A large contingent of family and friends accompanied Joy and I on our flight from Oakland to San Jose Del Cabo (SJD) Airport for our wedding. Here is a group shot of the celebrants.
Wheels down in Cabo! We are ready to get married and party!
We arranged private airport transfers for the guests who arrived on our flight as well as another flight coming from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Other guests were given a dedicated website to book their ground transportation.
Our driver even had a cooler of cold sodas, water, and cerveza (beer) for us!
I am enjoying a Pacifico en route to the resort.
My dad is hydrating on board the van.
Our friends Eric and Trudy are enjoying beverages as well on the approximately thirty minute drive from SJD Airport to Cabo San Lucas.
The resort decorated our bed in our 1 bedroom luxury suite with fresh flowers to welcome the future Mr. & Mrs. Roy.
We are posing on our balcony after getting to our suite.
We had an amazing view from our balcony too.
Our wedding planner had a table put in the lobby so our guests could come by and get their welcome gift from us. We had custom designed koozies made for our guests.
My great uncle, Joy, and I are posing with the custom banner that was made too for the welcome table here.
One of the activities the next day was a glass bottom boat tour of the famous rock formations in Cabo San Lucas.
Here is the famous "arco" at Land's End in Cabo San Lucas.
The Pacific Window is a small opening that links the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean.
Here is a good shot of our group on the glass bottom boat excursion.
The rock formations in the Gulf Of California were really neat.
Joy and I are enjoying the playa (beach) by our resort.
This is me chilling on a recliner on the beach overlooking the beautiful rock formations in Cabo.
Joy and I needed some sushi at our all inclusive resort after enjoying the beach. Relaxing is hard work after all! LOL.
This is a photo of our resort from my action camera in the pool.
Our wedding planners are on the beach ready to coordinate our rehearsal.
The Maid Of Honor and I are shown here with the wedding planner's assistant as we rehearse our wedding ceremony.
We had margaritas ready for our guests at the rehearsal dinner!
There was also lots of Mexican Cerveza also for the guests.
Actually, we had a full open bar for the rehearsal dinner too!
We asked our guests at the rehearsal dinner to sign a picture matte. Joy and I decided to frame a picture of us from the rehearsal dinner with this matte.
My dad is welcoming the guests to our rehearsal dinner. We invited all our wedding guests to participate in our rehearsal dinner.
My dad was very happy that day to see his son and future daugther in law celebrate!
Our guests enjoyed the cocktails very much!
Joy and I are pictured here with my dad, my great uncle, and great aunt.
My best friend, Alex, his wife Monika, and our ring bearer Henrik are pictured here at the rehearsal dinner.
We had a massive Mexican buffet for the rehearsal dinner.
The food was amazing!
They did a great job of presentation also for each item.
Some of the guests are lining up to try all the delicious dishes.
Like I said, the buffet table was huge! One could not see the other end. LOL.
Chad and Aileen are enjoying their make your own tortilla soup!
We hired a Mexican trio mariachi band to perform during the dinner! I asked them to do "La Jarabe Tapatio" to start off the evening's music. That is the famous "Mexican Hat Dance" music.
Joy and I decided to use one of these photos for the frame that I mentioned earlier.
We did a toast as the dinner was winding down to celebrate our upcoming wedding!
After the rehearsal dinner, we went to party at Cabo Wabo in Cabo San Lucas.
We were seated near the stage. Sammy (Hagger) didn't perform that night however :(
The group that went to Cabo had a great time!
The breakfast buffet at the resort was amazing. They made fresh empenadas and other Mexican favorites. Best to start out an important day with a good breakfast!
Here is a picture of my parents with our relatives and friends at breakfast. All the guests enjoyed meeting each other and eating together at the resort during the extended weekend.
The ladies had a spa day on Friday so the men went to get massages on Saturday before the wedding. It was a great way to relax before the nuptials.
When I was getting ready, I noticed these beautiful roses in the suite. I thought they were from the hotel, but they were sent to us from our relatives in India!
The staff at the resort raked the sands to create a beautiful beach setting for our wedding.
The violinist is getting ready for our ceremony to begin.
