Hilary Hahn and Ashish Vaid

Hilary Hahn grew up in Louisville, Ky., and Ashish Vaid was raised in Mumbai, India. But when they met as volunteers for a KCRW pledge drive in 2007, the attraction was immediate. They launched into a long conversation about an exhibit at MOCA they both wanted to see, and voila — the setting for a perfect first date.

A year later they travelled to India together. Hahn loved it — especially riding in rickshas and getting water buffalo milk delivered at dawn every day.

Vaid is equally enthusiastic about America. “It’s the greatest brand ever born,” he said. “Like Apple. If you don’t have it, you want it.”

He came to SoCal in the late 1990s to study at USC and now, at 36, is a software engineer for SOA Software in Brentwood. Hahn, 29, is an artist who teaches at the Brentwood Art Center and owns the interior design firm Pink Pianos.

They wed Sept. 2 on Zuma Beach in Malibu, and their families — who arrived from Kentucky and India — met for the first time. The ceremony, officiated by Mary Jean Valente of A Ceremony of the Heart, wove together both Hindu and Christian elements. Vaid’s mother, Sushma Vaid, sang an invocation in Sanskrit, and Hahn’s uncle, Paul Byrd, read from Corinthians.

The 80-guest reception at The Sunset Restaurant had a deejay from Trinidad play “chutney music” — that’s American, Bollywood and Caribbean all rolled into one.

—Maxine Nunes
Custom Publishing Writer