Chic South Asian Wedding at Hyatt Regency Hotel Dallas
As much as I love a wedding packed with Pinterest-worthy details, without fail, I always come back to the bridal portraits. They're my favorite images to look at when I first open a gallery—so you can imagine my excitement when I clicked on this one captured by Erin Wilson. They are powerful portraits that tell the story of the blending of two beautiful cultural backgrounds and the love of Alyzae and Viqar. To top it all off, we had a chance to interview the Bride herself, on every facet of their day. Read it all below!
Tell us about your cultural backgrounds?
My cultural background is of British and Pakistani heritage, and Viqar’s heritage is from India and Yemen. Both of us grew up here in the states - he grew up in Western New York and I grew up in Dallas.
What elements of your culture/heritage were important to incorporate into your wedding?
The clothes and jewelry played a big part in our wedding - both of us wore pieces that had meaningful significance within our families which was really special. I also got to wear a beautiful, signature Indian jewelry set from Viqar’s mother. Food is also a highlight in South Asian weddings so having a variety of traditional food was important. Our culture also places an emphasis that a marriage is not just between two individuals, but between two families, so the the involvement of our families was important.
How did you blend cultures and still keep your ceremony & reception cohesive?
Fortunately, there are a lot of similarities between our cultures, so it was a matter of merging the two cultures together.
Did you have Western influences at all? If so, what were they?
Yes! Traditionally, the South Asian wedding outfit is red, but I always knew I wanted to wear white. As part of our cultural wedding dress, we wear a veil (“dubata”) on our head, but I loved the idea of a long cathedral-style veil so I combined the two! Traditionally, our weddings are a multiday event, with the ceremony typically held on the day before the reception. The set up of our wedding mimicked a Western wedding in that we had the ceremony and reception in one evening, with a social (“cocktail”) hour in between. We also had my brother’s friend play the piano to “All of Me” by John Legend for our entrance. Lastly, my mother set up a massive dessert bar that included both traditional South Asian dessert as well as Western dessert.
What were any challenges that you faced when planning your wedding?
Because I live in Maryland and Viqar lives in Boston, planning our wedding Dallas and finalizing the venue, photo/video, clothes and makeup from afar was definitely challenging! It was nice to have my parents in-town to help with coordinating all the different pieces.
Biggest piece of advice for those looking to infuse their wedding with more than one culture?
Openly communicating between families with what traditions/aspects of the wedding is important to them was really helpful and kept everyone on the same page. It also gave everyone a piece of mind that they’re values/traditions were being respected. Infusing multiple cultures into a wedding also gives you the opportunity to go outside the box with your planning and provides you and your guests a unique experience!
Photography: Erin Wilson Photography | Videography: Company N Films | Hotel: Hyatt Regency Hotel Dallas