The Roy Family is all ready for a wedding!
Our ring bearer, Henryk, is all ready with to go with the rings also. He was so adorable.
Our violinist is playing beautiful melodies to welcome the guests.
The guests are beginning to enter the beach to take their seats.
Everyone is excited to see the union of Anirban & Joy!
Which side should we sit at? We did not really have a bride or groom side. People could sit where they wished.
Some good motherly advice to the groom before the ceremony is always a good thing.
I am making my way down the aisle to the alter.
The Maid of Honor, Samantha, & The Best Man, Angsuman, are walking down the aisle.
Our ring bearer, Henyrk is ready to make his way down the aisle with the rings.
He looks so excited and happy to be part of our special day!
Henrik is presenting the rings to my brother for safekeeping until the time is right during the ceremony.
Here comes the bride....
All Dressed In White!
Joy's dad is giving away the bride to me here.
My mother is giving me a blessing before the wedding starts.
My mother is blessing Joy as well. In Indian custom, the mother of the groom is not allowed to witness the actual moment the couple is officially married so she left the wedding venue for a short period of time.
We are ready to begin our life together as Mr. & Mrs. Roy!
Our ceremony was just lovely with that beautiful back drop.
We are exchanging our rings here with my best man and Joy's Maid of Honor looking on.
I am putting an heirloom ring from my family onto Joy's finger. My mother got this diamond ring in Brazil.
Joy is putting the platinum band she got for me on my ring finger.
You may kiss your bride!
In Indian custom, the bride and groom exchange flower garlands to mark the start of their marriage. We did this after we were pronounced Mr. & Mrs. Anirban Roy.
Joy and I are heading down the aisle as Mr. & Mrs. Roy.
My brother and Joy's cousin are leaving the alter also.
We had three butler served appetizers during the cocktail hour on the beach including ceviche, crab cakes, and samosas.
Joy's aunt and uncle are enjoying the cocktail hour on the beach.
My friends are enjoying the Mexican hospitality at the cocktail hour.
I'm mingling with our guests at the cocktail hour as Joy had to go off to get changed into her red banquet dress for the reception per Chinese tradition.
Our open bar during the cocktail hour included premium alcohol.
Here is the wedding party portrait with my brother as Best Man, Joy's cousin as the Maid Of Honor, and our ring bearer, Henrik.
My parents are pictured with Joy and I here. The flower garlands are an Indian wedding ritual that we incorporated into our ceremony.
Joy's parents are pictured here with us after the ceremony.
My parents, brother, great uncle, and great aunt are pictured here with us after the ceremony.
Joy's family is pictured here in a funny shot with us.
The UC Davis delegation is pictured here with me.
This is a picture of the ladies with the bride and groom.
The men are pictured here with the bride and groom.
Joy and I are posing for a beautiful picture by the sea.
Here is another great image of us that our professional photographer took.
This is another nice shot of us on the beach.
Time for a nice walk on the beach.
We are looking at the beautiful rocks at Land's End here.
Want to dance?
I love the lighting on this picture.
The resort did a great job of setting up the banquet area for the dinner and reception.
The head table was decorated really nicely at the dinner.
This was one of the tables all ready for the guests before the reception started.
We had a guestbook for everyone to sign by the seating chart.
This was our cake.
We had a full open bar of premium liquor at the dinner reception as well.
The Maid Of Honor and Best Man are being introduced at the dinner reception here.
All Rise! The Bride & Groom are making their grand entrance to the dinner reception.
Our first dance was to John Michael Montgomery's "I Swear."
Our guests watched as we danced our first dance.
The father and daughter dance was to "I Loved Her First" by Heartland. It is a cool father-daughter dance song.
The mother son dance was to "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney.
We took pictures with all of the tables at the dinner reception.
Our guests enjoyed the lobster bisque as their first course.
Our handsome young ringbearer enjoyed his lobster bisque also.
The guests convinced my parents to kiss at the head table.
The staff was amazing. They did a great job on making sure everyone had a great time. One of the waitresses even danced with a single buddy of mine!
It is time for the bouquet toss!
My great uncle swooped in to grab the bouquet from Raquel who caught it originally. However, Raquel is already married so she did not need it. LOL.
