"A New Beginning" (UPDATED)

Ajit and Elizabeth

Every little girl grows up dreaming about their picture perfect wedding. Details are planned out and perfected as years go by, from the invitations to the isle runner; nothing is left untouched. The wedding gown might go from white to ivory, from Princess cut, to A-line. Color schemes might change a million times before the perfect pair, or triple are chosen. Yet, the idea of being a bride remains joyful, and exciting throughout a lifetime.

Miss Elizabeth Varghese, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had the opportunity of finally fulfilling every image she had of a wedding on Saturday May 3rd 2008. She married Ajit David, from Chicago, Illinois on a cloudy Saturday morning, which burst into sunlight by the early afternoon.

Holy Trinity Church on Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, hosted the wedding of the two joining families. Guests slowly started to arrive by 9:30A.M. Quick conversations of “congratulations,” and “it’s been a while,” covered the ambience of the church, while ushers diligently worked to get arriving guest seated in time to start the ceremony.

The church was dome like in structure, and beautiful paintings, similar to the renaissance encompassed the ceiling taking guests back to a more romantic era. Taking in all the beauty was calming enough, but just to ease the tired soul, a worship team of five family friends were singing Christian worship songs.

“We just want to usher in the presence of the Lord,” says Bessie Abraham Mathew. “Elizabeth wanted this day to belong to God, and so we’re singing a few praise and worship songs.”

As the songs were finishing up, it was just about time for the wedding procession to begin. The bridesmaids came down donning a beautiful bold orange skirt with a gold mesh top with hints of green. The color was very warm and inviting, as seemed to be the theme for the entire wedding.

While Pachelbel's canon in D Major begins its soothing melody, guests accordingly rise to catch a glimpse of the beautiful bride to be. As Elizabeth cheerfully glides down the isle with her father at her side, her smile could not have even been hidden by her pure white veil.

The ceremony continued in an Indian MarThoma wedding order, which consisted of traditional chants, and hymns. To modernize the ceremony, contemporary Christian songs were sung by friends, family and loved ones in between the worship order.

Once the priest had finished with the thirty-five minute ceremony, he announced the new Mr. And Mrs. Ajit David, while guest clapped and cheered for the new union. Immediately after the wedding ceremony was concluded, guests were packed into three shuttle buses, which took them to the Crystal Tea Ballroom at the Wanamaker building. There, the reception continued where guest munched on crackers, and small portions of pasta as appetizers. A lot of mingling, and surprised “hello’s” took place as guests moved around the lobby area.

Once the Reception hall was ready, guests slowly started to find their way into the hall, and began to find their seats for the program to begin. Toward the beginning of the reception were the typical...speeches...speeches...and more speeches. However, by mid-afternoon the reception took a turn for the better as the hilarious MC’s made their way onto the floor. “Corny” but welcoming jokes were thrown around in Indian accents, which resulted into a burst of laughter from their audience. The dance floor opened up as the evening began to unravel. Ironically, it was not only the youths or the singles that stepped out to dance, but instead it was their parents and elderly that completely began to “tear up” the dance floor. I guess you can call the dancing part of the entertainment also, because it was definitely amusing to watch, and a great way to end a new beginning.