Kanakavalli Bride : Dharshana

Dharshana weds Sai

Kanakavalli Bride Dharshana is from a close-knit joint family, bonded together by their strong cultural roots. She always wanted to have an arranged marriage, as was tradition in her family, and was introduced to Sai.

He was in the US while she was in India, but they hit it off right away and agreed to get married before they even met in person. Over the next six months, Dharshana discovered that Sai was respectful, warm and humble, level-headed and from a family as close-knit as her own.

Dharshana jokes that when they met before their engagement ceremony, love was in the 'hAir' because he has such nice hair! Despite their long-distance blues, Dharshana and Sai enjoyed planning their wedding, shopping for outfits and coordinating with vendors a process that brought them closer together.

She is from Madurai and their wedding theme was Meenakshi Thirukalyanam, an ode to the beauty and tradition of her city. Dharshana says that walking down the aisle with her parents - she is their only child - was one of the highlights of the wedding day, a moment filled with emotion.

She also remembers how Sai gave her a fist bump after tying the thali, and the laughter they shared during the metti (bridal toe-ring) ritual.

Since she was a young girl, Dharshana had been designing mood boards and saving visual inspiration for her wedding - back when she wanted a wedding more than a husband!

She drew inspiration from her mum's wedding look, and was sure she wanted to wear shades of pink for her big day.

After an entire day of wedding shopping that left her disappointed, Dharshana said that Kanakavalli swept her off her feet. She tried many, many kanjivarams and finally picked one for her engagement and one for her wedding.

A big thank you to Dharshana for being a beautiful Kanakavalli Bride and sharing the story of her wedding with us. We wish her and Sai a lifetime of love and laughter.