From the rolling green hills of Waimea to the black sand shoreline of Kona Village, Matt and Gurmehr’s wedding weekend moved effortlessly between worlds – both geographically and stylistically – while feeling unmistakably cohesive. Designed as two distinct celebrations, the Indian and Western ceremonies were united by a shared point of view: thoughtful restraint, immersive color, and an intuitive sense of place. Gurmehr’s bridal wardrobe moved from a rich red lehenga to a pleated Danielle Frankel gown sourced from our member, bridal boutique LOHO Bride. At Kahua Ranch, Punjabi tradition met Hawaii’s ranchland landscape in a vivid display of marigolds, florals, and layered textures, where guests gathered beneath canopies of color and the ceremony felt deeply rooted and expansive all at once. Later Kona Village offered a quiet counterpoint, its natural architecture and oceanfront setting allowing a pared-back palette of white, green, and plum to breathe. Captured with sensitivity and editorial clarity by THE WED member Masha Sakhno, the weekend felt intentional without being precious – two events, one story, and an atmosphere that balanced cultural reverence with modern ease.
Our Love Story
The Day We Met
After a handful of promising messages on Hinge, we agreed to meet at The Rose in Venice. Matt arrived with charm and good intentions but—crucially—no reservation. What could have been an awkward misstep became a serendipitous evening stroll down Abbott Kinney, the golden-hour light stretching long across the pavement as we talked our way through blocks of boutiques and bistros. By the time we finally settled in somewhere, the walk had done what no seated conversation could: it had turned two strangers into something like friends, maybe more. Matt’s easy humor and genuine curiosity made the detour feel less like a planning failure and more like the start of something we didn’t know we were looking for.
The Proposal
Gurmehr had imagined it might happen before her medical school graduation. Wouldn’t that timing be nice? But as the weekend before graduation arrived and Matt was away at his best friend’s bachelor party, she let the idea go. These things happen when they happen. Then, on Monday night, just days before graduation, her best friend invited her to dinner and asked her to meet at her dad’s house first. When Gurmehr arrived, she found something unexpected: a candlelit pathway lined with flowers, leading to Matt and their Aussie, Luna.
As José González’s “Heartbeats” played softly in the background—its tender melody about love’s quiet permanence filling the air—Matt asked her to spend their lives together. She said yes, surprised and certain in equal measure. Later that evening, their families and closest friends arrived to celebrate. The surprise had worked perfectly, and the timing turned out to be exactly right. Sometimes the best moments are the ones you weren’t busy planning for.
The Engagement Ring
Maia, Gurmehr’s maid of honor, helped Matt choose the perfect ring that Gurmehr would love: simple and elegant, an oval diamond set on a thin gold band.
Our Indian Wedding
The Vision
We wanted to honor the traditions of Gurmehr’s Sikh Punjabi background in a place that meant everything to Matt’s family. Waimea, where Matt’s mom grew up, felt like the perfect bridge between two worlds. There’s something poetic about celebrating Punjabi culture in Hawaii’s ranchlands — both places shaped by agriculture, by families who work the land, by deep roots. We leaned into color everywhere, vibrant and unrestrained, and encouraged all our guests to wear traditional Indian attire.
The Location
Kahua Ranch sits in the rolling green hills of Waimea, where Matt’s grandfather once worked as a paniolo, a Hawaiian cowboy. There’s a symmetry to celebrating Punjabi farming heritage on land that Matt’s family helped shape generations ago. The ranch offers something rare: sweeping vistas that photograph like postcards and sunsets so vivid they barely seem real.
The Ceremony
We held a traditional Sikh Anand Karaj, which began with the Milni: the formal meeting of our two families, an exchange of marigold garlands and gifts, everyone embracing like they'd known each other for years. Matt's baraat followed, his procession into the ceremony space full of music and celebration. Then Gurmehr made her entrance, walking alongside her mom, aunt, brother, and uncles, the moment heavy with meaning and joy in equal measure.
The ceremony centered around the Guru Granth Sahib, our holy scripture. As hymns were sung, we circled the sacred text four times, each Lavan representing a stage of spiritual union: from daily devotion to detachment from worldly bonds, to divine love, and finally to harmony with the infinite. Our team built a mandap draped in flowers, and guests sat on vibrant cushions beneath colorful umbrellas, the green hills stretching behind us, the whole scene alive with color and tradition.
The Bridal Looks
For the Indian wedding, Gurmehr wore a traditional red lehenga custom-made by Frontier Heritage—rich, intricate, and unapologetically bold in the way a proper bridal lehenga should be.
Our Western Wedding
The Vision
After all that exuberant color, we wanted something completely different. At Kona Village, we let the black sand beaches and natural architecture speak for themselves. The palette was quiet: white, green, plum. The décor was minimal. We wanted elegance that felt effortless, beauty that didn’t need to announce itself.
The Location
Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort. We visited a year before the wedding, and the decision made itself. The property sits on the Kona coast like it’s always been there—thatched-roof hales nestled into black lava rock, everything built low and open to the ocean. The black sand beach curves along the bay, quiet and dramatic in equal measure. What struck us most was how the architecture disappears into the landscape rather than fighting it.
The natural beauty does all the work: the way light moves across the water at different times of day, the texture of ancient lava fields meeting manicured palms, the sound of waves that never quite stops. It’s intimate without feeling small, elegant without any pretense. We knew we didn’t need to dress it up or transform it. We just needed to show up and let the place be what it already was: perfect.
The Ceremony
We married on Kona Village’s black sand beach, framed between two trees with the ocean stretching beyond. Gurmehr walked down the aisle with her mom. Matt’s cousin, Chris, officiated and opened with a mindful moment to remember that one of the many meanings of aloha is alo—presence—and ha—breath of life.
