It has been over a year since we got married and we're finally posting our photos and reflections on our wedding. We of course meant to do that sooner, but as things go, we're doing it now! Our wedding was such a wonderful weekend and we are so happy that we were able to share it with so many of our family and friends. Our photos and thoughts are slow to be posted, but the joy of the weekends remains present in our hearts. It was so fun to prepare this post and go through the pictures. So many precious, amazing, silly, and heartfelt moments!!!
Click here: Wedding Photobooth Pictures
Click here: Maunnamalai Wedding Pics
Jennie's reflections on the wedding:
As many of you know, planning a wedding can be both a huge joy and a huge stressor. There are so many external and internal pressures to make the experience perfect and to fit into various expectations. I had a turning point in our planning experience when a friend suggested I write the most important things I wanted for our wedding experience and focus on making those happen. Here's what I wrote down last summer:
- Share the experience and committing to each other in front of our family and with our family
- Create a comfortable, relaxed, and low stress space that is meaningful, fun and builds relationships
When I look back on the weekend, I think we had the wedding we dreamed of. So many factors went into this special weekend. First and foremost, I have a special husband! Raja was more than an equal partner in the planning and implementation of the wedding planning. He indulged in my craft projects, created our blog, created more spreadsheets than I care to mention, and provided love and support during many interesting moments.
You, our friends and family, also played an integral role to the wedding on so many levels. Without you we wouldn't have had decorations, trivia, music, a chuppa, a ketuba, a photo booth, or officiants. In the craft "parties", wedding set-up, and during the actual weekend, I was often overcome with a sense of love and deep gratitude to have so many people involved in the wedding weekend. In the moments where I step back then and now, I think about how so many of you touched the objects that made our weekend beautiful. We were surrounded by love with the presence of our loved ones and in so many other ways.
Having a wedding at a summer camp and retreat center was different than the norm and during our planning we wondered if our guests would be ready to embark on the journey with us. We're so glad you did! You played trivia, sat by the fire, rode the Tarzan swing, rock climbed, swam, played games, danced, and shared many meals with new and old friends. Thank you for being a part of our weekend.
On sharing the experience and committing to each other in front of our family and with our family:
It was meaningful to have so many of you participate in so many aspects of the ceremony. Although the marriage is between me and Raja, we both really feel that marriage is about creating family and community. Friends and family came from all over the country, surrounding us with love and support and we truly felt that during the ceremony and the entire weekend. Your presence at the wedding, your name on our chuppa, and your smiling faces in our pictures are amazing reminders that our wedding and more importantly our marriage continues to be supported by our community.
Don't tell Raja, but I'm already planning the Maunammalai family reunion and you'll all be invited!
On what comes next:
We are so excited to share that we are expecting our a mini-Maunnamalai January 31, 2015. We continue to feel the love and support of our friends and family as we venture into the crazy journey of parenthood. We can't wait to introduce you to baby Maunnamalai.
Raj's reflections on the wedding:
It's hard to imagine that it's been over a year since Jennie and I were married. Since that time, a lot of things have changed, so it's nice to take the time to reflect back on our wedding and think about where we've been, where we are, and where we are going.
When Jennie agreed to marry me in California over two years ago, I was excited. I was excited to have found someone to share my life with and who wanted to share their life with me. I'm the kind of person that likes having a partner to support them and Jennie is the best partner I could have hoped for.
While I was excited to have found the love of my life, that excitement was soon accompanied by the reality that we would have to plan a wedding. It was at that point that Jennie and I began discussing what we wanted our wedding to be. In our discussions, we came to the conclusion that we wanted a wedding where we would be able to spend quality time with family and friends. Too often, you go to a wedding a barely get to see the 2 most important people at the event. We wanted a wedding where we could have old friends meet new friends. We wanted a wedding where we could catch up with people we don't get to see that often and to continue to make memories with the people that are part of our daily lives. We wanted a wedding where people could come and feel comfortable and relax and enjoy their time with us and other people both old and new. During all of these discussions, we kept coming back to the idea that we wanted more than a wedding day. We wanted to be able to spend the whole weekend with friends and family. We wanted to do fun activities and share meals with friends and families. We didn't want just a wedding day, we wanted a wedding weekend.
At first, that idea seemed too grandiose. How do you find an affordable space for the whole weekend? Would people even want to join us for the whole weekend? Would we be able to find activities for people to do for the weekend?
Turns out, all those concerns, while valid, were overcome by Jennie and I (with lots of support from friends and family) working together to find Camp Chi in the Dells and planning the weekend for people to enjoy. After picking the venue, I remember all the hard work that it took to make the weekend what we wanted. I also remember all the help our friends and family gave in the lead up to the wedding. Whether is was donating decorations for us to use, making paper pom poms, donating an Ipad for the photo booth, helping us decorate the reception hall and wedding ceremony venue, making the Chuppa, making the Ketuba, or any number of other things I have forgotten, our friends were so vital to the success of wedding. It was so amazing to experience the love and support from everyone and to see how everyone was so willing to help out. At some point, I began to feel like it wasn't just Jennie and my wedding, it was everyone's wedding because of the support that everyone provided.
I also remember how willing everyone was to take part in all the activities that were planned. Whether it was trivia, the climbing wall, the ropes course, or the open mic night, everyone jumped in with both feet without hesitation. Oh, and I can't say enough about the open mic night. That was awesome. It was so meaningful to see so many people go up there to wish Jennie and I the happiest of unions. You all will never realize how special you made that day for Jennie and me. In my mind, our wedding was awesome and so much fun because of the people that decided to take time out of their lives and shower us with their love and support. It meant so much to me ( and Jennie too I'm sure) that people came from all over the country to show their love and support.
