A burlesque show in San Francisco brought Aarthi Gurusami and Cameron Preston together. “I was there to support my friend, and Cameron was there to support his fellow performers,” Aarthi explains. “To my surprise, I was pulled on-stage in one of his friend’s acts, and he thought I was a cute addition to the show.” Through their mutual friends, they ended up going out shortly after.
After two years together, Cameron proposed in Yosemite, as the first snowfall of the year began to fall, and they began planning their artistic wedding at the now-closed Hangar 1 Distillery in Alameda, California. “It felt very us: artistic, weird, unique, science-y, grungy—and the drinks were unbelievably good!” Aarthi exclaims. Jenni Grubba brought their vision to life, and Jenn Emerling was behind the lens all day.
For their autumn wedding, the couple prioritized staying true to their personal aesthetics. “We’re both a little grunge, and over the top, and it was important that our look reflected that,” Aarthi says. The bride chose a deep velvet green sari for the ceremony, a chrome lengha for dinner, and a beige set with a tutu for the party.
After finalizing her own outfits, they spent a bit of time figuring out Cameron’s. “It was important to me that he stood out just as much as I did, so we knew he had to go pretty bold,” the bride shares. “For the wedding, we decided to go monochromatic with a deep green kurta, which is a cool wedding trend in Indian fashion that we’ve been really enjoying. We knew he could—and would want to—pull off a crazy floral print for the reception; when we saw the purple and chrome suit, we knew it was the one!” The two also interspersed pink throughout their looks. Cameron even dyed the ends of his hair bright blush.
On October 1, 2022, Aarthi and Cameron were married in a blended ceremony, starting with the groom’s bharat, during which his whole family danced together for the first time ever. “We had a mostly Hindu wedding, with both North and South Indian traditions interspersed throughout. In Western tradition, we exchanged our own vows and rings,” Aarthi explains.
During the service, Cameron felt like he was “constantly trying to stop time.” He adds, “Each moment was something I knew I needed to savor as I wanted to make sure I could remember it for the rest of my life. I felt the magic in the moment and I didn’t want it to go any faster than it had to be. I surprised myself about how calm, collected, and curious I was during the moments of the ceremony.”
After being announced as officially married, the couple went away to change into their next outfits, as guests enjoyed dinner from a local South Indian restaurant. “We didn’t get a chance to eat any of the food, but we heard it was incredible,” Aarthi laughs.
Golden Bell made sure the dance floor was always packed, and Butter& served a series of delicious small cakes to satisfy any sweet tooths. The newlyweds had their first dance to “Magic” by Polo and Pan. “The month before the wedding, our dance instructor ended up putting together an entire choreographed routine for the first few minutes of the song, complete with suspender snapping and finger guns!” Aarthi exclaims.
Once the reception came to a formal close, the party continued at the couple’s home. “We were expecting around 60 people and for it to be pretty chill. We should have known better!” the bride laughs. “Our unbelievable friends decorated our entire backyard as a fairy paradise, deejayed in our kitchen, and ordered pizzas that piled up literally to the ceiling. We didn’t know our very small house could fit more than 100 people, but it did! Everyone looked incredible; we even managed to do yet another outfit change. We left around 3:00 a.m., and the party was still going hard!”
