On paper, Parvati Pyarelal and Sony Theakanath’s wedding had all the ingredients for a complicated story. She is Hindu and from Thrissur. He was raised Roman Catholic in California. She was leading business development at David Collins Studio in the United Kingdom, while he was a product management at Meta in the United States. Their lives were split between London and New York. Instead, the story turned out to be remarkably uncomplicated. Their families already shared a decades-long friendship. They met, talked and fell in love. When they eventually married, neither faith was folded into the other or treated as a compromise. At the sleepy village of Kumarakom, a Catholic blessing and a Hindu ceremony stood beside each other, each given its own space. Their wedding did not attempt to prove that two worlds could coexist. For Parvati and Sony, they just did.
It Started With A Family Introduction
There is something so old-fashioned about the beginning of Parvati and Sony’s love story: their families introduced them. “It was arranged by a woman who was already deeply connected to both our families. Sony’s mother had known her since her early years in America, while she was also family to my father,” she says. The two families had therefore shared a relationship for decades before their children were introduced. Their faiths also never became the dramatic plot point it might have been. Instead, their families focused on the values they shared. “We honestly didn’t think about the fact that we were different faiths. We just met and spoke to each other,” Parvati says. “My parents cared about the right things,” says Parvati, whose mother, Meera Pyarelal, co-founded the Kerala furniture atelier Temple Town. “Not the label of a religion, but whether we shared the same values. At the heart of both our families is exactly the same thing.”
If the setup was traditional, the courtship was anything but. At the time, Parvati was based in London, while Sony was in New York. Their first interaction began over a video call, before Sony flew to across the pond for their first real date. What might have been a single date became an entire weekend together. “There was no single cinematic moment when either of us decided this was it. It was how quickly everything felt natural.”
The Civil Wedding In New York
A year of transatlantic dating followed, weekends measured out in flight numbers rather than dinner reservations. Sony proposed at Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center, overlooking the city that would eventually become their home together. Thirteen days later, they were married at The Lowell in New York. “When you already know, why wait?”
The bride was a vision in white in Ridhi Mehra ruffled sari with a accessories from Jewels by Srishti, Sony in Ralph Lauren. The celebrations continued with an intimate dinner with friends and family.
Bringing The Story Home To Kumarakom
For the main event in June 2026, the couple chose Kumarakom Lake Resort on Kerala backwaters as the venue, close enough to Thrissur for family, distinct enough from the everyday to feel like an occasion. Friends and family arrived from Bangalore, Mumbai, London, New York and San Francisco to experience Kerala at its most unfiltered. “We had three principles: have fun, do not make it stressful, keep it true to ourselves. Kumarakom served all three, because it let us hold the wedding in Kerala at its finest rather than importing an idea of a wedding from somewhere else,” Parvati says. Planning was an international exercise. The couple made the major decisions together from New York, while Parvati’s parents took on much of the in-person groundwork in Kerala, from site visits to vendor meetings.
Let The Games Begin
The celebrations began not with formal ceremonies, but with sport. Skipping a conventional welcome dinner, guests were introduced to Kerala through a line-up of traditional games. There was a snake boat race, tug of war and pot breaking, with the bride’s side taking on the groom’s side.
The competitive spirit was very real. Parvati’s team won, a detail she remains particularly pleased to record. “My side won, which I am contractually obliged to mention,” Parvati laughs. The games brought both sides of the family into the celebration immediately, turning what could have been a formal destination wedding welcome into a relaxed and memorable day.
A Catholic Blessing At Church
On June 27, the couple were blessed at Nava Nazareth Church in Kumarakom, bringing Sony’s family traditions into the celebration. The church ceremony was not treated as a secondary moment, but as an essential part of the wedding.
The Hindu Ceremony
The next morning would belong to Parvati’s Hindu heritage, but there was no attempt to create a hierarchy between the two. The couple sat before the sacred fire for the full Hindu wedding rites. “Both, for different reasons,” Parvati says when asked which ceremony was more meaningful. “Neither was shortened to make room for the other. Holding both, in the same place, in front of the same people, was the whole point.”
The bride wore a gilded Jayanti Reddy sari, styled with emerald and diamond jewellery from Delhi-based Symetree. Sony chose a classic silk mundu and kurta, finished with a dupatta by Beena Kannan Couture. Together, their looks reflected the couple’s wider approach to dressing the wedding. The clothes were not selected simply because they photographed beautifully. They had to belong to the place. “The Kerala pieces had to belong to Kerala rather than arrive in it. The New York pieces had to feel like the city we were building a life in.”
After the ceremony came one of Kerala’s most beloved culinary traditions: the sadya. Served on banana leaves, the feast ran to close to 30 dishes and offered loved ones another way of experiencing the region. There were also personalised coconuts with P&S initials on them.
A Reception In Red, White And Roses
By evening, the mood shifted. The reception introduced a sharper, more graphic visual language for decor, with red and white stripes, tables piled with lemons and red blooms, and a wall of fresh roses. Sony changed into a Sabyasachi bandhgala, while Parvati wore Tarun Tahiliani pre-draped sari, pairing the look with heirloom diamond earrings from her mother’s collection.
The evening saw several dance performances and speeches. For Sony, the evening had one more surprise. The reception ran into midnight, which happened to be his birthday. Parvati had secretly prepared a presentation in which his friends each spoke about a different chapter of his life, from childhood onwards. Sparklers, champagne and cake followed. “It was also the one thing at our wedding I planned entirely without him. After months of deciding everything together, that felt like its own small luxury.” Parvati says.
Two Traditions, One Life
What makes this wedding worth telling is not the guest list or backwater views, but the thought behind it. Two ceremonies, two continents, two families with entirely different religious calendars, and not a single point where either tradition was asked to shrink to fit the other. The wardrobe told the same story. Across two days, Parvati and Sony’s looks moved between the language of Kerala tradition, family heirlooms and contemporary Indian couture. Loved ones were dressed in traditional Kasavu weaves.
It is a blueprint for exactly the kind of modern, multi-faith, multi-city wedding more couples are now trying to plan: honour both households in full, let the setting do the aesthetic work, and never mistake compromise for harmony. “Ritual is a language. We’re simply a bilingual family now,” they say.
The Bride’s Checklist
The Bride: Parvati Pyarelal
The Groom: Sony Theakanath
Photography: Mindful Memories (Kerala) and Doughwanders (New York)
Venue: Kumarakom Lake Resort (Kerala) and The Lowell Hotel (New York)
Planning & Decor: Rainmakers
Bride’s Outfits: Jayanti Reddy, Tarun Tahiliani and Ridhi Mehra
Bride’s Jewellery; Symetree, Srishti Jewels and heirloom
Groom: Beena Kannan Couture, Sabyasachi and Ralph Lauren
Bride’s Hair & Makeup: Samson Lei (Kerala)
