What great exposure we are getting these days! Anjuli & Gary’s wedding is featured in the February 2008 issue of Weddings in Houston magazine.
Anjuli Shivshankar & Gary Sharpe
Wedding Date: Friday, June 01, 2007
Written by Lesa Albert
Photography by D. Jones Photography
Anjuli Shivshanker and Gary Sharpe knew they wanted a wedding that would reflect as many aspects of their lives as possible: their cultures, their personalities and above all, their youth and sense of fun.They succeeded, twice. Anjuli and Gary held both Hindu and Christian ceremonies filled with rich sights, sounds and tastes that told their stories and conveyed their heritage.
Anjuli and Gary have never had a run-of-the-mill romance. They met during a service project in Kenya and went on to volunteer together in Ghana, where they fell in love. On the plane ride back to the United States, they decided their lives would be incomplete without one another.
Gary, 23, made the engagement official on Labor Day weekend, 2006, when he made a surprise appearance at Rice University and proposed. Anjuli left most of the coordinating in the hands of event-planning firm Happenings… by Mary Ann Webb, which also handled all the beautiful floral arrangements. “I cannot stress how important Mary Ann was to the wedding process,” says Anjuli, who is now pursuing her master’s degree in public health. Invitations from The Pretty Penny announced the wedding.
The couple held their first event, a beautiful Hindu ceremony, on June 1 at the Houston home of Anjuli’s parents, where the bride and groom dressed in traditional Indian attire. One of the most magical aspects of the wedding was the Indian music. “It enhanced the tone of the entire ceremony, as well as the day,” Anjuli says. Guests enjoyed a catered luncheon of south Indian food, followed by a dinner-and-dancing reception later that evening. A day later, the couple gathered their loved ones again for a Christian ceremony at the chapel at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart. Anjuli walked down the aisle in a dress from Priscilla of Boston, and Gary wore a tuxedo from Al’s Formal Wear, while musicians presented lovely traditional selections on violin and guitar. A reception followed that evening at the Omni Houston Hotel.
“Everything was unique, tasteful, colorful, creative and youthful,” says Anjuli of her wedding, “and I credit it to Mary Ann Webb.”
Anjuli especially loved the peacock feathers the groomsmen wore in place of boutonnieres, and she was enchanted with the decor of the ballroom at the Omni. The lush floral arrangements and fabrics in shades of orange, light green, turquoise and pink brought a vibrant atmosphere to the room.
The excited Anjuli didn’t eat very much, even though guests raved about the food, but she insists she’ll never forget her glorious chocolate-cinnamon cake with mocha frosting from World Catering & Cakes, along with the lively music. “Everything felt joyous,” she says.
Reprinted with permission as featured in Weddings in Houston Magazine
