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And, Bon Jovi brought N.J. couple together
BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
When it came down to raw numbers, a Jersey Shore wedding outdid Chelsea Clinton's — big time.
An Indian ceremony — Shweta Parikh and Nirav Patel's wedding in Lakewood, New Jersey stole the prize for the grandest wedding.
Sify.com reports while around 500 guests assembled in Rhinebeck for Chelsea's big day, 650 people gathered in Lakewood over four days, where the scale and spectacle rivaled the very best of Bollywood.
The bride changed outfits five times, culminating in her 18-foot, deep-red silk wedding sari, worn to Saturday's ceremony. There, her bridal party was resplendent in embroidered saris in lush blues, greens, magentas and golds. The groom was dressed in a gold and red sherwani and entered the affair on a white horse adorned with bells, a bejeweled headpiece and a beaded saddle.
Guests flew in from all over the world — 11 states and 5 countries.
And the music? Chelsea Clinton had the Etta James classic "At Last" — the same number Beyonce sang to President and Mrs. Obama at his inaugural ball. On the Shore they played Bon Jovi.
And while there's no word on Chelsea Clinton's honeymoon location, news.webindia123.com reports the Patels will be heading to Paris and Malta.
Parikh, 27, and Patel, 29, both first-generation Indian-Americans living in New Jersey, first met in 2002 after being introduced by a mutual friends. They were in relationships at the time but Parikh made an impression.
About six years later, they ran into one another at a barbeque, and bonded over a shared love of Bon Jovi.
Patel, a pharmaceutical sales manager from Garwood, said he'd call Parikh when he scored some tickets to a coming Bon Jovi show.
According to the New York Daily News, friendship eventually turned into love over a fake invitation to a Jon Bon Jovi concert. He called the next day — even though he didn't have tickets. He asked the accountant to dinner.
After dinner, a white stretch limousine took the couple to Bahama Mama's, a bar back across the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, for karaoke night. The DJ called Patel's name and he took to the stage to sing Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer."
After finishing the song, he fell to a knee — mic still in-hand — and proposed. Parikh said, " It was really cheesy, but it was beautiful."
Cheesy but beautiful- often the secret of a perfect marriage.
