The city, which has a legacy of Indo-French marriages, welcomed an American bride, when Tara Byars tied the knot with Deepak Murali in a traditional Tamil wedding ceremony here on Friday.
With the bride's mother Tammi Truman and a group of close friends flying in from the US to join the ceremonies, the wedding turned out to be a celebration of two cultures.
People from all walks of life, including a host of dignitaries, turned up for the wedding and the reception hosted on Thursday.
Among those who offered blessings to the couple were Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, Speaker V. P. Sivakolundu and John Kumar, MLA.
The mounted screen at the reception was flashing images from the American-style wedding party at a retreat in San Francisco.
India visit
“Our first visit to India. And what better occasion than this,” exclaimed Meghan, the bride’s bosom friend from childhood, draped in a Kancheevaram sari like the others who came along with her.
Mr. Murali, a Petit Seminaire alumni, had left for the US in 2018 after graduating in IT from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai. After an MS in Computer Science and Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Melon University, Pittsburgh, he chose a career in the gaming industry.
Gaming project
He joined a start-up, Roblox Corporation, of which he is now the Vice-President. He also met Ms. Byars, a Californian, at the company, where the two got to know each other while working on gaming projects, and would later decide to marry.
“When he informed me of the decision, I had no reservations about it,” said R. Chandrasekaran, the groom's father and a former manager at the Anglo French Textiles.
“The only thing I was determined about was to have a traditional wedding back home,” he said.
