Wedding Welcome Party at the Big House | Anushka and Sean
With their families, Anushka and Sean hosted their wedding welcome party at Michigan Stadium. They welcomed their guests for a combined Sangeet and Mehndi welcome party to kick off their wedding weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan!
University of Michigan Love Story
The two met on their second day of undergrad at the University of Michigan while eating in the South Quad dining hall. Sean was lost in the dining hall trying to figure out where to put his dirty plates. Meanwhile, Nush was having lunch with a friend, Rachel, whom Sean knew from freshman orientation! Rachel saw Sean, invited him to sit down with them, and the rest was history.
When it came time to plan their wedding, Nush and Sean both wanted to incorporate the University of Michigan and Ann Abor into the plans. Despite living elsewhere now, Sean actually proposed to Nush in the Law Quad of the University during a long weekend trip the summer prior. Together with their strong passion for Michigan and Michigan sports within their families, this made Michigan Stadium, or the “Big House”, the perfect venue for their welcome wedding party.
Multicultural Wedding Celebration
Nush and Sean credit the University for their meeting. They both come from very different places and backgrounds, saying they likely wouldn’t have met without the University. Therefore, throughout the wedding, celebrating the merging of their cultures and families was really important. With friends flying in and visiting from all over the world, hosting a welcome party was a great way to begin the weekend festivities while also incorporating some Indian wedding traditions.
Wedding Photos on the Michigan Stadium Field
For the wedding welcome party at Michigan Stadium, Anushka and Sean along with their wedding party and families arrived just a few minutes before their guests began arriving. We had some time for photos with fewer people on the field before their 200 guests arrived. Everyone was given free reign to enjoy the field for an hour or so before migrating upstairs to the Jack Roth Stadium Club. Despite the extreme summer heat, guests enjoyed the field barefoot, tossed around footballs and mingled.
Any Michigan fan knows about running out onto the field and the importance of the Lloyd Carr tunnel leading to the field. One of the treats of hosting your wedding at the Michigan Stadium is getting to walk through the tunnel under Bo Schembechler’s iconic words, “The Team, The Team The Team” onto the field. As guests arrived, they were greeted by a drummer before walking the tunnel. They could check out the football team’s locker room on their way to the field.
Jack Roth Stadium Club Sangeet and Mehndi Party
Once upstairs, guests could take in the view of the field from the other side, with access to the club seats both indoors and outdoors to enjoy the stunning sunset.
Before dinner, everyone gathered around the dance floor for speeches from their parents and the Sangeet. The Sangeet ceremony is a common part of Indian wedding celebrations and typically happens a few days before the wedding to celebrate the day to come. It consists of relatives and friends and family performing dances for the couple along with a big dance party.
Anushka and Sean combined the Sangeet tradition along with the Mehndi Ceremony to make travel simpler for their guests. Mehndi artists were available throughout the evening for family and guests to receive the temporary body art on their hands before the wedding day.
After a photo slideshow recounting their relationship, their families and wedding party performed dances for them. The crowd was loving it!
Dance Floor with a Band and DJ
From there, guests enjoyed a buffet dinner and drinks from The Moveable Feast Catering before the dance floor kicked off with the help of Christina Kateri band before turning over to DJ Ice and Fresh Productions later in the night. Everyone was so ready to get on the dance floor! The place was packed all night long.
I had so much fun photographing Nush and Sean’s wedding welcome party at Michigan Stadium! Walking around on the field was a cool experience and exciting for me as an alum of the University as well. Their guests loved getting into town, experiencing part of their love story and building up the energy before the wedding day. During the dance floor, Samantha (my second photographer for the weekend) and I photographed the dance floor on digital, film and polaroid. The next day we captured their multicultural wedding at Frutig Farms in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Vendors:
Wedding Coordinator: Marigold Weddings | marigoldweddingplanners
Photography: Emily Kyle Photography | @emilykylephoto
Dress Designer: Aum Ashram & Asit | @aashniandco
Rings: Hera Fine Jewelry | @hera.fine.jewelry
Groom’s Suit: State and Liberty Clothing Co. | @stateandliberty
Welcome Party Venue: Michigan Stadium Jack Roth Club | @michiganstadium
Baker/Cake: Moveable Feast | @themoveablefeastcatering
Band: Christina Kateri Band | @christinakateri
DJ: DJ Ice and Fresh Productions | @djiceandfreshproductions
Kind words from Anushka and Sean:
“Emily is absolutely amazing and you should not hesitate to hire her for any of your photography needs. Her services are absolutely worth the investment. My (now husband) had hired her to photograph our engagement in August 2022 and we instantly felt comfortable with her. Our friends & family were there at the time and Emily handled the big, excited group so well and professionally.
Moving forward with Emily as our wedding photographer was the easiest and best decision we made throughout wedding planning. Our package came with an engagement photo shoot which Emily suggested several beautiful locations in Michigan for and we had an amazing time hanging out with her and taking pictures that day. My partner and I are naturally a little bit clunky but Emily really helps us be comfortable without feeling awkward.
We had a lot going on for our wedding because it was split out over 2 days and Emily didn’t flinch when we discussed it with her. She was excited to be a part of our wedding weekend and we appreciated that she told us where we could be doing things more efficiently and proposed modifications to make our wedding weekend go as smoothly as possible.
Emily also has a wedding planning guide which was the single most helpful document we used while planning our wedding. We made our wedding day timeline by taking the example that she outlined in her guide. I also got my packing list for the bridal suite directly from her guide. Emily is so great at taking the stress out of wedding stuff and this helped us focus on being excited.
On wedding day, I felt a lot of relief when Emily was around despite all the nerves of the big day. She strikes a great balance between being warm and gentle with being professional and efficient. Just great vibes all around. She just always knows what’s going on and has a handle on everything which really helped me chill out and enjoy my wedding day. I have no doubt that our wedding photos are going to be fantastic and something we look back on in years to come, because that’s exactly how our engagement photos are.
If you’re considering hiring Emily for your photography needs, just do it – you will be so happy that you did!
[Later] I am updating my review above because we received our wedding photos today, and we are so unbelievably over the moon with how they turned out. We had no doubt that they would be amazing but they have surpassed any expectations that we had. We are just so lucky to have found Emily and will treasure all of our photos – especially the one of us with her – forever!”
