Nikisha Pasrija Weds Sean Hill
The bride and groom, Nikisha Pasrija and Sean Hill at the reception in the evening with their parents, Carol and Charles Hill on the left and Sangeeta and Dr. Arun Pasrija on the right. Photo: Jawahar Malhotra
By Jawahar Malhotra
HOUSTON: The moment that he laid eyes on her when they both hailed the same taxi and tried to get in, he was smitten. He went home that evening and told his mom Carol that he had “found the one”, Sean Hill told the roomful of guests at the sangeet ceremony as he gazed at his soon to be bride Nikisha, known universally as Nikki. She blushed at the revelation but said that Sean grew on her slowly.
This past weekend, on Saturday, September 27, the couple, both 26 (Sean is older by a few months), tied the knot at the Omni Hotel at Four Riverway north of the Galleria in an intimate ceremony that merged the best of their two faiths under an elaborate and beautiful mandap, with the bride wearing a traditional red Indian outfit and the groom also in an Indian grooms sherwani and turban. Pandit Rajender Kumar officiated the Hindu ceremony.
The bride and groom at the mandap after the Hindu wedding ceremony and before the Christian rites were performed.
For the Christian ceremony conducted by a Lutheran Bishop, the couple took off their head coverings but stood under the mandap to receive the rites. In deference to the inter-faith marriage, the aisleway was capped by artifacts from both religions and the bridesmaids and groomsmen walked down the aisle before the bride and groom. The bride’s parents escorted her to the mandap.
Nikki received her undergraduate degree in Journalism and Spanish from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and then went on to get her law degree from the University of Texas in Austin, where Sean was also pursuing his law degree. Both graduated from law school and took the Bar exam the same year – 2013 – and both were hired away by Houston firms in their second year.
Nikki works at the law firm of Andrews Kurth in Houston, practicing public finance law. Nikki is the daughter of Sangeeta Pasrija, a well-known community activist, artist and proponent of the Hindi language who volunteered and later worked at Kinkaid School where her children studied. Her husband Arun is from New Delhi and has a PhD from Drexel University. He is the President and CEO of CHR Solutions, which specializes in telecom and IT software and services. Sangeeta migrated to Houston from India in 1983 and has a large extended family in the area. The Pasrijas also have a son, Kunal, 21 who is a senior in SMU majoring in finance and economics.
Sean is from Flower Mound, a suburb of Dallas and got his undergraduate degree in Bio medical engineering from Vanderbilt University before proceeding to get his law degree. He works in patent law for Vinson and Elkins. He is the only child of Carol, a home maker, and Charles Hill, a chemical engineer. His mom is of Norwegian heritage while his father has an English-Finnish lineage.
The newlyweds had an elaborate reception later in the evening at the ballroom of the Omni Hotel in front of over 400 people. The bride’s best friend since childhood, Jupin Malhi recalled fond memories of her and the groom’s best friend from college, Michael Accavitti, spoke about their experiences. A video showed how the couple met and their courtship days.
The couple will have three honeymoons. The first was immediately after the wedding in a resort in Charleston, South Carolina. The second is to attend a destination wedding of the bride’s friend in Puerto Vallarta. And the third is the real, extended honeymoon, for two weeks in Thailand. They will make their home in Houston.