Abhishek Prasad Marries Lillian Fernandez

The newlyweds Lillian Fernandez and Abhishek Prasad with the bride’s parents Dr. Carlos and Martha Fernandez and the groom’s parents Rita and Raghunath Prasad after the wedding ceremony at the Safari Texas Ranch this past Saturday, April 12, 2014.

The newlyweds Lillian Fernandez and Abhishek Prasad with the bride’s parents Dr. Carlos and Martha Fernandez and the groom’s parents Rita and Raghunath Prasad after the wedding ceremony at the Safari Texas Ranch this past Saturday, April 12, 2014.

By Jawahar Malhotra
RICHMOND, TX: As a child, the young Abhishek had always been pushed to excel, with his doting mother Rita at his side, whether at learning to play the tabla or mastering the courses in his high school, eventually earning a perfect 1600 on his SAT. But he always had a mischievous spirit in him and a youthful fascination with things that are unusual and fun.

The groom, Abhishek Prasad on an elephant with his nephew Raunak, following the barat procession,

The groom, Abhishek Prasad on an elephant with his nephew Raunak, following the barat procession,

That’s what led him to plan out his Hindu wedding Barat procession to come down the length of the parking lot at the Safari Texas Ranch but he couldn’t decide on the conveyance. He had first decided on a white mare which stood with her handler, both decked in festive colors. But later Abhishek changed his mind at his family’s insistence, and decided on Page, an elephant who stood nearby munching on branches from trees waiting for the groom to arrive in a stretched out black limo from the banquet hall.

Finally, as he climbed onto the seat, his little nephew Raunak in front of him, “I was nervous at first being on the elephant”, Abhishek later confessed, but he felt elated as the baratis danced and led the procession to the bride’s family. Throughout the afternoon, the guests were thrilled to get elephant rides around the parking lot.

It was a day of high Hindu traditions and celebrations planned with an eye to the creative details that the groom’s mother Rita Prasad is known for among her friends. She and her husband Raghunath spared to effort in making the day long function fun and entertaining, starting at noon on Saturday, April 12 with the barat and ending after the reception at the same place at midnight. The traditional Hindu wedding was conducted in the ballroom in the afternoon, complete with the devotional songs sung onstage even as the priests Dr. Shukla, assisted by Dr. Sen Pathak in English translations of the proceedings, conducted the two-hour long marriage ceremony in front of over 400 seated guests.

The wedding reception for nearly 700 people was more relaxed as the families were introduced and made short speeches. Lillian’s father Carlos called her his “Yellow Rose of Texas”, presenting her with one in a box and Abhishek as “Leo, the Lion” reflecting his Zodiac sign and presenting him with a framed glass painting of a lion. The groom’s father Raghunath recalled his own arranged marriage, much to the delight of the audience and Rita Prasad counseled with words of advice and devoted motherly love for the newlyweds. The food was catered by Gourmet India restaurant. The sangeet was held at the Prasad residence in Richmond two days earlier.

The groom is the son of Raghunath Prasad, an engineer in the petrochemical industry and Rita Prasad, a homemaker both of whom have been in Houston since the early ‘60s. Abhishek, 36, was born and raised in Katy, Texas, graduating from Taylor High School and going directly to medical school at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, later finishing his residency at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is an ENT specialist at the Kelsey Seybold Clinic in Sugar Land, where he met Lillian. The two had been dating since 2009. His sister Garima and her husband Neil are also physicians in Dallas, where they live with their children Raunak and daughter Manasi.

Lillian, 40, is an Administrative RN at Kelsey Seybold Sugar Land and is the daughter of Dr. Carlos Fernandez, an oncologist and her mother Martha is a homemaker. Lillian was born and raised in Houston in the Memorial area and graduated from the University of Texas, Austin and later got her nursing degree from UT/Tyler. Her family is originally from Bolivia and she has three other siblings all in Texas.

The couple will have a Catholic wedding on May 3 in Houston and then go on their honeymoon in Hawaii. They intend to make their home in Sugar Land.