Multi-Religious Wedding Shows Love Has No Borders

The day Seema attended Shannon’s boot camp class, Shannon was smitten. She told a fellow instructor, “I’m going to marry her.” Turns out that wasn’t a lie. Six years later they finally held a small wedding ceremony. “Seema is Hindu and I am Christian […] For the wedding we chose to have a Pandit (a Hindu priest) to honor the traditions and ceremony of the Hindu culture,” Shannon told Huffington Post. “To honor the Christian faith we chose to get married in front of our family and loved ones, exchange vows, and rings… The only thing we didn’t have was scripture from the Bible.”    

  Shannon’s mother gave her something new, something old, something borrowed and something blue “in perfect American tradition.” But instead of kissing to seal their matrimony they fed each other sweets instead, as per Hindu tradition. What felt like a perfectly intuitive and heartfelt event actually garnered national attention. Their wedding photos went viral and admirers from all over the world sent them messages, some saying it was the encouragement they needed to come out to their own families. “We feel honored and blessed to have lived our lives as we normally would have, which translated to someone else across the nation into hope and courage,” they told Buzzfeed. These two lovebirds remind us that love is not bounded by religion, borders, or ethnicity. When you wear your heart on your sleeve and smile while you do it, others will ask you where you got it because they want one too.