Indian batsman cum wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik and the nation’s top-ranked squash player Dipika Pallikal tied the knot for the first time of their two wedding ceremonies on August 18. Dipika belongs to a Christian family and a ceremony as per the religion’s traditions was held in Chennai, with only close friends and family members of the couple in attendance.

The second half of the wedding, a Hindu ceremony took place in Chennai on August 20. The couple is undoubtedly India’s trending sporting pair. Both have represented India in professional sports at the highest level.

A little about the couple

Dipika Pallikal hails from Chennai. She was born on 21st September 1991 to a Malayali Christian couple of Syrian origin. She turned prosquash player in 2006. She won the first major in 2011 and was the first Indian to reach the finale of a Silver level tournament held in January 2012. In December 2012, she broke into the World’s top 10 rankings and received the Arjuna award for this achievement. 

Dinesh Karthik was born in Chennai on 1st June 1985. He was promoted when he was only 15 to the under – 19 team in Tamil Nadu. Karthik was selected for the Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy team aged 17, at the start of the 2002-2003 season. And by the end of the 2003 season, Karthik was in the Indian under – 19 team, and he had made his international debut for India by mid-2004. He was an important part of the World T20 winning side as well as a integral part of the India’s success on the tour of England in 2007. He played a significant role in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy that India won.

As the couple has begun their life together as law fully wedded husband and wife their love story is quite inspiring and alluring. Let us take a look at the couple’s fairy tale like love story in short.

Their love story

Karthik and Dipika attended fitness sessions under the same coach, Basu Shankar. It was there they quickly developed a good friendship, but then Dipika had clarified that there was nothing more to it at the time.

In February 2013, it was that moment when Karthik truly got into Dipika’s heart. Dipika was in Leeds, England, where she was undergoing training. It happened a week after she had won the Meadowood Pharmacy Open in Canada and suddenly she had an unexpected visitor. Yes, you guessed it right! It was Dinesh Karthik. During that period he was playing domestic cricket in India and was at the same time undergoing through a bitter divorce with his childhood sweetheart Nikita. After the divorce, he had vowed to focus solely on cricket for the time being. However, the Cupid in him had other ideas.

Here we can see Dipika recalling the incident, and these were her words: “I went to Leeds to train for a week, and I found him there, coming all the way to see me. That was when I fell for him, realising not many would do something like that.”

And in such a wonderful manner, blossomed the love that they have for each other today. Something to look up to, isn’t it?

Now that we have led you through their mesmerizing love story let us take you to their awesome wedding ceremonies. Right from the proposal to engagement, to pre-wedding rituals and to the wedding itself, which took place twice in case of Dipika and Karthik!

It was a celebration to remember! A super-fun bachelor party, a colourful sangeet and mehendi ceremony, where two cultural weddings took place and which was followed by a lavish wedding reception. An otherwise shy couple did not leave any stone unturned to make sure the world saw their romance turning into a holy union.

Engagement

Soon after the Indian team won the champions trophy, Dinesh proposed Dipika in London. It happened on November 15th, 2013. Later the duo made their relationship official with an engagement ceremony, which took place in Chennai. Only close friends and family members were invited for the event. After this, both Dipika and Dinesh gave out numerous interviews confirming their relationship. 

Pre-wedding functions

Both Dipika and Karthik being extremely busy with their professional tours, had to wait for almost two long years, before getting hitched. Well, this meant a lot of time for Bachelor - Bachelorette parties, mehndi, sangeet and what not. While Dipika received a bronze medal in the singles event at the Asian Games held in Incheon in 2014 and also a gold medal in the doubles with partner Joshna Chinappa at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 that is post her engagement, Karthik got dropped from the Indian team due to his poor performance. He, however, had a stellar IPL season and had been amongst the top run scorers in the domestic circuit in India in the two seasons. Dinesh Karthik initially gave up wicket keeping for Tamil Nadu to focus on his batting and it showed with his tremendous IPL performance.

Dipika and her bridesmaids were too excited for the pre-wedding functions including Sangeet and Mehndi. And even the groom did not want to miss the opportunity to celebrate his last ‘bachelorhood’ days, so he held the most super-fun bachelor's party for his best men.

The Grand Wedding

Dipika and Karthik had their wedding planned in a totally unique way. Everyone knows that a wedding is the most beautiful and memorable day in one’s life. Well, Dipika and Karthik just decided to double the fun! They got married twice. As they belonged to different religions, the couple decided to embrace both the families’ respect for their rituals and hosted two wedding ceremonies for their friends and family.

Dinesh is a Hindu while Dipika is a Malayali Christian with Syrian origins. So, they had a Christian ceremony as well as a Hindu ceremony for their engagement which was held on November 2013, at ITC Grand Chola in Chennai. Both the events was a closed and private affair attended only by family and close friends. At the engagement, Dinesh looked dapper in a Cream coloured Kurta Pyjama with a Blue Nehru Jacket while Dipika looked beautiful in a Ritu Kumar Designer Red saree, which she wore for the Hindu ceremony.

On 18^th August 2015, the couple got married at a church in Chennai. Dipika wore a White wedding gown, which was embedded with Swarovski Crystals. And mind it she looked absolutely stunning in it. The bride walked down the aisle with her father. Dinesh, as usual, looked dashing in a jet Black tuxedo. After the wedding, the couple also hosted a reception in Chennai where the best man and the maid of honour gave speeches. In the evening, the couple hosted a party at their residence for some close friends.

Dipika had a very private mehndi ceremony on 19^th August, and the couple got married again on the 20^th August in a traditional Hindu ceremony. The bride-to-be wore a Yellow bridal saree with a Red border, where as the groom-to-be wore a Cream dhoti, a Cream coloured sherwani and a turban of the same colour.

We wish the couple a lifetime of togetherness and success on and off the field.