When two peo­ple decide to get mar­ried, they are not only mar­ry­ing one another, they are also join­ing together two fam­i­lies. And in some sit­u­a­tions, they are also join­ing together two cul­tures. As an Amer­i­can being mar­ried to a Ukrain­ian, I am extremely fond of cou­ples whose love tran­scends the bound­aries of cul­ture. Jes­sica and Ravi’s rela­tion­ship is a per­fect reflec­tion of this. But what made their wed­ding even more beau­ti­ful was to wit­ness the way their fam­i­lies embraced one another.

Though both par­ents wel­comed their new son and daugh­ter into their fam­i­lies dur­ing their speeches, it was clear they didn’t need to ver­bal­ize it. Any­one could see by the way they looked and spoke to one another, they were already like fam­ily. This was most evi­dent when Ravi and Jessica’s sib­lings toasted the happy couple.

Jessica’s brother stood with such poise as he rem­i­nisced what it was like being the older brother grow­ing up. He remem­bered, when Jes­sica first intro­duced Ravi, he felt he should be more of a bully in order to let Ravi know he would pro­tect his sis­ter. But he just couldn’t – he liked Ravi from the very start. And any­one who has ever met Ravi knows exactly what he’s talk­ing about.

Then Ravi’s sis­ter stood with her infec­tious smile and spoke about how she copied every­thing Ravi did grow­ing up. She wanted to be just like him. And now that she has a new sis­ter, she has an entirely new set of hobbies.  Well, like knit­ting, which she has recently started. Knit­ting is Jessica’s favorite thing to do. These two are not only going to be great sis­ters, but I imag­ine they will be great friends too.

The room filled with laugh­ter and love as the speeches came to a close. Everyone’s stom­achs may have been ready for the meal, but their hearts were fully sat­is­fied. Love was felt between two peo­ple as they promised their lives to one another. And love was seen as two fam­i­lies from dif­fer­ent parts of the world joined together. The entire day was a cel­e­bra­tion of such love.

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Jessica’s mom was so sweet the entire day. I never saw her with­out a smile on her face.

Jes­sica and Ravi wanted plenty of time for pic­tures so they opted for a First Look. As always, it was a very spe­cial moment.

The wed­ding party had asked to come out­side for the First Look, but I gen­tly declined as it takes away from the inti­macy of the moment. But I found it so cute that they all looked on from inside.

Let the mar­riage com­pe­ti­tions begin! I com­pete with Vitaliy on a lot of things, but height is def­i­nitely not one of them because I wouldn’t stand a chance of win­ning that one.

Vitaliy’s view on the left, my view on the right.

Jes­sica and Ravi were mar­ried at the beau­ti­ful Saratoga Coun­try Club.

The reces­sional is always one of my favorite parts of a cer­e­mony, but Jes­sica and Ravi’s was above the rest. They were so happy they kind of danced them­selves down the aisle.

We even had a lit­tle bit of time for a few more pic­tures before the party started. Noth­ing like the warm light at sun­set to add to the romance!

I’ll end with this. My hope­less roman­tic heart just can’t get enough of this moment.

To see more of Ravi and Jessica’s wed­ding, check out the slideshow below. Enjoy!