Robert F. Kennedy’s Granddaughter Sarah and Her Husband Celebrate His Pakistani Heritage with Wedding Mehndi
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The Mehndi took place at JFK and Jackie's summer White House, where guests embraced traditional Pakistani culture
Congratulations are in order for Sarah Kennedy, granddaughter of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy, and her husband, Jam Sulahry!
Ahead of their Aug. 19 wedding, the couple paid homage to Sulahry’s Pakistani heritage with a traditional Mehndi on Friday evening.
Held in Hyannis Port, Mass., at what was known as "the summer White House" of former President John F. Kennedy (Robert's brother) and First Lady Jackie, the ceremony featured “choreographed Bollywood-style dances, henna tattoos, Pakistani desserts, and traditional Pakistani and Indian music.”
“Guests are encouraged to wear vibrant colors and patterns in traditional Pakistani clothing to embrace the experience fully,” Sarah told PEOPLE exclusively.
On Saturday, the pair said "I do" on the historic Kennedy Compound with the ceremony and cocktail hour held at the RFK House, named after Sarah's grandfather.
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The reception was then hosted at the JFK House, named after the bride's great uncle, John F. Kennedy. The wedding was planned and designed by Kate Murtaugh Events & Design, with florals overseen by Beach Plum Floral Design.
“We chose to host our wedding weekend events at the Kennedy Compound and surrounding family homes because of how special it is to us as a backdrop to our lives,” Sarah, the daughter of Chris Kennedy, told PEOPLE. “It is where we have celebrated the great times and come together in heartbreaking times. It truly feels like coming home.”
While their large celebration just happened this weekend, the pair was actually legally wed on June 17, 2022, in a small Pakistani ceremony called a Nikah. That date is the 72nd anniversary of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy’s wedding date.
When planning their wedding weekend, it was important for the couple to combine Kennedy’s Catholic family traditions with Sulahry’s Muslim and Pakistani family traditions.
“We look forward to celebrating with close family and friends and sharing our relationships and cultures," Sarah said. "Our wedding is unique because we combine Sarah’s Irish catholic roots with Jam’s Muslim Pakistani roots to celebrate our love joyfully. We look forward to having so many of our friends and family experiencing our take on the traditional Mehndi event on Friday night."
That fusion of cultures even seeped into the ceremony’s color palette, with the bride and groom choosing pinks and oranges “inspired by the beautiful surroundings of the Cape Cod coast, Sulahry’s Pakistani culture, [our] love for the water, and the natural gardens and landscape of the Kennedy Compound.”
A true melding of tradition, the wedding was a “joyous celebration of love and unity.”
“Getting married is about memorializing our love for each other and our commitment to each other for life,” Sarah concludes. “We were best friends before dating and grew our relationship through good times and bad. Marriage is the next chapter in our love story, and we couldn’t be happier.”
Wrapping up their festivities, Sarah and Sulahry plan to honeymoon in Greece and Italy, where they look forward to “hiking and more adventure."
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