Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas Merge Cultures With Indian/American Wedding Ceremonies

Priyanka Chopra And Nick Jonas Merge Cultures With Indian/American Wedding Ceremonies

Over the weekend, pop singer Nick Jonas and his fiancee, actress Priyanka Chopra, made things official. The two held two beautiful celebrations uniting their cultures and finally becoming husband and wife. Priyanka tells PEOPLE magazine:

It melted my heart. Being able to have two big weddings, in India, with our closest family and friends was unbelievably special.

On November 22, they traveled to Delhi, India to begin the festivities. There, they celebrated Thanksgiving and on November 30th, they had their Mehendi ceremony.

During the Mehendi, all of the women in the bride and groom’s families, gather together while the bride has elaborate henna designs applied to her hands and feet.

The Mehendi usually takes place 2 or 3 days before the wedding. That night, their families partied, danced and sang at the Sangeet ceremony. The families performed musical numbers and even had a dance competition.

On December 1, the day after the Mehendi, Priyanka and Nick held their Western wedding ceremony on the Western lawn of the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur. The ceremony was attended by 225 guests including Jonas’ brothers Kevin, Joe, and Frankie.

Priyanka wore a Ralph Lauren dress complete with a 75-foot veil. She was escorted down the aisle by her mother, Madhu, while carrying a bouquet of tuberoses, her favorite flowers.

Priyanka said,

It was all tears. All tears. I could not hold it in. I think I was nervous and scared. But as soon as the curtains opened, and I saw his face it was just like everything settled and I knew I was making the best decision of my life.

On December 2, Nick and Priyanka traded vows with Hindu ceremony, concluding the night with a Bidaai. Priyanka says,

I love that our wedding was a religious mash-up. We took beautiful traditions that we both grew up with and personalized them in a way that made sense for us. It’s been incredible to find the commonalities between our beliefs and figuring out how to blend them in a respectful and meaningful way.