In the end, I think our wedding was exactly what Jennie and I wanted. We wanted our wedding to be more than just us getting married. We wanted our wedding to be a time when our friends and family came to take part in our union. We didn't want people to be bystanders, we wanted them to actively participate. I remember walking in the circle around the entire group during our ceremony while everyone sang. After spending the whole weekend with everyone, feeling the love at that moment was almost overwhelming. I want to thank everyone for their love and support. You made our wedding amazing.
And that bring us to today. I know I skipped a lot, I mean it's been a whole year. Marriage is much different than a wedding but somewhat the same also. Like planning a wedding, marriage can be hard work, but like the wedding ceremony, marriage can also be a source of overwhelming joy. Also, like the wedding where people came to show their love and support, our marriage is only successful because we have the love an support of friends and family.
Everyday I wake up, I am so happy to have Jennie next to me. She makes life better for me, and I can't wait to share the rest of our lives together. I also can't wait to add to our twosome with a Mini-Maunnamalai, which will join us in January 2015. Even though this has been long overdue, I enjoyed writing this and reflecting on that weekend over a year ago. I want to thank my loving wife and soon to be mom Jennie. She is the most supportive and caring person I know. She grows more beautiful each day and my love for her grows exponentially. I also want to thank our friends and family for their love and support. You made our wedding the amazing weekend it was and you help to make our marriage an amazing union.
Love,
Raja
On what comes next:
We are so excited to share that we are expecting our a mini-Maunnamalai January 31, 2015. We continue to feel the love and support of our friends and family as we venture into the crazy journey of parenthood. We can't wait to introduce you to baby Maunnamalai.
Raj's reflections on the wedding:
It's hard to imagine that it's been over a year since Jennie and I were married. Since that time, a lot of things have changed, so it's nice to take the time to reflect back on our wedding and think about where we've been, where we are, and where we are going.
When Jennie agreed to marry me in California over two years ago, I was excited. I was excited to have found someone to share my life with and who wanted to share their life with me. I'm the kind of person that likes having a partner to support them and Jennie is the best partner I could have hoped for.
While I was excited to have found the love of my life, that excitement was soon accompanied by the reality that we would have to plan a wedding. It was at that point that Jennie and I began discussing what we wanted our wedding to be. In our discussions, we came to the conclusion that we wanted a wedding where we would be able to spend quality time with family and friends. Too often, you go to a wedding a barely get to see the 2 most important people at the event. We wanted a wedding where we could have old friends meet new friends. We wanted a wedding where we could catch up with people we don't get to see that often and to continue to make memories with the people that are part of our daily lives. We wanted a wedding where people could come and feel comfortable and relax and enjoy their time with us and other people both old and new. During all of these discussions, we kept coming back to the idea that we wanted more than a wedding day. We wanted to be able to spend the whole weekend with friends and family. We wanted to do fun activities and share meals with friends and families. We didn't want just a wedding day, we wanted a wedding weekend.
At first, that idea seemed too grandiose. How do you find an affordable space for the whole weekend? Would people even want to join us for the whole weekend? Would we be able to find activities for people to do for the weekend?
Turns out, all those concerns, while valid, were overcome by Jennie and I (with lots of support from friends and family) working together to find Camp Chi in the Dells and planning the weekend for people to enjoy. After picking the venue, I remember all the hard work that it took to make the weekend what we wanted. I also remember all the help our friends and family gave in the lead up to the wedding. Whether is was donating decorations for us to use, making paper pom poms, donating an Ipad for the photo booth, helping us decorate the reception hall and wedding ceremony venue, making the Chuppa, making the Ketuba, or any number of other things I have forgotten, our friends were so vital to the success of wedding. It was so amazing to experience the love and support from everyone and to see how everyone was so willing to help out. At some point, I began to feel like it wasn't just Jennie and my wedding, it was everyone's wedding because of the support that everyone provided.
I also remember how willing everyone was to take part in all the activities that were planned. Whether it was trivia, the climbing wall, the ropes course, or the open mic night, everyone jumped in with both feet without hesitation. Oh, and I can't say enough about the open mic night. That was awesome. It was so meaningful to see so many people go up there to wish Jennie and I the happiest of unions. You all will never realize how special you made that day for Jennie and me. In my mind, our wedding was awesome and so much fun because of the people that decided to take time out of their lives and shower us with their love and support. It meant so much to me ( and Jennie too I'm sure) that people came from all over the country to show their love and support.
In the end, I think our wedding was exactly what Jennie and I wanted. We wanted our wedding to be more than just us getting married. We wanted our wedding to be a time when our friends and family came to take part in our union. We didn't want people to be bystanders, we wanted them to actively participate. I remember walking in the circle around the entire group during our ceremony while everyone sang. After spending the whole weekend with everyone, feeling the love at that moment was almost overwhelming. I want to thank everyone for their love and support. You made our wedding amazing.
And that bring us to today. I know I skipped a lot, I mean it's been a whole year. Marriage is much different than a wedding but somewhat the same also. Like planning a wedding, marriage can be hard work, but like the wedding ceremony, marriage can also be a source of overwhelming joy. Also, like the wedding where people came to show their love and support, our marriage is only successful because we have the love an support of friends and family.
Everyday I wake up, I am so happy to have Jennie next to me. She makes life better for me, and I can't wait to share the rest of our lives together. I also can't wait to add to our twosome with a Mini-Maunnamalai, which will join us in January 2015. Even though this has been long overdue, I enjoyed writing this and reflecting on that weekend over a year ago. I want to thank my loving wife and soon to be mom Jennie. She is the most supportive and caring person I know. She grows more beautiful each day and my love for her grows exponentially. I also want to thank our friends and family for their love and support. You made our wedding the amazing weekend it was and you help to make our marriage an amazing union.
Love,
Raja
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