Catholic girl gets her traditional Hindu wedding
Eastern dream comes true for bride
BY the time Shailen Rambookan and Marise Naidoo had been dating for more than nine years, Marise was pretty sure “he was the one I was going to make mine”.
“Quite a few years before he popped the big question, I had everything planned in my head. Despite being a Catholic girl, I always said I would marry in traditional Eastern attire. As fate would have it, I had my traditional Hindu groom too,” she said.
Shailen, 30, a business development manager, and Marise, 28, a book-keeper, met while working part time in different restaurants at Durban’s Suncoast casino.
The two met and got to know each other when a mutual friend introduced them as Marise needed a lift between work and home in Isipingo. “Although we both lived in Isipingo, our paths had somehow never crossed before that,” said Marise.
During a cruise to Mossel Bay in December 2012, Shailen surprised Marise by going down on one knee, in front of a group of their close friends, and proposing.
“It was so unexpected and extremely memorable and special. I was overwhelmed.”
The couple decided to have 250 guests at their wedding on August 10 at the DLI Hall in Durban, but after their parents’ intervention the number doubled.
The invitations were created with the help of a designer friend of Marise’s — burnt-orange cards with a Ganesha on the front.
After months of planning, Marise’s family — who had moved to Johannesburg — arrived in Durban for the pre-wedding celebrations at an aunt’s home in Merebank, which included the mendhi evening and hurdee.
Shailen participated in the traditional rituals at his family home in Isipingo.
On the big day, Marise looked radiant in a maroon and gold lengha — which she settled on in less than five minutes with help from her designer friend. Although the friend was in India, she consulted with Marise by cellphone while the bride was in Johannesburg. Naturally, the lengha was embellished with Swarovski crystals and beads.
On the day of the wedding, instead of admiring Shailen in his red pants and white sherwani coat with stones and embossed brocade work, Marise’s first reaction was: “Is that a whiskey in your hand?”
The photographer had given it to the groom to calm him down.
Marise, who is known as a party planner, chose simple, timeless decor of white and gold drapes and orange and red flowers.
The centrepiece of each round table had Ganeshas submerged in water in a giant martini glass with floating candles. It was placed on a square mirror with votive candles or red petals scattered over it.
At each place setting was an organza bag containing chocolate and betel nut.
During the north Indian ceremony, the guests were treated to Bombay crush and samoosas, followed by the main course of vegetable biryani. Soji topped with cream was served for dessert.
Following the cutting of a four-tier cake — which was covered in black and white icing and had the couple’s initials in silver on the top — the newlyweds danced to the Bollywood song Radha on the Dance Floor.
They honeymooned in Cape Town and then returned home to Johannesburg.
How he describes her: A timeless beauty who is simple yet always breathtaking.
How she describes him: Strong, sincere, loud, loveable and the life of any and every party. What she thought when she saw him on the
wedding day: Is that a whiskey in your hand? On a serious note, I thought he looked every bit the dashing groom I imagined him to be — the light of my world and the love of my life. What he thought when he saw her on the wedding day: No words can describe how I felt. She made my heart melt.