They asked me to do a "naughty" dance for Joy before I took the garter off for the garter toss.
I am taking the garter off the wife so an eligible bachelor can catch it.
I am ready to toss it up in the air for all the single guys!
Who caught it? My great uncle again of course! He was the life of the party!
It is time to cut the cake now!
Who wants some cake?
Here you go Joy!
Oh wait....Not So Fast. Fooled You. LOL.
Joy was much nicer to me when she had to feed me my cake. LOL.
It is time for the couple to kiss again.
The hotel staff did a great job decorating our suite for the wedding night with rose petals and these two swans made from towels.
The hotel left a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries for us too in the suite. There were rose petals all over the suite also.
We went out to party in Cabo after the dinner and reception was over. Our first stop was Senor Frogs.
My buddies are enjoying Senor Frogs.
We went to Squid Row after Senor Frogs.
We had a nice booth at Squid Row overlooking the dance floor.
Sunday Brunch at the resort was amazing. They even had a sushi station set up!
My parents are enjoying a quick bite to eat in the VIP Lounge at SJD Airport. My mom looks tired from all the partying the night before at the wedding.
Mr. & Mrs. Roy are showing off their new jewelry in the VIP Lounge at SJD Airport.
Since Joy and I love to travel so much, we figured a destination wedding would be the best option for us as we begin our life together as husband and wife. After researching several popular destinations for weddings, we decided on Cabo San Lucas, Mexico because of the relatively close proximity to California so we could have as many guests attend the celebrations. Our wedding took about a year to plan, but most of the work was done behind the scenes by our wonderful wedding planning crew at the Pueblo Bonito Rose Resort & Spa in Cabo San Lucas. Fernanda and her team were amazing, and they put together a beautiful package for us with our input and suggestions. Ole!
Since we had a large group of guests attending from Northern California, we looked into a direct flight option that would work for the majority of us. We decided on a non stop flight from Oakland to San Jose del Cabo on Southwest Airlines. Since I had a companion pass, our flights were very cheap since Joy essentially flew for free with me. We flew out of Oakland on Thursday, August 9th with the majority of our families and some friends. Others met us in Cabo San Lucas. We also arranged private airport transfers for everyone from our flight as well as one flight arriving from Dallas/Fort Worth around the same time as ours.
After landing and clearing customs, a guy with a "Welcome Anirban Roy" sign met us outside the airport to get us all loaded into the private vans we reserved. Our van had an assortment of cold beverages including cerveza (beer), sodas, and waters too. The drive from SJD Airport to Cabo San Lucas took about an hour, but we were well hydrated during the scenic trip down to the tip of Baja California.
Once we arrived at the resort, Joy and I found out that we were upgraded to a beautiful one bedroom suite overlooking the sea in the all inclusive Pueblo Bonito Rose Resort & Spa. The staff even decorated our bed with fresh flowers and these glass beats spelling out "Congratulations J&A." We also had a bottle of wine and a cheese plate waiting for us in the suite. After settling into our room, we headed to the lobby to meet Fernanda. She gave us a brief introduction to our agenda for the weekend, and she told us to go get a bite to eat before the welcome gift event in the lobby for our guests. So, Joy and I went to the sushi bar on the beach to meet up with some family and friends. Afterwards, we headed back to the lobby to find that Fernanda had a nice table set up in the lobby so we could hand out the welcome gifts that we ordered for our guests. We also had a custom banner that said "Joy & Anirban Wedding In Paradise Welcome Gift." The gift we got for our guests was a custom koozie. We figured it was a practical gift for this trip since the resort was all inclusive so people would be enjoying lots of beverages in cans or bottles so the koozie would keep their hands from getting too cold. LOL. That night, most of us took the complimentary shuttle from our resort to their sister property across town up in the hills above the Pacific Ocean for dinner. Our all inclusive priveleges worked there too.