Both of our mothers did readings: Irma read E.E. Cummings’s “I Carry Your Heart with Me,” and Anjuman read Pablo Neruda’s Sonnet XVII. We finished by exchanging our vows to each other—simple, intimate, and exactly what we wanted after the grandeur of the days before.
The Cocktail Hour
From the ceremony, guests drifted to an oceanfront lawn where Scott Buchholz, a local musician, played an acoustic set that immediately set the tone. His voice was warm and unpolished in the best way, his song choices perfectly romantic, nostalgic, and familiar. Mai tais in hand, everyone settled into the golden hour, watching the sun sink toward Maui in the distance, the sky turning shades of orange and pink that felt almost engineered for the moment. It was the kind of interlude that didn’t need much: good music, cold drinks, and a sunset that did all the heavy lifting.
The Reception
Guests were ushered to our final location: a venue overlooking the lagoon at the heart of the property. Our wedding team had arranged the tables in a serpentine pattern around a central dance floor, creating something that felt both intimate and expansive. We opened with our first dance, then dinner was served—plated and elegant—as the sky deepened from dusk to night.
Speeches came next. Gurmehr’s maid of honor, Maia, spoke first, followed by Matt’s two best men and brothers, Tim and Mark. Each brought their own brand of humor and heart, the kind of toasts that make you laugh and then immediately want to cry. Then the dancing started in earnest. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Gurmehr slipped away and returned in her evening look, a signal that the night was just beginning. The dance floor stayed packed until the very last song, everyone refusing to let the evening end.
The Special Touches
On Friday night, Matt gave a speech tracing both of our family histories. He talked about the generations before us who chose hard work and education over comfort, who sacrificed so their children could have more than they did, who made it possible for us to be standing there that weekend. He had printed photos of everyone who couldn’t be with us. It was a reminder that a wedding isn’t just about two people—it’s about everyone who got you there.
Our Favorite Moment
Hearing each other’s vows. Everything else that day was beautiful and chaotic and overwhelming in the best way, but that moment cut through all of it. Just the two of us, saying out loud what we’d been building toward for years. It’s the one part of the day that felt like it existed outside of time, like we could have stood there forever and neither of us would have minded.
The Bridal Looks
For the Western ceremony, she wore the Danielle Frankel Rainey gown. It was simple and elegant, but the unique pleating gave it something unexpected—a quiet detail that felt right for Kona Village’s understated beauty. It was only the second dress she tried on. Everyone kept telling her to keep looking, to try more options, but she kept coming back to it. Sometimes you just know. She paired it with her mom’s earrings, something borrowed that meant everything. For the after-party, she changed into a Magda Butrym draped silk mini dress. After all that bridal elegance, she wanted something funkier, something that felt less like a bride and more like herself—ready to dance until last call.
The Groom Looks
Matt’s wedding-day look was built from the ground up, literally. The summer before, while killing time on a work trip to New York, he spotted Alden ankle-high cordovan boots and had an immediate, unshakeable thought: I’m getting married in these. From there, he envisioned a deep green suit, something that felt at home against Hawaii’s lush flora without tipping into island costume—but double-breasted with peak lapels for a bit more swagger. The vision was specific enough that off-the-rack wouldn’t do, so he decided to use the infinite customization options of Indochino. The original plan was an open collar—clean and easy. Then, the weekend before the wedding, he panicked while in Boston for his college baseball reunion. He suddenly decided that a tie and pocket square were a must, so he took an Uberfrom the baseball field to the Hermès store in Boston Common to complete his outfit.
Our Advice
For the Planning Process
A great wedding planner isn’t a luxury—it’s the difference between enjoying your wedding and managing it. Kate Hickey and her team at Sunshower didn’t just coordinate logistics; they anticipated problems we didn’t know existed and solved them before we ever had to worry. We couldn’t have pulled off two weddings in two locations without them. Full stop.
And if you’re going to splurge on anything, make it photography. The flowers will wilt, the cake will be eaten, the dress will go in a box. The photos are all that remain. Get the very best photographer you can afford. For us, that was Masha Sakhno, who is simply the best in the game. Years from now, when we’re looking back at these images, we’ll be grateful we didn’t compromise.
For On The Day
It’s cliché because it’s true: the day will fly by faster than you think. You’ll be pulled from photo to speech to dance to conversation, and before you know it, everyone’s saying goodbye. Try to steal moments to just look around and take it in. This exact constellation of people—your childhood friends, your cousins, your parents’ college roommates, everyone you love from every chapter of your life—will likely never be in the same room again. That realization hit us halfway through the reception and changed how we spent the rest of the night. Don’t just move through the day. Be in it.
For Post-Wedding
Don’t do what we did. We went right back to work and didn’t take time to savor the post-wedding afterglow.
Vendors
Photographer: Masha Sakhno Photo
Videographer & Content Creator: BTS Dulhan
Venues: Kahua Ranch, Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort
Wedding Planner & Designer: Sunshower Weddings and Events
Furniture & Decor Hire: Kea & Loa, Kona Wedding & Event Rentals, Sunshower Rentals
Florists: Lalamilo Flower Girl, Daisy Dukes Flower Farm
Catering: Swami's Dosa Grill, Sandbar Cocktail Co
Music: Hawaii Sound & Vision, Scott Buchholz
Hair & Makeup: Kassi Bissman Beauty, Henna by Didi
Style
Lehenga: Frontier Heritage
Getting Ready Outfit: Bubish
Ceremony Dress: Danielle Frankel from LOHO Bride
Reception Dress: Magda Butrym
Groom Suits: Indochino, Frontier Heritage
Groom Accessories: Hermès
