How We Pulled It Off: Norway Meets Sri Lanka at a Colorful Island Wedding

From the exuberant Hindu ceremony to the fireworks after their Norwegian white-gown-and-tux celebration.Helene NessetPira Thiru, an entrepreneur and startup investor in the tech industry, was born to Sri Lankan parents in Norway. Though he was raised there, his connection to Sri Lanka was strong; his parents brought him back to visit every other year or so throughout childhood. So from the moment he proposed to his then-girlfriend Linnea Thiruketheeswaran Røsjø, an executive at Amnesty International Norway, on a hike with their dog in July 2023, the Oslo-based couple was in agreement that they didn’t want a standard Norwegian wedding. The vision for their celebration emerged by looking at Pira’s parents’ past—and their own small family’s future.Linnea and Pira wed in Bentota, a beach town on Sri Lanka, in July 2025 Helene NessetThe couple wanted Pira's family's Tamil traditions to shine throughout the festivities Helene Nesset“We always knew we wanted kids. So we talked about, ‘Okay, what are they going to see when they look at our wedding photos? What do we want our partnership to be, and to symbolize?’” Linnea remembers. It is important to them both that Pira’s family’s Tamil traditions be showcased throughout their future children’s lives, and knew that marrying in Sri Lanka would be a great first step in making that happen. Ahead, they explain how they planned their wedding in Bentota, on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, in July 2025 for 140 guests—from the exuberant Hindu ceremony to the fireworks after their Norwegian white-gown-and-tux celebration day.Find your planner if you want to hear back from venuesAfter having trouble hearing back from venues, the couple reached out to two potential wedding planners, and ultimately opted to work with the Colombo-based Hemant Dadlani, whom many reviews suggested was among the best in the country. “We felt really safe with him right away,” remembers Pira. “He has this aura around him, and he’s very warm.” Checking out his past weddings on Instagram, and seeing the breadth of his vendor network, sealed the deal.Villa Bentota by KK Collection was small enough to feel intimate and allow for a buyout, but large enough at 15 rooms to house all of their immediate family members. Helene NessetMake travel as easy as possible for your guestsBecause they knew a destination wedding on another continent required a substantial investment of time and money for their guests, the couple told their loved ones a few weeks after their engagement that they were planning to wed in Sri Lanka, and sent out save-the-dates nearly two years before the wedding. To their delight, the response was emphatic. “Pretty much everyone was like, ‘Oh my god, thank you. This is giving us the opportunity of a lifetime to see Sri Lanka,’” Linnea says.Linnea and Pira were interested at first in having the wedding in the north of the country, as it's where his family is from, but the capital city of Colombo and its major airport are further south. With the majority of their guests coming from Norway, and no direct flight between Oslo and Colombo, it felt cruel to have them fly so far only to drive several hours to the wedding location. So they concentrated their property search in the south, and ultimately opted for the Villa Bentota by KK Collection, which was an hour-and-a-half drive from the airport in a straight shot down the coast.Sri Lanka experiences two monsoon seasons annually, in summer and in winter—which made their July wedding a gamble. Helene NessetFind a venue that matches the visionNear the popular resort town of Bentota, which is known for its clear waters and wide stretches of sand, they found that the Villa Bentota had everything they wanted: It was small enough to feel intimate and allow for a buyout, but large enough at 15 rooms to house all of their immediate family members. It also had multiple spaces that could be used: “We could do separate locations without having to walk super far, like ceremonies in the gardens and cocktail hour on the beach,” Linnea says.Plus, the hotel offered a quirk that delighted the couple: a brightly colored commuter train that runs through the property. “It felt like something out of a Wes Anderson movie," says the bride.The wedding took place in the south of the country, which is known for its golden beaches and located closer to Colombo's international airport. Helene NessetTake a risk on timing.Situated in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka experiences two monsoon seasons a year: in summer and winter. That makes the hot, dry shoulder months the most popular time for tourism, but the couple rolled the dice and scheduled their wedding in July. “Norwegians don’t really get time off at any other time of year,” Linnea explains. “To maximize our chances that our guests would be able to make the trip, we decided on July.”Though their planning team had tents on standby in case of rain, Linnea and Pira enjoyed miraculously fine weather throughout their wedding weekend: On all three days, and for all three major events, the skies were sunny and blue until the moment the parties wrapped up, when it briefly downpoured. After their Hindu ceremony, their priest couldn’t help but crack, “This is a sign from the gods that this marriage is meant to be!”Their chosen aesthetic for the Hindu ceremony was extremely vibrant and colorful. Helene NessetThe first of two ceremonies preceded a more western-style wedding and reception. Helene NessetCelebrate your cultures with colorLinnea and Pira decided to hold two ceremonies over two