Day 2 started off with a glass bottom boat tour for many of the guests as we ventured out to the famous rocks by Land's End in Cabo San Lucas including the famous arch. We saw seals out there too. The water conditions were a little rough because of the storm earlier in the week so we could not dock at Lover's Beach. We did see cool fish however through the glass bottom. The ladies had a spa day while that was going on at the resort. We got some time to just chill by the pool or beach also and take advantage of the all inclusive resort. In the evening, we had an amazing rehearsal dinner for all the guests. The resort put together a huge Mexican buffet that was so big that one could not see one end from the other. We had Mexican dishes from all over the country including Veracruz style snapper, ceviche, tacos, make your own tortilla soup, and much much more! They even had a lot of amazing desserts for us. In addition, we had a full open bar that night for our guests. The wait staff went around with margaritas and local cervesas (beer) also in addition to guests being able to order drinks from the bar they set up for us. There was also bottles of wine and champagne too. We hired a Mexican trio to perform Spanish love songs during the dinner, and I asked them to start off with "El Jaribe Tapatio," which is the famous "hat dance" song that us Americans would recognize. The evening ended with a champagne toast. There were random fireworks off in the distance too.
A group of us decided to go out and continue to party that night in downtown Cabo. Our first stop was Cabo Wabo where we enjoyed a few cocktails and chilled with a local band. Afterwards, we found another club to party at in town.
The next day was the wedding day. We had some guests who took the boat tours that day. A few of us men decided to get massages in the afternoon at a local spa. There was still lots of time to enjoy the pool before the wedding ceremony. The hotel pressed my suit as a part of the wedding package we got. Joy also had her hair and make up done in the salon. As the evening was about to begin, we headed down to the beach for the wedding ceremony. The resort raked the sands on the beach, and they had a nice linen canopy set up for us with the beautiful rock formations of Cabo San Lucas as our back drop. We had a violinist there too for the music. They also set up a bar for the cocktail hour which followed after the ceremony on the beach. Our photographer soon arrived and started taking the many pictures she would take that evening. My brother and I chilled as we waited for the other guests to arrive. Our wedding planners were on site to pass out the programs and greet the guests. After everyone was seated, we began the processionals that included our ringbearer first. Then, my brother and Joy's cousin marched down the aisle as the best man and maid of honor. Finally, Joy and her dad made the march down as he gave away his daughter to me on the beach. Our ceremony was short, but it was beautiful. I tried my best to hold back emotions and tears. Joy seemed nervous. After the ceremony concluded, we did the garter exchange which is an Indian custom.
Afterwards, the guests enjoyed appetizers and beverages on the beach. We had samsosas, ceviche, and crab cakes that we were served by staff. Our open bar was all premium liquors too. The photographer took the endless pictures of Joy and myself along with our friends and families. It was a lot of work! However, Joy and I got a little time to mingle with the guests at the cocktail hour too. Afterwards, Joy had to go get dressed in her red banquet dress for the dinner reception. The red banquet dress is Chinese custom. So, we did incorporate small details from each of our cultures into our big day.
The resort set up a nice banquet for us in one of the ballrooms. At the head table was myself, Joy, and both sets of parents. The resort did a great job of decorating the room for us. We hired a DJ to emencee the event as well as play the music list that we sent to him for the first dance, father-daughter dance, mother-son dance, and the last dance among other songs. Our first song was to John Michael Montgomery's "I Swear." The dinner reception had a full open bar as well. The three course meal had lobster bisque followed by a choice of entree. The dessert was a churro and chocolate sauce. We also had cake too afterwards. The last dance that night was "I Don't Dance" by Lee Brice.
When we returned to our suite, we saw that the resort decorated the suite with so many rose petals and left chocolate covered strawberries and champagne for us. The bed had swans made out of towels also! They did an amazing job of planning and faciliating our wedding. Joy and I went out with some of our friends that night to party in Cabo. Our first stop was Senor Frogs. Afterwards, we got a booth at Squid Row. Squid Row was just packed! It was really fun!
The next morning, we had an amazing Sunday brunch at the resort which featured a sushi station also. Afterwards, our private airport transfers arrived to take us back to SJD Airport. We were able to take advantage of the VIP Lounge at SJD Airport before our flight to relax and enjoy some food and beverages before our short three hour and change flight back to Oakland.
Joy and I are happy to be married and begin our life together!