Vivek Kesarwani and Ellen Bennett, self-proclaimed nerds and engineers – he works in the software industry; she is in transport – met High school in 2009. After her first dance at a semi-formal, Ellen took her sister’s advice and invited Vivek over for coffee. They’ve been together ever since. Last July, they celebrated their wedding for five days with a family full of Hindus and Catholics traditional celebrations with henna, dancing, a range of stunning outfits and a reception at the Globe and Mail Center to top it off. That’s how it all came together.
Ellen: At first I was more in love with him than he was with me.
Vivek: We visited the University of Toronto, Spadina and Bloor schools. When we first met I was in 12th grade and she was in 11th grade.
Ellen: There is a show that the school puts on every year and Vivek was the co-director that year. I decided to join the set design to get a few glimpses of him. And then we slowly got to know each other this year. Finally we attended the semi-formal and danced together. Then I followed my older sister’s dating advice and finally invited Vivek over for coffee. There was a Second Cup near our school so it made sense for us to go there.
Vivek: We went during lunch break. As we walked back to school, Ellen asked, “So are we boyfriend and girlfriend?” I said yes and we held hands. It felt special – I had butterflies in my stomach! We had our first kiss under the school auditorium, in a room that used to be a rifle range in the 50’s or 40’s when the high school had a cadet corps.
Ellen: I liked his sense of humor. And he’s a very sweet person. We also have a lot of the same interests – mostly nerdy ones, like video games.
Vivek: After graduating, I studied engineering at the University of Toronto while Ellen was finishing 12th grade. The next year she joined me at U of T, studying the same subject. During my freshman year, I lived at Victoria College, which is in Yorkville and is fairly close to the high school. It meant a lot to me because we could continue to see each other and spend time together.
Ellen: After graduating, Vivek moved to New York for four years to work at Google. We always write in quotes that we traveled long distances because there was no time difference and Vivek was back about once a month. And I visited him every two or three months.
Vivek: I always knew that one day I would come back to Toronto because Ellen was here. And I knew I wanted to marry her, but I had to reach a certain point in my seniority where I could move to Toronto and continue working with the same team on the same projects. When that happened, I moved back to Toronto in August 2019.
Ellen: In September we moved into a condo together.
Vivek: We got engaged on our eleventh wedding anniversary. I had the advantage of knowing Ellen’s ring size in advance. We’re both engineers, so we both got the iron rings after we graduated. We have found that my iron ring, which is supposed to fit my pinky, fits perfectly on Ellen’s ring finger. My parents helped me get the ring by putting me through a jeweler they had used in the past. I told Ellen that we were meeting up with a friend of ours at the University of Toronto who is doing his PhD. And while we were there, in front of the meeting hall at King’s College Circle, I got on one knee and with a ring pop proposed the candy. Her first words were “Is that real?” But then I pulled out the real ring and she said, “Okay!”
Ellen: I had no idea he was going to propose. The foundation of our relationship after high school was laid during our time at university. That played into Vivek’s decision to ask me there.
Vivek: We thought we were getting married in 2021. But of course, like many other couples, we had to wait out the pandemic.
Ellen: Much of Vivek’s family lives in the States; There were questions as to whether they would make it. It was difficult with all the restrictions, and it was important to us to have as much family as possible with us. We decided to wait. Fortunately, the postponement to this year was the right decision.
Vivek: At Hindu weddings there are several events filled with family and friends to show how much joy and excitement everyone feels. We start with the Sangeet, a more casual party with lots of dancing that takes place at night. Then there is the Hindu ceremony, after which we went back to my parents and entered the house for the first time as a married couple. We also wanted to have a Catholic wedding in a Slovenian church to represent Ellen’s mother’s side. We ended the week with a reception.
Ellen: We celebrated for a week! It felt like a lot. We also wanted to have a lot of personal touches on each of the days and we had to do that. For example, we made our invitations and included some nerdy references to movies and video games that we like. We had them Harry Potter lightning and the Super Mario 1-Up Mushroom.
Vivek: The sangeet took place on Tuesday of wedding week at the Palais Royale. My aunts and uncles and parents performed choreographed dances and skits. My siblings and cousins ​​did an entire multimedia performance in which they presented our relationship as a video game, going through the different stages of our relationship, and they interspersed it with dances from movie soundtracks. Ellen’s side performed a high-energy dance to the Spice Girls’ “Spice Up Your Life.” My sister did a great job putting the program together. Ellen’s favorite band is The Arkells so we danced to “Years in the Making” which is a great song for two people who have been seeing each other and getting married for 13 years.
Ellen: The next day we had the mehndi ceremony in the party room of our condo building. There, a henna artist applied henna to the hands of family members as a symbol of good wishes for health and prosperity. It was a fun way to hang out with our families and have my bridal henna applied, which takes hours. Vivek also got the groom version. We ordered food from some of our favorite places, like General Assembly Pizza and Kibo Sushi.
Ellen: I wore a lehenga to most events—a kind of Indian dress with blouse, skirt and dupatta shawl. Lehengas are easy and comfortable to wear, but the one I wore for the wedding itself was quite heavy from all the embroidery and jewelry. Luckily I was able to sit for most of the ceremony. My wedding lehenga was a soft pink covered in flowers and tiny beads. I felt like a princess! At the reception I wore an Indo-Western robe with many beads. And then, for the Catholic ceremony, I wore the dress that my mother made for her wedding. She modernized it by replacing the puff sleeves and updating the bodice. I had a total of seven outfits!
Vivek: One of my favorite moments happened on the last day. Ellen and I took the tram to the reception. It was just the two of us and the photographer who took our photos. It was really romantic.
Ellen: We wanted to host the reception in a place that felt like Toronto. So we chose the Globe and Mail Center. The view took our breath away. And I loved that we arrived by tram. It was Vivek’s idea. It gave us a quiet moment to have together just before the reception to cap off a week of celebrations. It was our first chance to sit alone all week and just take it all in.
Vivek: Our first dance at the reception was to the video game’s theme song, “Don’t Think Twice.” Kingdom Hearts. The dance was a very special moment between us.
Ellen: We were just focused on each other. Everyone else was hidden for three minutes.
cheat sheet
Venues: Sangeet at the Palais Royale, Hindu Ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel, Catholic Ceremony at Our Lady Help of Christians Church, Reception at the Globe and Mail Center
Planner: Arora Events
Flower: Fancy Florist for the Hindu ceremony garlands, Olivia’s Garden for the Catholic ceremony
Decor: Tarang Events for Sangeet, Haldi and Reception, Karma Design for Hindu Ceremony
Officer: Pandit Bhoj Sharma and Pandit Avinash Sharma for the Hindu ceremony, Father Valentin Batic for the Catholic ceremony
Photography: midnight media
Videography: butterfly squad
Rings: birches
Hair and Makeup: Bespoke makeup
Outfits of the bride: Sahiba Fashions for the sangeet, Bombay Trendz for the Hindu ceremony and reception, dress for the Catholic ceremony by the mother of the bride
Outfits of the groom: KJ Designers for Sangeet, Bombay Trendz for the Hindu ceremony, Just White Shirts for the Catholic ceremony and reception
Gastronomy: Ruchi Catering and Punjabi by Nature for the Haldi, Food Dudes for the reception
DJ: Empire entertainment
Photo booth: digital vinyl
#Real #Weddings #fiveday #HinduCatholic #celebration #high #school #sweethearts
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