days: First up was a Hindu ceremony, for which they wore traditional Sri Lankan formal wear, then a more Western civil ceremony, for which she wore a white Pronovias gown and he a black tux by Norwegian designer Magnus Beckmann.They further telegraphed the differences between the two weddings through the decor. Their chosen aesthetic for the Hindu ceremony was vibrant and colorful, and incorporated “as many flowers as possible,” says Linnea, with a deep red driving the palette. Crimson and cream fabrics were draped over the guests to set off the ceremony space, and at dinner, tablescapes were piled with plantains, coconuts, and potted marigolds.For their Western-style celebration, the couple sent Hemant a photo of their Christmas dinner at home, at which they hosted both of their families, and said they wanted to replicate the vibe of the place they hold most dear. The planning team and their florist, the Wedding Artisans, took inspiration from their blue and white plates, creating a porcelain-esaue floral motif that recurred in the signage, menus, and table runner, along with sapphire blue glasses and fluttery blue flowers on the tables.Helene NessetSpeak three languagesWhile the majority of their guests were Norwegians, the pair also wanted the Sri Lankan loved ones, who primarily spoke Tamil, to feel included and be able to follow the festivities. The priest who performed their Hindu ceremony was Australian, so he spoke in English, as it was the lingua franca for the majority of the crowd. Their civil ceremony, which was officiated by Pira’s younger brother, was also done in English. The couple read their vows, though, in Norwegian, which felt more personal and natural since it's the language they speak at home together, before returning to English.“The Hindu ceremony is very long, so we couldn't explain absolutely everything, but I had the highlights,” says Linnea. “Most of our guests also helped each other; the Tamil guests would help the Norwegians if they were wondering about anything.” During the reception, Pira’s parents gave their speech in Tamil as well.The Hindu ceremony was done in English so all guests could follow along. Helene NessetRevel in Sri Lankan flavorsThe primary way the couple celebrated the local culture was through food, serving curries, spiced vegetables, creamy dals, rice, and salads like snake gourd and coconut, and steamed sweet potato with sesame. Catered by sister property KK Beach Bentota, a vegetarian lunch after the Hindu ceremony was served directly onto wide banana leaves, and guests ate with their hands in the traditional way. Guests also sipped water through straws directly from coconuts all weekend.One concession to Western Europe came with the final dessert: On the second night, after their civil ceremony, the couple served a tiered white wedding cake, pressed with pink flowers and sprays of baby’s breath flowers.The DJ spun mostly Tamil music, during which they brought out dancers to perform in the local style. Helene NessetGo big on music.To ensure a wonderful party atmosphere, the couple hired musicians—many, many musicians. A traditional Hindu band played Tamil songs during the religious ceremony. A second group, Vlute, performed instrumental pop songs on strings and saxophone to bookend the civil ceremony and during a cocktail hour by the sea. A third band, Magic Box Mixup, got the crowd’s spirits up during the reception. Once they were done, DJ Henricus came on to spin mostly Tamil music, during which they brought out dancers to perform in the local style.It wasn’t the only area where they went big: During the cake-cutting, the sky over the ocean exploded with fireworks. The display was an impulsive splurge. “Just three days before, we were like, ‘We want fireworks,’” says Pira. “We were adding stuff onto the budget right up until the very last minute.”Many guests extended their trips to explore more of Asia, whether by bouncing over to Vietnam and Malaysia or traveling around Sri Lanka. Markus Nymo FossSpend bonus time with familyThe day after the civil ceremony, the couple rented out a beach club for a relaxed good-bye brunch. Many of their guests extended their trips to explore more of Asia, whether by bouncing over to Vietnam and Malaysia or traveling around Sri Lanka. Linnea’s family wound up staying on the island for a total of three weeks.The newlyweds themselves stayed on Sri Lanka for their honeymoon, renting a villa on the south coast in Matara, then staying at a wellness resort near Sigiriya, or the Lion Rock, a rock fortress built in the 5th century. They traveled up to Jaffna, one of the northernmost points in the country, to see where Pira’s family is from, before returning for some time in Colombo. Though their original plan was to stay entirely south, “Three days into our honeymoon we were like, ‘When’s the next time we’re going to have all our loved ones here on Sri Lanka at the same time?’” Pira says.The newlyweds stayed on Sri Lanka for their honeymoon. Markus Nymo FossAs for loved ones, the couple welcomed a new one—a baby girl—a year after their wedding, and are already thinking about showing her their wedding photos. “When our daughter looks at the pictures, I can talk to her about the wedding and show the family roots, the origins, mixing with the Norwegian,”Linnea says. “Yeah, this is us. This will show both sides, everything we want in our marriage.”Kaitlin Menza is a writer and former editor at Teen Vogue, Glamour, and Seventeen. She covers food, travel, health, pop culture, and everything else wonderful the world has to offer. She lives in New York City. You can find her work at kaitlinmenza.com. ... Read More