The Wedding!

After years of being together, we finally tied the knot on March 30, 2013. It was one of the best weekends ever and I loved basically every minute of it. I think that my family along with myself did an incredible job planning the weekend of celebrations which resulted in everyone having a wonderful time and talking about for months and months. Considering I'm posting this almost 5 months later and my aunt and uncle were still raving about how much fun they had, I'd say it was a huge success!

I came home the Saturday before the wedding. Since my sister was also home, it was nice to get family time before all the family came to town. We had appointments to finalize details, itineraries to sort and of course, get pampered, etc so there was lots to do each other. Wednesday officially kicked off festivities as I got my mendhi done. It was a super long process and so glad I don't have to sit there for 8 hours ever again. Thursday, we had mendhi night at my house and it was a fun party and great way to hang out with family and get even more excited for the remaining events. Highlights from this included my Dad's amazing pav bhaji which every loved and ran out quickly.

 

Friday morning was my pithi, grah shanti, vidhi. I can't believe how super traditional I looked in my sari. It was a fun time and luckily my family is quite nice and didn't turn me into a jaundiced looking bride (unlike Kunal's side where he resembled Homer Simpson by the end of it).

After the vidhi, it was all about hanging out as we waited for Kunal's family to arrived to the hotel. Once the bus arrived, it was party time! I found a fun idea on Pinterest and proceeded to make a beer cake with the help of a friend.

We had garba-raas that evening to kick off the weekend now that everyone was in one place.

 

Saturday was the big day! It didn't start as smoothly as I would have wanted due to the fact that I woke up when my hair stylist was knocking on my door! Eeks!!! But luckily everything went pretty smoothly after that. My amazing foi dressed me and make sure I looked as fabulous as possible.

 

 

After the ceremony was over, we celebrated in the hotel bar until it was time for us to get ready for the reception. 

 

After taking pictures with our families and bridal party it was time to party!! After the reception  it was the after party in the presidential suite. Such an amazing ending to the day. 

 

On Sunday, I was going to go back to Myrtle Beach with Kunal's family. After many late nights, early mornings, and continuous partying, we were exhausted and a three hour bus ride was just what we needed. 

Once we arrived, it was time for 'new bride' traditions such as smashing clay pots, putting hand prints on the wall, tipping over a pot of rice, leaving red footsteps as I first enter the house. 

 

This was followed by playing games..I won, therefore, proving what I knew all along. I will rule. Haha

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend to celebrate. It was so fun yet went by so quickly. I'm glad I can relive it through pictures and video though =)

 

Napa Valley

It has been quite some time since I last posted. A lot has happened since the end of February. This post will be all about my fun trip to Napa!

Since Kunal has been in California for work, it has given me a great excuse to fly there! I love wine so of course I had to go to Napa Valley. This trip coincided with my birthday week so it was a wonderful treat. We went to 7 wineries and 3 restaurants to really make this trip worth it since we weren't sure when we'd be coming back. I'll highlight my favorites (aka the place where we bought bottles). As usual, I flew in Thursday evening so I can rest for my intense wine-filled weekend. Friday was spent hanging out with my cousin and nieces in Golden Gate Park. It was fun excursion even thought the weather was a bit cool.

Saturday we left my uncle's place bright and early for our drive up to Napa. We had a packed schedule as we wanted to make the most of our time there. The first stop at was Ehler's Estate which was recommended by my cousin and it definitely topped our list of favorites. We ended up buying 3 bottles because we loved the wine so much.

After 2 wine tastings, it was definitely time to eat! What place could be better for lunch than Gott's Roadside which is knows for their burgers, fries and shakes. It was just what we needed to ensure we can continue with the wine tastings for the rest of the afternoon. The second highlight winery of the day was Duckhorn which specializes in Merlot. It was a wonderful day so it was nice to have our tasting on the patio with my favorite accompaniment, a cheese plate!

We went to a couple other places but nothing was amazing so what's the point in writing about them? For dinner we went to a place in downtown Napa called Celadon that was also recommended to us. It was extremely delicious as everything else we had in Napa was. Let's just say the wine tastings from the day had definitely caught up to me by that point!

Sunday was our last day and we were determined to make it worthwhile. If you know us, you know we enjoy being lazy and lounging around while on vacation. Instead of the usual hotel breakfast, we went to another place that was recommended to us called Oxbow Public Market that is full of local places. We had amazing crepes and fun cupcakes.

After a hearty breakfast we were ready to tackle the wineries! We had seen a sign for a small winery called Ballentine Vineyards and Kunal decided we had to stop since it reminded him of the neighborhood he used to live in while in Charlotte. The wine was good, very light so we decided to purchase a bottle. We of course had to stop by Chandon because who doesn't love bubbly? They were having St. Patrick's Day festivities and we had some green champagne. Reminded me of that whole colored ketchup phase in the 90s but at least it tasted delicious. We walked away with 2 bottles and 4 souvenir glasses.

We decided to end our stay in Napa at Silverado Vineyards because it's up on a mountain. It was great to enjoy wine on the patio and looking at the beautiful scenery.

We drove back to San Francisco and had dinner locally at Straits which served phenomenal Singaporean food. What a great trip it was, though whirlwind at times. Wonderful end to my birthday and great way to start off celebrations leading up to our wedding a couple of weeks after!