Traditional Indian Wedding at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens

Yep, it’s your lucky week cause we’re sharing back-to-back knockout weddings. This gorgeous multicultural wedding at the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville has us feeling super inspired. The beautiful bride and groom actually had two ceremonies- an American wedding ceremony followed by a traditional Indian ceremony. We were absolutely blown away with the rich Indian ceremony, full of life and color so we’ll be sharing the perfection with you. The bride’s gorgeous sari was custom made in India. The reception was equally as beautiful with vibrant shades of red and gold and one of the most unique cakes we’ve seen in a long time. It’s easy to see this couple is madly in love – there’s not a single photo where they aren’t smiling ear to ear. Matt Andrews Photography captured this incredible day:

How they met:

We met in high school when we had a class together. However, we didn’t start dating until we started working together a few years later while in school at The University of Tennessee. We were pretty much inseparable after that first date!

How he asked:

On our 3 year dating anniversary, David and I took an early morning walk through World’s Fair Park, where we had out first date. I had agreed to go out on a first date with him if he brought his dog, a black lab. We ended up at the park, and three years later, he proposed at the same spot!

About the wedding:

Our wedding was actually 2 weddings that took place over the course of the day. In the morning, we had an American wedding with around 50 close friends and family. Immediately after was a lunch reception with the same group of people. After this, everyone went back to wherever they were staying and got ready for the Indian wedding. After the Indian wedding, everyone went outside to enjoy the grounds and gardens as well as a cocktail hour with Indian snacks on the terrace. Afterwards, the reception dinner was an Indian buffet. We planned the wedding while living in Washington, D.C., where David was working and I was in law school. Both weddings took place at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville.

Reception

What was the most important to the two of you while planning?

We splurged on venue. It was very important to us to have a beautiful venue to take photographs. Because Cheekwood has so many different backdrops, we ended up getting a huge variety of photographs. And on that note, splurge on the photographer! We are both very picky when it comes to photography and Matt was the only photographer that was at the top of both of our lists. We have photographs from the wedding framed all over the house, and we still talk about what a fantastic experience it was to work with him!

Advice on the planning process?

Keep checking in with vendors! We initially went with a different cake shop and had our cake sketched and the tasting completed. As the wedding got closer, I tried to contact the shop and after months of trying to reach them, I found out that they had closed without informing any of their wedding customers. With only a month before our wedding, I contacted Signature Cakes by Vicki, who did the tasting and cake design for us while we were in town to get our marriage license. We ended up loving her cake way more than the original bake shop’s so this ended up being a blessing in disguise.