Finding the perfect better half is still a dream of many girls out there. However, owing to the stereotypes and inhibitions about culture and religion, we still believe that one's 'Mr Right' should belong to her own culture and tradition. Though in Bollywood we have witnessed a number of cross-cultural marriages, in real life, there are very few examples that make us believe that love can happen between two people of any religion, caste or culture.
Our bride, Puja Parikh, has proved that yet again that when you come across the 'one', you do not care about his looks, income, family background, religion, etc. Puja was in the first year of her college in Cornell Law School when she had met Saad Rizwan. Back then, she had attended the school’s South Asian Law Association’s orientation. There she had met Saad, who was the co-President of the organization. However, they had left the meeting as acquaintances. Little did they know that this would not be their last meeting.
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After a long courtship period, Puja Parikh and Saad Rizwan had decided on marrying each other. For her wedding, Puja had donned a red lehenga with intricate embroidery work on it. Her outfit was from the house of the ace-designer, Sabyasachi Mukherjee. She had completed her look with minimal makeup and gold jewellery. However, the lehenga had stolen all the show.
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On the other hand, her prince charming, Saad Rizwan had chosen the fashion designer, Manish Malhotra to amp up his look and complement his ladylove, Puja Rizwan. He had donned a white sherwani and had teamed it up with a maroon velvet dupatta and safa with a stone-studded brooch onto it. And he completed his look with a motihaar.
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In an interview with Wedding Style Magazine, the bride, Puja Parikh had shared her love story. Puja had told the magazine that it was while attending a conference in New York City, the duo had bonded over their shared cultural identity and penchant for the law. That's how they had become friends. Four years down the line, the two friends had become best friends and had kept in touch even after staying apart due to professional commitments. However, their different religious backgrounds had kept them away from each other.
It was on Puja's 26th birthday when the duo had realised that this friendship could blossom into something more. At her birthday party, Puja had invited two acquaintances to match one of them up with Saad. However, they had told her that Saad was in love with her and that's when things had started taking a turn. The duo, later on, discussed how their relationship could work out with their different religious backgrounds. Only to realise that they cannot imagine a world without each other.
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As Puja and Saad shared a common South Asian ancestry, they had always wanted to host a traditional South Asian wedding in New York City. Therefore, they had an intimate Muslim wedding ceremony, followed by Hindu pre-wedding prayers and a mehendi party. They had also held a colourful sangeet and Raas Garba on a private chartered yacht that circled the Statue of Liberty. The Hindu wedding ceremony was followed by a reception at the Mandarin Oriental in NYC.
While talking to the Wedding Style Magazine, Puja had shared what she had liked the most about Saad. She had said, "In the months leading up to our wedding, we learned a great deal about our religions’ wedding practices. One would assume incorporating divergent practices would be difficult. But for me, this actually made me fall in love with Saad even more. When we reminisce about our wedding, we are filled with a sense of completeness.”
Don't you think that Puja and Saad's love story was straight out of the fairytale? Do let us know!
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