Weddings: Ruchi Mukherjee and Walter Sassard

Wedded couple: Ruchi Mukherjee and Walter Sassard

HOUSTON: Ruchi’s dedication to journalism and the Houston community has made her one of Houston’s most successful and impactful leading women, founding LCAHouston and immersing herself in Houston’s chic society life. Since moving to the USA in 2002, Ruchi has been a TV and print correspondent for The Statesman and Times of India but is most known for her LCAHouston International Mother’s Day Awards. Ruchi finds the balance between her personal and professional lives equally important.

“As a little girl, I always believed in having a true partner to travel with, to work together, experience things. Someone who will understand my passion for fashion and journalism,” Ruchi expressed, “Someone who’s consistent, someone who will make me a priority.”

And Ruchi finally met her perfect match in the summer of 2020 and feeling a mutual instant connection with Walter Sassard. 

His being a New York fashion photographer turned firefighter and Ruchi a society lifestyle journalist, they were quite the unexpected match up.

“At first glance, we’re worlds apart, but our hearts and souls are so together,” Ruchi revealed.

Ruchi celebrated her special day with her bridesmaids. They all have been a huge part of her journey through life, both personally and professionally. She holds her maid of honor Toni Tate and bridesmaids Sippi Khurana, Rita Garcia, Sadaf Choudhury, Meka Coxon, Sneha Merchant, Teresa Reading, Purva Patel, and Pooja Lodhia and her own daughter Aryika. 

Walter now works as a Lieutenant at the Magnolia Fire Department since moving from New York in 2013. Early in their relationship, a work accident injured Walter for a taxing five-month period. While it seemed hopeless, he found comfort in Ruchi as she stayed by his side during the whole healing process. The relationship’s stability anchored them through the strains of work, COVID-19, and everyday obstacles, and Ruchi and Walter knew they could always turn to the other for genuine support, advice, or just a shoulder to lean on.

“Something that really made our relationship solid: I finally felt that I had a true partner by my side,” Walter voiced.

Although simply being together was more than enough for the couple, Walter wanted to give Ruchi the fairytale Hindu wedding which they had always dreamed of. 

Ruchi’s close friends were her bridesmaids

Together, this Diwali (Indian Festival of Lights) they designed a beautiful month long pre wedding celebrations and with their blended family Ruchi’s daughter Aryika and Walter’s two children Luella and Felix who has embraced them from the beginning. The relationship was blessed with a traditional Hindu ceremony with friends and family from all over the world at Galveston’s historical Bryan Museum on November 3, 2024. 

They wanted people closest to experience the cultures so dear to them and feel inspired by love.

Ruchi has always strived to support local businesses and wants to continue doing so in the wedding, planning a showcase of culture and traditions that incorporates aspects of both the East and West.  This highlight of the wedding was the Sangeet at Indian Summers Restaurant in Sugarland with an afternoon of live music by Rashmi Panikar and Shayan. 

The message that Ruchi wants to convey with her story is to never lose hope for true love, while also continuing to improve yourself. Although her and Walter’s history reads like a magical fairytale, she knows relationships need nurturing.