This Maximalist Wedding in Southern California Artfully Blended South Indian and Black American Traditions

The wedding was held at the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach and unfolded across four distinct events: Haldi, Sangeet, a traditional Telugu ceremony, and the reception. The couple worked Birch Events for design and with B Anu Events to execute the weekend.

“From day one, I had zero interest in playing the understated bride,” Ramya says. “I am deeply chalant and love hyper-color, deliberate maximalism, and taking traditional Indian silhouettes and pushing them somewhere unexpected.”

Their Haldi was set outdoors with accents of organic fruit and lush greenery. Ramya collaborated with Lotus Bloom and her friend Sandy Gill to customize a Papa Don’t Preach lehenga. “We scrapped the dupatta and went full nautical fantasy with clamshell sleeves and seaside palm embroidery.” She wore an amethyst and emerald statement necklace by Sri Krishna Jewelers; and for glam, she channeled “pure Y2K beachy mermaid energy” with undone waves.

Their Sangeet was designed around a custom orange and pink fabric made with Birch Events that was inspired by “Mughal art meets 18th-century toile de jouy.” Ramya’s look was customized with Sari Palace, and she designed a hot pink lehenga featuring a mesh blouse with a built-in gem-encrusted neckline. For jewelry, she wore ruby cuff earrings and a tikka, complemented by a “high drama” ponytail and iridescent blush to match the pink. Joe’s Sangeet outfit was tailored and hand-stitched by Lotus Bloom, and featured hot pink, black, and white beadwork that echoed the palette on Ramya’s lehenga. “The detail on this one was truly chef’s kiss,” Joe says.

For the traditional Telugu Hindu ceremony, their priest translated Sanskrit to English in real time, and the mandap was designed as a circle to represent how life flows into itself for eternity. “Midway through my walk down the aisle with my cousin Ishleen, I stepped into a lotus basket and got carried to the mandap by my male cousins and uncles on each side of my family,” Ramya says.

The ceremony began by lifting a curtain between the couple, as they held a paste of brown sugar and cumin seeds on top of each other’s heads. “This symbolizes the sweet and bitter moments we’ll share,” Ramya says.

Joe then tied the mangalsutra around her neck to signify their union. From that point, the equal-effort work of the ceremony began. “Showering each other in holy rice, walking around the sacred fire seven times to seal our vows, and playing a game of finding the rings in a tub of water,” Ramya says. The seven stones on each of their wedding bands represent those seven steps and vows.

They ended the Hindu rituals and ceremony by jumping the broom. “Our fusion wedding wouldn’t be complete without paying homage to Joe’s Black-American heritage and walking straight into the rest of our lives,” Ramya says.

Despite the traditional ceremony, Ramya wanted her silhouette to still feel unexpected. She turned to Shiona Turini for creative consulting and styling, and designer Manish Malhotra to bring the look to life. “Shiona immediately got the vision,” she says.

They paired an ivory and red Kanjivaram sari with antique gold zari and scalloped tissue borders with a red raw silk blouse featuring mukaish work and metallic sequins. To top it all off, a vintage gold Banarasi tissue veil embroidered with lotus motifs. “South Indian brides are rarely represented in Western fashion media, so bridging ancestral history with modern design was really important to this look,” Ramya says.

She accessorized with a full ruby and diamond set and a traditional Vaddanam (waist belt) from Sri Krishna Jewelers. (Her mother, who had been “mentally preparing” her jewelry catalog since she was 17, was also very involved.) The hair cemented the drama: a floor-length traditional braid with jasmine flowers and cascading diamond brooches. “I wish I built my neck muscles up for this braid,” she laughs.

Joe’s wedding sherwani was one of the first he tried on. “I loved that it had a different cut in the front at the bottom of the jacket; the details just felt so elegant,” he says. Ramya’s mother brought a red dupatta to add to it, so it popped even more. “I truly felt like a prince wearing this outfit,” he says.

After the ceremony, the couple took photos and then invited a few close friends to their room for a pre-reception shot and to watch them sign the marriage license with their ordained friend, Sim.

Their reception was inspired by mixed metallics and European nightclubs, so Ramya went with a Papa Don’t Preach look that nodded to this. Her afterparty look, which was custom-fitted with Lotus Bloom and ITHR, was lightweight enough to move in, but still high-drama. Joe wore a Saint Laurent tuxedo and STL patent leather tux shoes with an Indian necklace and a gold embellished Indian hair pin repurposed as a bolo tie. “For all four events I wore a gold memorial pin over my left chest that had a picture of my late father and I as a kid,” he says, adding that he also wore his old vintage ring. “They have his initials on it, which are the same as mine: JH.”

The couple also had wedding grills made by Gabby Elan Jewelry, as a nod to their bringing together of Indian and African American influences throughout the wedding. “Ramya’s has an elephant next to the initials XIX—19 for Juneteenth, or our wedding day—and I had a Bengal tiger next to the XIX,” Joe says.

Reflecting on the weekend, the couple highlights their shared feelings of presence and peace. “Joe and his family really embraced my culture,” Ramya says. “They learned all the dances, knew everyone’s names, and jumped right into the bharat from the beginning. I grew up going to these types of traditional weddings—and it’s fun to keep this tradition alive with the next generation.”