My wedding

The date was July 31, 2004 and it will go down as one of the saddest days for single women following the development of the arranged marriage concept. Honestly thought that day had to be one of the most magical moments of my life...everything was just perfect. As tight as I thought I was with my friends, I think I got 1000% closer to them during the preparation weeks for my marriage. Laura and I were both extremely touched by all the effort our friends put into ensuring that our wedding day would be just perfect. Even following our wedding, John, Zoe and Ray came over to our appartment and John decided that they should all clean our place to help us get off to a head start...we were so touched we were both left speechless. And then there's my little brother Kunal, who is technically my cousin, but that just implies too distant of a relationship to accurately describe ours. He came here 3 weeks prior to the wedding and was a Godsend. He was always by my side keeping me company regardless of how involved he was in the activity I was doing at the time and we were really able to become very very very close during his stay here. And I honestly think that he injected the energy into the opening celebrations and without him, it still would have been good, but not nearly as great and hair-raising as the morning turned out to be. People who don't know him probably think he's pretty quiet, but he's just incredible in every way, be it values, intelligence, business sense and attitude (not to mention that he's in good shape) he is light years ahead of me when I was 19. He'll be very successful in life and I can't wait to watch him evolve as a person. I always thought of him like my little brother, but when he was here we actually acted like it...we talked, he asked me for advice on some things (or I gave it without solicitation)...it was like I finally had the little brother I had begged my mom for every single day when I was a kid. I'm going to make sure that I call him once a week to keep tabs on him and see how he is doing. We forged a very tight relationship while he was here and I can't let it slip.

I can't believe how good it was considering that the entire event was planned in 6 weeks. I'm usually not one to say this, but God must have been smiling on us. I guess he was also wanting me to finally marry Laura after knowing her for 13 years and going out with her for 9. I guess he was getting impatient too :-). I don't know how the wedding could have been such a success without the help of so many of mine and Laura's friends...honestly, without their helpful and willing hands it never would have been close to what it turned out to be. Laura and I will always feel grateful to them for caring enough to take significant amounts of time out from their busy lives and using that time to ensure an amazing wedding. The presentation that was given by Ankit and Angie was hilarious and very very touching. Ray's speech was also very touching. The room that John (and others...Ankit? Stacey? I still don't know) had picked out and decorated along with Yanni was simply perfect. We are very lucky to have friends as good as these...I've honestly overachieved in this area vastly beyond anything I could have imagined (despite my previous blog).

Now, a bit about Laura. I'll make this brief, cause I can go on and on and on about this subject, but I am soooo fortunate to be married to her. She is my dream girl. Not many people get to marry their dream girl, but I am one of the lucky ones. Again, another huge overachievement on my part, even though I do consider myself as a pretty good guy/person and quite a good catch...but Laura is just so much more selfless than I am, it is honestly humbling at times...the only way to really describe her is pure of heart. She's truly an amazing person. I love her so much and will always make sure I take care of her.

I'm sure I'm leaving out details, but all in all it was a day filled with magic and truly revealed to me how much my friends love and care about myself and Laura. We are both truly blessed to have so many people that care about us. I hope throughout my lifetime I am not stupid enough to dissolve any of these relationships but rather do all I can to ensure I make them even stronger. And if I don't...Laura will put me in my place :-)

Niraj.