Celebrating pride month, two beautiful brides chose to share the pictures of their marriage in Charlottesville, United States.
Yoga teacher and fitness instructor Gera Ruth and her lovely Indian bride who is a Physician by profession, Sarika Modi, reached the aisle in October 2020, which is visible on the timeline of Sarika’s first post. Their love story was presented to us all afresh after Sarika posted a heartfelt interaction of coming out to her parents about her sexuality.
“At 32 I was about to tell my parents the scariest thing I had ever told them about myself. Mom and Dad, ‘I’m attracted to women.’ Without missing a beat my dad replied, ‘You’ve seemed so much happier and I’m happy you’re accepting who you are.’ It was such a beautiful moment of love and acceptance from my parents. My mom told me they just wanted me to be happy. I had been so scared after I had said those words. I had hidden who I was from everyone including myself for so long. Being Indian growing up in the south had its own challenges and I definitely did not know of any Indians who were gay or queer when I was younger. Three years later my parents gave my amazing wife @gera.ruth and me their blessing as we touched their feet for the first time as a married couple. The last picture is one we took recently and at the time I hadn’t realized I was doing the same thing as my dad. I guess it’s fair to say I learned a lot in how to love a beautiful woman from my dad.”
The duo did not pick traditional pheras but instead, chose to do 4 pheras around a unity candle – complete with a mangalsutra.
“While we did not do the traditional pheras completely, we did walk four times around our unity candle and you can see the smile on both of our faces as we completed our circles and made our commitments to each other,” shares Sarika.
The entire setting of the wedding with hues of red and white matching their outfits will make anyone awestruck. Sarika chose to wear a red jumpsuit and Gera wore a white bridal gown looking stunning to the core.
These one-in-a-lifetime pictures were shot by CARLY ROMEO + CO and the brides got their wedding cake from Arley Cakes.
Sarika and Gera can be spotted sporting beautiful henna designs by Sadia Ahmed.
The couple extended their gratitude to everyone who made their love materialize and also to each and everyone who supported them. They also passed on a message to the world for people like them.
“We know that there are so many LGBTQIA+ people all over the world. Just because we are less visible in some countries does not mean we aren’t there. And just because some people are not able to share their identity openly does not make them any less valid. Here’s to celebrating queer love and visibility all year long,” writes Gera.
Our heart soars to see them together. We wish them a happy married life.