian-American micro wedding that had started under a mandap in Woodside had carried through two ceremonies, a champagne toast, and a full table of the people they wanted most — the whole of it held inside one day.